Lièzǔ tígāng lù 列祖提綱錄
Record of the Sequential Patriarchs’ Essentials
A 42-juan Qing-dynasty compendium of the doctrinal essentials (tígāng 提綱 = main teaching-points) of the Chán patriarchs compiled (jí 集) by Dāiwēng Xíngyuè 呆翁行悅 (1620–1685, also Méigǔ Xíngyuè 梅谷行悅); preface dated c. 1670s by Huìshān Jièxiǎn (see KR6q0150)
About the work
A 42-juan Qing-dynasty Chán doctrinal anthology, X64 n1260, preserved also in the Jiāxīng zàng 嘉興藏. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. One of the largest single-compiler Chán anthologies of the Qing period, organising the received fǎyǔ 法語 (dharma-addresses) of the classical patriarchs under topical headings covering the full range of Chán doctrinal-pedagogical categories.
Structural organisation: shàngtáng 上堂 (hall-ascending sermons), xiǎocān 小參 (informal instruction), shìzhòng 示眾 (general teaching), pǔshuō 普說 (universal preaching), and suíjī niānshì 隨機拈示 (occasional teaching), each with further sub-classification. The editorial structure follows the ideal pedagogical sequence rather than chronological or lineage-historical order, making the work organised for practical reference rather than historical research.
Tiyao
Not a WYG text; no 四庫 tíyào exists. The received text carries a preface by Huìshān Jièxiǎn 晦山戒顯 (1610–1672, see 戒顯) — Xíngyuè’s fellow-Tàicāng townsman and close colleague — explaining the compositional rationale:
“The Língshān [Śākyamuni’s] flower-holding and Shǎoshì [Bodhidharma’s] ānxīn [mind-pacification] — though called ‘direct-pointing single-transmission not setting up the written word’ — still used wedge to extract wedge, used troops to end troops. Already within wordless-teaching they availed themselves of words; already within a no-gāngyào [principle] they had their gāngyào. So it is said: ‘relying on sūtra to interpret meaning makes three-time-Buddhas’ wrongs; departing from sūtra by a single character is the same as demon-speech’ — an unchangeable Way. But the ěr shí 耳食 [ear-feeding] shallow-listeners adhere to worn-out phrases and say: ‘Since it is called supra-orthodox, the various streams are severed, why reject written language?’ … So orthodoxy and heterodoxy are not distinguished, red and purple are mixed, the many voices are muddled, tile-jars compete to ring out. Words no longer touch the canonical, matters no longer fit the regulations, street-talk and rustic-slang are relied upon as Way-speech. … Dāiwēng Yuè héshàng, my fellow townsman with whom I shared service for years, subsequently inherited the dharma-seat at Nánjiàn and for four years has held it. Pained that the dharma-gate daily collapses like a broken river and there is no pillar, with the Buddha-patriarchal wisdom-life-thread at stake, the sole remedy is in preaching. He has accordingly gathered the fǎyǔ of the sequential patriarchs, classified by topic, edited into book-form…”
The date of Xíngyuè’s compilation is approximately Huìshān’s 1660s–1670s residency period, following Xíngyuè’s Nánjiàn abbacy (from Shùnzhì 14 = 1657).
Abstract
Dāiwēng Xíngyuè 呆翁行悅 (1620–1685, DILA A000412), given-name Méigǔ 梅谷; hào Dāiwēng 呆翁 (“Foolish Old Man”) and late-life self-designation Púyī zūnzhě 蒲衣尊者 (“Rush-Robed Venerable”). Late-Ming / early-Qīng Línjì 臨濟 Yángqí-branch 楊岐派 Chán master, dharma-heir of Ruò’ān Tōngwèn 箬庵通問 (1604–1655, DILA A013268 — also teacher of Jiéliú Xíngcè KR6q0129). Native of Lóudōng 婁東 in Tàicāng zhōu 太倉州 (modern Jiāngsū), lay surname Cáo 曹.
Ordained at 18 at the Pǔtuó Hǎi’àn ān 普陀海岸庵; received full precepts and subsequently traveled to study under Ruìbái Míngxuě 瑞白明雪 at Kōngtóng, Tiānmù Mìyún Yuánwù 天目密雲圓悟, and Bàoēn Yuánxián 報恩賢 (= Yǒngjué Yuánxián). At 22 met Ruò’ān Tōngwèn at Zhènjiāng Jiāshān, attended him at Jīnshān, and received dharma-transmission. Subsequently held successive abbacies: after Lúshān 廬嶽 residence, succeeded to the Nánjiàn 南澗 in Shùnzhì 14 (1657); then Yuèdōng Lóngshù 粵東龍樹 (1665), Jiāngshān Tiānhuá 蔣山天華 (1667), Dàyǐn chányuàn 大隱禪院 (1671), Xīhuá shān Lóngguāng sì 西華山龍光寺 (1681). Died Kāngxī 23.12.1 (5 January 1685), aged 66, sēnglà 48, at the Míléān 彌勒庵 in Dōngchéng.
Major works: Zhèngzōng yǔlù 正宗語錄; Lièzǔ tí gāng zēng jí 列祖提綱增集 (= the present KR6q0151, also expanded version); Lìdài dìwáng hóng jiào lù 歷代帝王弘教錄; Běi yóu jí 北遊集.
Dating bracket: notBefore 1660 (during Xíngyuè’s Nánjiàn abbacy per Huìshān’s preface), notAfter 1685 (Xíngyuè’s death). The principal compositional period is the 1660s–early 1670s.
Translations and research
- Jiang Wu. 2008. Enlightenment in Dispute. Oxford.
- 陳垣 1962. 《清初僧諍記》. Zhōnghuá Shūjú.
- 魏道儒 2008. 《中國華嚴宗通史》. Jiāngsū rénmín chūbǎnshè (background context).
Other points of interest
The Lièzǔ tígāng lù’s 42-juan scale makes it one of the largest Qing-period Chán anthologies, and its organizational principle — thematic-pedagogical rather than chronological-lineage-historical — provides a distinctive access-point to the accumulated Chán yǔlù tradition. Xíngyuè’s editorial method cites sources but does not privilege lineage affiliation in the ordering, producing a synthesised authoritative reference-work less prone to the factional-lineage disputes that dominated his period.