Shí niú tú sòng 十牛圖頌
Newly-Engraved Chán-School Ten-Ox Pictures
A late-Ming recension of the ox-herding pictorial-allegorical cycle by the lay-literatus book-publisher Hú Wénhuàn 胡文煥 (active late 16th century), with supplementary Kǔlè yīnyuán tú 苦樂因緣圖 (“Diagrams of the Causes-and-Conditions of Suffering and Pleasure”); a distinct lay-literati recension from the classical monastic Kuò’ān Shīyuǎn version KR6q0159
About the work
A one-juan late-Ming lay-reworking of the ox-herding cycle, X64 n1270. Non-commentary on a specific parent text; commentedTextid not applicable. The full title Xīn kè chánzōng shí niú tú 新刻禪宗十牛圖 (“Newly-Engraved Chán-School Ten-Ox Pictures”) emphasises the text as a fresh engraving-edition rather than a new composition.
Hú Wénhuàn’s preface articulates a consciously Confucian-Buddhist syncretic reading of the ox-herding cycle: the shí niú tú is not merely a Chán allegory but equally applicable to Confucian spiritual cultivation, and more broadly to all humans: “the herdboy is the person; the ox is the mind; the round radiance is the person-and-mind both merged-and-transformed into verification of the originally-natural Way. Who does not have a mind? Having one, everyone should cultivate it. Who does not have the Way? Having it, everyone should verify it. Is this only for the Chánzōng as an analogy? Our Confucian tradition is also the same. Only for our Confucian tradition? All the world’s people are the same.”
Tiyao
Not a WYG text; no 四庫 tíyào exists. Signature line: Fódìzǐ Juéyīn Qiántáng Hú Wénhuàn zhù 佛弟子覺因錢唐胡文煥著 (“composed by Buddha-disciple Juéyīn [Hú Wénhuàn’s Buddhist name], of Qiántáng”).
Abstract
Hú Wénhuàn 胡文煥 (DILA A000865), zì Défù 德甫 (or Déwén 德文), hào Quán’ān 全庵 and Bàoqín jūshì 抱琴居士 (“Harp-Embracing Lay-Practitioner”); Buddhist name Juéyīn 覺因. Late-Ming Wànlì-period 萬曆時 literatus; native of Qiántáng 錢塘 (Hángzhōu). Best known as a prolific publisher: his Géjí cóngshū 格致叢書 assembled over 300 rare titles in a single collection, a major contribution to Ming-period book culture. Also authored operatic-literary works (Qí huò jì 奇貨記, Xī pèi jì 犀佩記, Sān Jìn jì 三晉記, Yú qìng jì 餘慶記), the massive song-aria anthology Qún yīn lèi xuǎn 群音類選 (26 juan; the largest Ming song anthology), and various other works including the Shí niú tú sòng preserved here.
Hú’s lay-literatus reworking of the ox-herding cycle — with its explicit Confucian-Buddhist-universal syncretism — reflects the late-Ming sānjiāo héyī 三教合一 (“unity of the three teachings”) integrative movement that sought to harmonise Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist spiritual practices under a single integrative frame. Hú’s version preserves the standard Kuò’ān ten stages but supplements them with the Kǔlè yīnyuán tú to make the spiritual-ethical content explicitly available to non-Buddhist readers.
Dating bracket: notBefore 1580 (Hú’s mature publishing career begins), notAfter 1620 (working terminus ante quem for his death).
Translations and research
- Kobayashi Haruo 小林春夫 2011. 〈胡文煥編刻《格致叢書》考〉, Chinese Studies journal article on Hú’s publishing career.
- Brokaw, Cynthia J. 2007. Commerce in Culture. Harvard. Background on late-Ming lay publishing.
Other points of interest
Hú Wénhuàn’s recension of the ox-herding cycle — distinct from the classical monastic Kuò’ān Shīyuǎn KR6q0159 version — represents the late-Ming lay-literati appropriation and adaptation of classical Chán allegorical-pedagogical material for broader secular-spiritual pedagogical purposes. The text’s inclusion in the Xù zàng jīng alongside the classical Kuò’ān version preserves the commentarial-editorial diversity of the ox-herding genre, where a single core schema circulated in multiple parallel recensions.