Hù fǎ lù 護法錄
Record of Defending the Dharma
A ten-juan late-Míng compilation of the Buddhist writings of the great early-Míng scholar-official-literatus Sòng Lián 宋濂 (1310–1381, posthumous title Wénxiàn 文憲), extracted from his extensive literary corpus (Sòng xuéshì quán jí 宋學士全集) by Yúnqī Zhūhóng 雲棲袾宏 (1535–1615), the great late-Míng Pure-Land master, and then revised and authenticated (dìng 訂) by the leading Wànlì-era scholar-official and Buddhist sympathiser Qián Qiānyì 錢謙益 (1582–1664, zì Shòuzhī 受之, hào Mùzhāi 牧齋, Yúshān 虞山). Qián’s authenticating preface is dated Wànlì bǐngchén dōng shíyī yuè shuò 萬曆丙辰冬十一月朔 = first day of the eleventh month of Wànlì 44 = November 1616.
About the work
A ten-juan Buddhist-literary anthology, J21 B110. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. The work collects Sòng Lián’s Buddhist-themed writings — prefaces to Buddhist sūtras and monastic records, tomb-inscriptions for monks, temple-and-monastery records, biographical sketches of Buddhist figures, and related literary genres — extracted from his larger literary corpus and reorganised as a free-standing Buddhist monument. The title Hù fǎ lù 護法錄 (“Record of Defending the Dharma”) situates the collection within the broader Buddhist-apologetic tradition extending back through Sòng-era works like Qi-sōng’s Fǔ jiào biān 輔教編 and Zhāng Shāngyīng’s Hù fǎ lùn 護法論.
Qián Qiānyì’s 1616 preface makes the collection’s doctrinal-political argument explicit: Sòng Lián, as the senior scholar-compiler-consultant of the founding Hóngwǔ 洪武 emperor, is — Qián argues — uniquely positioned to testify to the Míng state’s doctrinal inheritance of Buddhist support. Qián cites the Hóngwǔ emperor’s own anthology (Yù zhì wén jí 御製文集) to the effect that “Heaven’s command has unified [us as] the heirs of the Three Teachings” (tiān mìng wǒ zǔ tǒng hé sān jiào 天命我祖統合三教), and reads Sòng Lián’s Buddhist-literary production as the articulated consequence of this founding policy. The Hù fǎ lù thereby functions as a late-Wànlì Buddhist assertion of Buddhism’s legitimate place within the founding ideological-political order of the Míng, opposed to the increasingly-dominant Neo-Confucian exclusivism.
Abstract
Sòng Lián 宋濂 (DILA A007271, 1310–1381). Zì Jǐnglián 景濂; hào Qiánxī 潛溪, Wúxiàng jūshì 無相居士 (“Formless Layman”), Xuánzhēnzǐ 玄真子 (“Master of Profound-Truth”). Posthumous title Wénxiàn 文憲 (“Letters and Norms”). Native of Pǔjiāng 浦江 (Zhèjiāng). One of the Founding Four Masters of the Míng (Míng chū sì dà jiā 明初四大家, alongside Wáng Yáng 王褘, Liú Jī 劉基, and Zhāng Yǔ 張羽). Served Zhū Yuánzhāng from the latter’s pre-imperial period onward, becoming the senior literary-editorial authority of the early Míng — editor of the Yuán shǐ 元史 (Yuán dynastic history), chief imperial tutor, and wénxuān dǐng 文學儒宗 (Head of Literary-Confucian Orthodoxy). As a lay Buddhist, he engaged seriously with Chán and with the Huáyán tradition; his Buddhist writings fill much of what the Hù fǎ lù preserves. Died in exile in 1381, a victim of the late-Hóngwǔ political purges.
Yúnqī Zhūhóng 雲棲袾宏 (1535–1615): the great late-Míng Pure-Land master, one of the Four Eminent Monks of the late Míng. His extraction of Sòng Lián’s Buddhist writings into a separate anthology was part of Yúnqī’s broader mission of Buddhist publishing-revival at Yúnqīsì 雲棲寺. Yúnqī died in 1615, the year before Qián’s final authenticating preface; the collection must have been largely complete during Yúnqī’s lifetime.
Qián Qiānyì 錢謙益 (1582–1664): the dominant scholar-official-poet of the MíngQīng transitional period. Zì Shòuzhī 受之; hào Mùzhāi 牧齋, Yúshān 虞山, Dōngjiàn lǎorén 東澗老人, Hǎiyìn dìzǐ 海印弟子 (“Disciple of Hǎiyìn”), Fújīn dìzǐ 幅巾弟子, Jùshā jūshì 聚沙居士. Native of Chángshú 常熟 (Jiāngsū). Jìnshì in 1610 (Wànlì 38). Leader of the Dōnglínpài 東林派 at the end of the Míng; grudging collaborator with the Qīng after 1644. A major Buddhist lay participant and sponsor, his Hù fǎ lù authenticating preface represents one of his early Buddhist literary interventions (at age 34 at the time of writing). Husband of the famous courtesan-poet Liǔ Rúshì 柳如是.
Dating: notBefore c. 1600 (Yúnqī’s mature compilation period; the extracting-and-anthologising must have been undertaken during his final years at Yúnqīsì); notAfter 1616 (Qián’s authenticating preface, Wànlì bǐngchén dōng shíyī yuè shuò Hànlínyuàn biānxiū Yúshān Qián Qiānyì jǐn xù 萬曆丙辰冬十有一月朔翰林院編脩虞山錢謙益謹序). The received ten-juan recension is the 1616 Qián-certified form of Yúnqī’s pre-1615 compilation.
Translations and research
- Goodrich, L. Carrington, and Chaoying Fang. 1976. Dictionary of Ming Biography. Extensive entries on both Sòng Lián and Qián Qiānyì.
- Chan, Kai-wing. 2004. Publishing, Culture, and Power in Early Modern China. Stanford. Includes discussion of Qián Qiānyì’s editorial activities.
- Brook, Timothy. 1993. Praying for Power. Background on late-Míng lay-monastic Buddhism and Sòng Lián as early-Míng reference-figure.
- Struve, Lynn. Multiple studies on the late-Míng / early-Qīng transition, highlighting Qián Qiānyì’s pivotal role.
Other points of interest
The Hù fǎ lù’s triple authorship — early-Míng literatus (Sòng Lián) composition, late-Míng monk (Yúnqī) compilation, late-Míng / early-Qīng scholar-official (Qián) certification — makes the text an unusually rich document of the Buddhist cultural heritage-tradition spanning 200+ years of the Míng dynasty. The chain of transmission itself functions as an argumentative device: Buddhism’s legitimate place within Chinese culture is testified by its presence in the founding-era’s senior literary master, preserved through the late-Míng Buddhist revival, and authenticated by the most eminent scholar-official of the WànlìChóngzhēn period.
Sòng Lián’s Buddhist writings preserved here are a major primary source for early-Míng Buddhist intellectual history, including tomb-inscriptions for important early-Míng monks and records of monastery-restoration projects under the Hóngwǔ emperor’s direct or indirect patronage. The text also preserves several of Sòng Lián’s essays on the relationship of Buddhism to Confucian statecraft.