密藏開禪師遺稿

Mìzàng Kāi chánshī yí gǎo 密藏開禪師遺稿

The Surviving Manuscripts of Chán Master Mìzàng Kāi

A two-juan posthumous compilation of the writings of Mìzàng Dàokāi 密藏道開 (zì Mìzàng 密藏 “Secret Treasury”; Nánchāng 南昌 native; dates unrecorded, active c. 1580–1600), disciple of Zǐbǎi Zhēnkě 紫柏真可 and one of the two principal monastic organisers of the celebrated Jiāxīng Canon (Fāngcè zàng 方冊藏) block-print project. Published in the Jiāxīng Canon as J23 B118, the posthumous collection preserves Dàokāi’s prefaces, letters, and short essays from his years organising the monumental Buddhist publishing project that produced the canon in which it is itself preserved.

About the work

A two-juan posthumous compilation of a Chán master’s writings, J23 B118. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. The text contents fall into several identifiable groupings:

• Prefaces (xù 序) to Buddhist sūtras, treatises, and monastic collections that Dàokāi oversaw or endorsed.
• Letters (shū 書) to fellow monks, lay patrons, and administrative contacts about the Jiāxīng Canon project’s progress, funding, and editorial challenges.
• Essays (wén 文, lùn 論) on specific doctrinal and organisational matters.
• The “Zūnzhě yǔ Zàng dàshī shū” 尊者與藏大師書 (“The Venerable [i.e., Zǐbǎi Zhēnkě]‘s Letter to Dàshī [Dàokāi]”) — a fragment of correspondence from Dàokāi’s master addressed to him, appended to the collection.
• Personnel-rosters of the canon-project’s monastic and lay participants.

The collection’s main historical significance is as a primary source for the Jiāxīng Canon project, one of the largest Buddhist publishing initiatives in Chinese history. The project — conceived by Zǐbǎi Zhēnkě in the Wànlì era as a more-accessible alternative to the imperially-sponsored Míng canons — aimed to produce the entire Buddhist canon in inexpensive octavo-format (fāngcè 方冊) block-printing for broad monastic and lay circulation. Dàokāi’s 1587 vow with ten lay patrons to fund the project, his 1589 commencement of production at Wǔtáishān Miàodéān 五臺山妙德庵, his 1592 relocation to Jìngshān Jìzhàoān 徑山寂照庵, and his eventual withdrawal from leadership due to illness, are all documented from the interior in the Yí gǎo.

Abstract

Mìzàng Dàokāi 密藏道開 (DILA A009414). Zì Mìzàng 密藏; also Mìzàng Kāi 密藏開, Dàokāijiǒng 道開扃. Native of Nánchāng 南昌 (Jiāngxī). Lifedates unrecorded. Originally a Confucian qīngjīn 青衿 (licentiate-scholar); abandoned scholarly career and took tonsure at Nánhǎi 南海. Drawn to Zǐbǎi Zhēnkě 紫柏真可 (1544–1604) by his teaching reputation, became his shìzhě 侍者 (personal attendant).

The Jiāxīng Canon project. The most significant action of Dàokāi’s career — and the subject of much of his preserved writing — was his leadership of the Jiāxīng Canon project. In Wànlì 10 (1582) Dàokāi was struck, while travelling through Shàoxīng, by a fragment of old inscription recording that the small Kuàijī prefecture alone had produced seven Buddhist canon-printings in the previous dynasty (Yuán); reflecting on how much greater the Míng should be able to produce, he conceived the vow to print a new canon. In Wànlì 15 (1587) the vow was formalised with ten lay hùfǎ 護法 (dharma-defender) patrons and Dàokāi began his colleague Fǎběn 法本’s collaboration. In Wànlì 17 (1589) carving began at Wǔtáishān 五臺山 Miàodéān 妙德庵. After four years the project was relocated to Jìngshān Jìzhàoān (because the Wǔtái climate made sustained carving difficult). Midway through the work Dàokāi fell ill and withdrew, passing leadership to Huànyú 幻餘; the canon was completed by subsequent generations and is now preserved as the Jiāxīng zàng 嘉興藏.

Dàokāi’s other surviving work is the Zàng yì jīng shū biāo mù 藏逸經書標目 (A Notation-List of Canon-Missing Sūtras and Treatises), a bibliographic scholarly work identifying Buddhist texts that had been lost from Chinese canonical collections. His principal dharma-heir was Yánniàn Yúnqín 延念雲勤 (DILA A022834).

Dating: no preface-date is preserved in the received text. The collection must post-date Dàokāi’s withdrawal from active project-leadership in the mid-to-late 1590s and have been assembled for publication sometime shortly thereafter, likely during Zǐbǎi Zhēnkě’s final years (pre-1604) or shortly after his death. A bracket of notBefore 1585 (Dàokāi’s mature period) through notAfter 1605 is defensible; the actual compilation is likely around 1600.

Translations and research

• Chia, Lucille. 2011. “The Life and Afterlife of Qisha Canon.” In Spreading Buddha’s Word in East Asia. Columbia University Press. Includes discussion of the Jiāxīng Canon project.
• 周紹良 Zhōu Shào-liáng. Various studies on Míng Buddhist publishing history.
• Brook, Timothy. 1993. Praying for Power. Context on Míng Buddhist publishing.
• Goossaert, Vincent, et al. Scholarship on late-Míng / early-Qīng Buddhist book culture.
• No substantial monographic study located specifically on J23 B118.

Other points of interest

The Yí gǎo’s preservation-loop is itself historically notable: the posthumous collection of Dàokāi’s writings was preserved and printed by the very canon-project he had founded. The Jiāxīng Canon’s inclusion of the Yí gǎo within its own collection thus constitutes an unusual internal self-documentation: the project memorialising its own organisational architect within its own publishing-medium. Few other Chinese Buddhist publishing projects have produced this kind of internally-reflexive documentary trace.

The Jiāxīng Canon itself — completed across the MíngQīng transitional decades (1589–c. 1707) — became the single most important Chinese Buddhist printed canon of the early-modern period, and remained in continuous use into the twentieth century. Its accessible format and comprehensive inclusion of not just the core Buddhist canon but also “canonical-supplementary” works (like the Yí gǎo itself) made it an invaluable resource for later Buddhist scholarship and practice.

Links

• CBETA
• Jiāxīng Canon as a whole: the Fāngcè zàng 方冊藏, 340+ volumes.
• Dàokāi’s bibliographic work: Zàng yì jīng shū biāo mù 藏逸經書標目 (J14 B073 or similar).
• 道開 DILA
• Kanseki DB