聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

大巍禪師竹室集

5 min read

Text ID
KR6q0196
Date
1460–1636
Dynasty
明

Dàwēi chánshī zhúshì jí 大巍禪師竹室集

The Bamboo-Chamber Collection of Chán Master Dàwēi

The preserved collected writings of the mid-Míng Línjì-lineage Yúnnán Chán master Dàwēi Jìnglún 大巍淨倫 (1427–1492; hào Xiǎntōng 顯通 “Manifest-Penetrating”, Dàwēi 大巍 “Great Heights”). The text circulated in manuscript for over a century after Jìnglún’s 1492 death, surviving only in partial fragments, before being collected and edited by the Yúnnán Chán master Chèyōng Zhōulǐ 徹庸周理 (1591–1647) as part of his broader 1636 Yúnnán Chán regional-anthology project (see KR6q0195). The received Jiāxīng Canon text (J25 B165) preserves only juan 6 of an original six-juan collection.

About the work

A one-juan fragmentary Chán master’s collected writings (the preserved juan 6 of a lost-in-bulk original), J25 B165. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.

The original six-juan Zhúshì jí was assembled in the late 15th century by Jìnglún’s disciples Dàozōng 道宗 and Dàoyì 道義, who — out of concern that their master’s words would be lost — collected his hall-sermons, admonitions to the community, niān gǔ 拈古 and sòng gǔ 頌古 commentary-verses on classical cases, and his poetic responses (gēng chóu dú chàng 賡酬獨唱 — harmonising-and-solitary singing). They printed the result under the title Zhúshì jí (“Bamboo-Chamber Collection”) after Jìnglún’s retirement-hermitage name — he had retired in Chénghuà wùxū 成化戊戌 (1478) to a western-wing retreat where he “planted bamboo and self-delighted” (zhòng zhú zì yí 種竹自怡), calling it his Zhúshì 竹室 (“Bamboo Chamber”).

The collection became fragmentary in the century following Jìnglún’s 1492 death; Zhōulǐ’s recovery of surviving materials in 1636 preserves what was then available.

Abstract

Dàwēi Jìnglún 大巍淨倫 (DILA A001105). Hào Xiǎntōng 顯通 (“Manifest-Penetrating”), Dàwēi 大巍 (“Great Heights”); also Wǔtái Jìnglún 五台淨倫 (for his later Wǔtáishān connection). Lay surname Kāng 康. Native of Kūnmíng 昆明 (Yúnnán). Lifedates Xuāndé dīngwèi 宣德丁未 = Xuāndé 2 = 1427 (per Zhúshì jí juan 6, Xíng jiǎo) to Hóngzhì rénzǐ 弘治壬子 = Hóngzhì 5 = 1492 (age 66).

Ordained at Zhèngtǒng gēngshēn 正統庚申 = Zhèngtǒng 5 = 1440 at the Tàihuá Wújítài 太華無極泰 monastery in Yúnnán (age 14). Received dharma-transmission at Tiānshùn guǐwèi 天順癸未 = Tiānshùn 7 = 1463 from Fúshān Gǔtíng héshàng 浮山古庭和尚 (= Gǔtíng Shànzūn 古庭善堅, the founding patriarch of the Yúnnán Chán lineage). Twenty-fourth-generation descendant in the Línjì line.

Career: In Chéng-huà yǐ-yǒu 成化乙酉 = Chéng-huà 1 = 1465 Jìng-lún travelled to the eastern quarter of the capital (Beijing) and founded Wàn-fú chán-chà 萬福禪剎 (Myriad-Blessings Chán Monastery), where his “school-wind greatly arose” with daily visitors both monastic and lay. In 1478 he retired to his Zhú-shì hermitage for quiet reading and meditation. In Guǐ-mǎo 癸卯 = Chéng-huà 19 = 1483 he made pilgrimage to Wǔ-tái-shān 五臺山 to visit Mañjuśrī-sanctuaries, returning in Bǐng-wǔ 丙午 = Chéng-huà 22 = 1486 to continue feeding visiting monks (with rice and grain requisitioned from far and near without formal solicitation). In Hóng-zhì gēng-xū 弘治庚戍 = Hóng-zhì 3 = 1490 he returned to Wǔ-tái-shān as abbot of Xiǎn-tōng-sì 顯通寺 (at the invitation of the monastic administrator Dūn Jué-yì 敦覺義) for a two-year retreat-residence; returned to his Zhú-shì in 1492 to read the Buddhist canon, dying shortly thereafter.

Dating: notBefore c. 1460 (Jìnglún’s mature productive period, encompassing his Beijing Wànfúsì abbacy); notAfter 1636 (Zhōulǐ’s editorial recovery and publication in the Cáoxī yī dī programme). The bulk of the text-contents are Jìnglún’s own teachings from roughly 1465–1492; Zhōulǐ’s role was editorial-preservative rather than authorial.

Translations and research

  • Hou Chong 侯沖. Various studies on Yúnnán Buddhist history.
  • 《鷄足山志》 Jī-zú-shān zhì juan 6: narrative of the Yúnnán Chán lineage.
  • No substantial Western-language study located specifically on J25 B165.

Other points of interest

The Zhúshì jí’s preservation-history — fragmentary transmission across the 15th–17th centuries, partial recovery by Zhōulǐ in 1636, eventual canonical inclusion in the Jiāxīng Canon — is itself a distinctive case of regional Buddhist text-recovery. Jìnglún’s teaching represents one of the first generations of native-Yúnnán Chán masters who achieved recognition in the Chinese-heartland monastic network (as evidenced by his Beijing Wànfúsì abbacy and his Wǔtáishān invitations). The collection’s subsequent near-loss and eventual recovery demonstrate the precarious transmission of peripheral-region Buddhist literature under conditions of limited institutional support.

Jìnglún’s grand-master Gǔtíng Shànzūn 古庭善堅 (1422–1493), referenced in his dharma-transmission genealogy, was the founding patriarch of the Yúnnán Chán lineage — returning from mainland Chán training to establish the Jīzúshān 鷄足山 monastic community that would sustain Yúnnán Buddhist culture through the MíngQīng transition and beyond.

Graph View

Backlinks