Èzhōu Lóngguāng Dáfū chánshī jī lèi jí 鄂州龍光達夫禪師雞肋集
Chicken-Ribs Collection of Chán Master Dáfū of Lóngguāng in Èzhōu
A one-juan Míng-Qīng transitional Chán yǔlù preserving the collected sermons and teaching-dialogues of Lóngguāng Dáfū Yùnshàng 龍光達夫蘊上 (dates unrecorded; active late Míng to early Qīng), abbot of Lóngguāngsì 龍光寺 in Èzhōu 鄂州 (modern Wǔhàn 武漢 region). Compiled by his attendant-disciples Dàosì 道汜 and Dàochōng 道沖 (et al.). The title’s jī lèi 雞肋 (“chicken-ribs”) is a classical self-deprecating literary trope: “neither worth keeping nor worth throwing away” — the master’s self-deprecating characterisation of his collected utterances.
About the work
A one-juan Chán yǔlù, J29 B225. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.
The text’s structure: a collection of formal hall-sermons (jù shì 據室 teaching-from-the-master’s-quarters, xiǎo cān 小參 small-group talks keyed to specific occasions — snowfalls, specific gōng’àn presentations, etc.), elegy-verses and tomb-inscriptions for associated masters (including the tomb-inscription for Dáfū’s own master Ànwēng héshàng 按翁和尚 and commemorative verses for several disciples), and various miscellaneous compositions.
The closing verses for Ànwēng héshàng 按翁和尚 — which function as a brief biographical sketch of Dáfū’s master — report that Ànwēng was born in the West-Chǔ 西楚 region, lost his mother in childhood (dedicated to xiào 孝 after her death), vowed chastity and entered monastic life in the Chóngzhēn era (崇禎), obtained awakening at Xīfēng 西峰 under the “Lion’s Roar Chamber” (Shī hǒu zhī shì 師吼之室), attained parallel awakening to Míng Dòngshān 明洞山, and at his death his body was cremated with disciples collecting his three-session dharma-language for printing. This narrative places Dáfū within the late-Míng Chán institutional-transitional context.
Another included elegy is for Zhū Rǔnán jūshì 朱汝南居士 (“Layman Zhū Rǔnán”), a Míng-loyalist lay practitioner who retired to Buddhist practice after the 1644 dynastic collapse and survived “thirty-some years of Chán study and Way-seeking” before his death — another marker of the mid-to-late 17th-century lay-Buddhist community surrounding Dáfū’s teaching circle.
Abstract
Lóngguāng Dáfū Yùnshàng 龍光達夫蘊上. Active at Lóngguāngsì 龍光寺 in Èzhōu 鄂州 (Húběi). Dharma-heir of Ànwēng héshàng 按翁和尚 in an uncertain lineage (possibly Línjì given the doctrinal style, but not firmly identified). Lifedates unrecorded; career spans late Míng through early Qīng.
Attendant-editors: Dàosì 道汜 and Dàochōng 道沖, Dáfū’s disciples, described in the text-colophon as shì zhě 侍者 (“attendants”). The catalog’s děng lù 等錄 (“et al. recorded”) indicates additional disciple-editors beyond these two.
Dating: the text includes specific references to the Chóngzhēn 崇禎 reign (1628–1644) and to the 1644 “home and country broken and lost” (jiā guó pò wáng 家國破亡) event referenced in the Zhū Rǔnán elegy. The text’s compositional period thus spans the late-Míng to Shùnzhì-Kāngxī transitional decades. Without firmer dating anchors, notBefore 1640 and notAfter 1670 provides a reasonable bracket; the publication (at the Jiāxīngfǔ Léngyánsì jīngfáng 嘉興府楞嚴寺經房 per the closing colophon) would have been shortly after Dáfū’s death.
Translations and research
- Jiang Wu. 2008. Enlightenment in Dispute. Relevant for the broader Línjì and Cáodòng lineage context of the Míng-Qīng transitional period.
- No substantial study located specifically on J29 B225.
Other points of interest
The Jī lèi jí represents one of the numerous regional Chán yǔlù collections produced in the Míng-Qīng transitional Húběi / West-Chǔ area — a region that was central to both the Míng-Qīng military struggle and the subsequent Chán publishing revival. The text’s preservation reflects the sustained commitment of regional Chán communities to document their masters’ teaching-voices through canonical printing.
The closing colophon’s identification of the Jiāxīngfǔ Léngyánsì jīngfáng 嘉興府楞嚴寺經房 as the preservation-site connects the text to the broader Jiāxīng Canon publishing network — the Léngyánsì at Jiāxīng prefecture being one of the principal publishing-sites for the Jiāxīng Canon project following its relocation from Wǔtáishān (see KR6q0189).