Gāofēng Sānshān Lái chánshī nián pǔ 高峰三山來禪師年譜
Chronology of Chán Master Sānshān Lái of Gāofēng
A one-juan year-by-year biographical chronology of the Qīng Línjì-Yángqí Chán master Sānshān Dēnglái 三山燈來 (1614–1685), compiled by his dharma-heir Biéān Xìngtǒng 別庵性統 (1661–1717). Prefaced by Zhìshàn 至善, another of Dēnglái’s dharma-heirs.
About the work
A one-juan nián pǔ 年譜 (year-by-year chronological biography) of a Chán master, J29 B245. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.
The nián pǔ genre — a classical Chinese biographical form — presents its subject’s life in strict annual sequence, with dated entries for ordination, teaching positions, notable encounters, poem-compositions, dharma-transmissions, pilgrimage-journeys, and death. Xìngtǒng’s compilation of his master Dēnglái’s nián pǔ provides a comprehensive primary-source for the mid-to-late 17th-century Sichuan / Zhèjiāng Línjì-Yángqí Chán network.
Key dates established by the nián pǔ:
- Birth: 1614/11/29 (Wànlì 42 / 10 / 28 xū hour) in Zhōngzhōu 忠州 (Sichuan).
- Ordination and Chán training under Qìngzhōng Tiěbì Huìjī 慶忠鐵壁慧機.
- Abbacies at Gāofēng Kāixī 高峰開禧 (Sichuan) and Wǔyún 五雲 (Zhèjiāng).
- Death: 1685/8/17 (Kāngxī 24 / 7 / 18), age 72.
- Post-death institutional continuity through Xìngtǒng’s own Shèngyīn jiēdàisì 聖因接待寺 abbacy.
Abstract
See Sānshān Dēnglái and Biéān Xìngtǒng person notes for details. The nián pǔ complements Xìngtǒng’s other major editorial-compilational work — the systematic Wǔ jiā zōng zhǐ zuǎn yào KR6q0169 — by providing the personal-biographical frame for Dēnglái’s doctrinal output.
Zhìshàn 至善: dharma-heir of Dēnglái; preface-writer for the nián pǔ. Lifedates and full biographical details unrecorded.
Dating: notBefore 1685 (immediately after Dēnglái’s death, the moment at which nián pǔ compilation normally began); notAfter 1710 (well within Xìngtǒng’s productive compilation period, which ended with his 1717 death). A plausible specific date-range: late 1680s to early 1700s.
Translations and research
- Jiang Wu. 2008. Enlightenment in Dispute. Context on the Línjì-Yángqí lineage-history within which Dēnglái operated.
- No substantial study located specifically on J29 B245.
Other points of interest
The nián pǔ is the principal primary source for Dēnglái’s life and career, much more detailed than the standard lamp-record biographies. As a self-documenting Chán-institutional product — compiled by Dēnglái’s own dharma-heir for inclusion in the canonical collection — it represents a particularly rich witness to late-17th-century Chán monastic self-representation.
The text’s compilation-context — Xìngtǒng’s editorial programme that also produced the Wǔ jiā zōng zhǐ zuǎn yào KR6q0169 and the Xù dēng zhèng tǒng 續燈正統 KR6q0028 — demonstrates the systematic character of late-17th-century Línjì lineage-documentation: a dharma-heir’s responsibility to preserve his master’s life-record, teaching-collection, and lineage-historical position through multiple-genre canonical publication.
Links
- CBETA J29nB245
- Kanseki DB
- Dēnglái’s systematic essay: KR6q0169 Wǔ jiā zōng zhǐ zuǎn yào.
- Xìngtǒng’s other major work: KR6q0028 Xù dēng zhèng tǒng.