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靈樹遠禪師雲嵒集

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Text ID
KR6q0220
Date
1660–1700
Dynasty
清

Língshù Yuǎn chánshī Yúnyán jí 靈樹遠禪師雲嵒集

Cloud-Cliff Collection of Chán Master Língshù Yuǎn

A two-juan early-Qīng Chán yǔlù collection by Língshù Yuǎn 靈樹遠 (also Língyán Yíngfāng Yuǎn 靈巖鎣方遠; zì Yíngfāng 鎣方). Dharma-heir of Tuìwēng Hóngchú 退翁弘儲 (1605–1672; grand-dharma-heir of Hànyuè Fǎzàng 漢月法藏) in the Línjì-Yángqí Sānfēngpài 三峰派 lineage — the same lineage from which the nuns of KR6q0204 descend. Compiled by his disciple Guǎngréng 廣仍.

About the work

A two-juan Chán yǔlù collection, J34 B304. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.

The preface-writer — who quotes extensively from Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟’s (i.e., the grand-grand-master of Yuǎn’s lineage) yǔlù — frames Yuǎn’s teaching within the Sānfēngpài intellectual-institutional tradition. Key lineage-genealogical phrase: hé shàng wéi Sānfēng dí zǐ Tiāntóng Sānfēng liǎng wēng chàng míng dà dào 和尚為三峰嫡子天童三峰兩翁倡明大道 (“The master [= Yuǎn’s teacher Hóngchú] was the rightful son of Sānfēng; the two elders [Mìyún] Tiāntóng and [Fǎzàng] Sānfēng clearly proclaimed the Great Way”) — positioning Yuǎn’s teaching-voice within the Fǎ-zàng-tradition of Wǔ zōng yuán KR6q0167 lineage-theology.

Biographical details preserved in the preface: Yuǎn was native of Chángzhōu 長洲 in Sūzhōu region (Jiāngsū); ordained young; travelled widely in his early monastic years; met his master Hóngchú at Língfēng 靈峰 and recognised him as his dharma-teacher (wú huò suǒ guī yǐ 吾獲所歸矣 “I have found where I belong!”); received full precepts and dharma-transmission despite his chronic illness (sù yǒu léi jí 素有贏疾 “had long suffered from frailty”); attained awakening under Hóngchú’s “mallet and whisk” (chuí fú 槌拂).

Abstract

Língshù Yuǎn 靈樹遠. Zì Yíngfāng 鎣方; also Língyán Yíngfāng Yuǎn 靈巖鎣方遠 (for the Língyánsì affiliation) and Língshù Yuǎn 靈樹遠 (for his later Língshùsì 靈樹寺 abbacy). Lay surname and exact lifedates unrecorded. Native of Chángzhōu 長洲 (modern Sūzhōu region, Jiāngsū). Línjì-Yángqí Sānfēngpài lineage, dharma-heir of Tuìwēng Hóngchú 退翁弘儲.

Compiler Guǎngréng 廣仍: Yuǎn’s disciple and yǔlù compiler. Lifedates and full biographical details unrecorded.

Dating: notBefore c. 1660 (Yuǎn’s mature productive period begins, coincident with Hóngchú’s peak teaching years at Língyánsì); notAfter c. 1700 (reasonable outer bound for the compilation’s completion before the Fǎzàng lineage suppression under Yōngzhèng in 1733).

Translations and research

  • Jiang Wu. 2008. Enlightenment in Dispute. Extensive treatment of the Sānfēngpài lineage of which Yuǎn is a third-generation member.
  • Grant, Beata. 2008. Eminent Nuns. Treats the broader Hóngchú teaching-community at Língyánsì.
  • No substantial study located specifically on J34 B304.

Other points of interest

The Yúnyán jí is a relatively minor representative of the Fǎzàng Sānfēngpài lineage that would be officially suppressed by the Yōngzhèng emperor’s 1733 Jiǎn mó biàn yì lù. Yuǎn’s third-generation position (Fǎzàng → Hóngchú → Yuǎn) places him among the dharma-descendants whose writings would have been suppressed, though the text’s preservation in the Jiāxīng Canon suggests it was included before the imperial suppression order.

The text’s position within the broader Sānfēngpài network complements the Yuánwù’s Wǔ zōng yuán KR6q0167, Yuánwù’s rebuttal Pì wàng jiù lüè shuō KR6q0168, and the nuns’ Sòng gǔ hé xiǎng jí KR6q0204 to provide a comprehensive documentary coverage of the seventeenth-century Línjì-Yángqí Sānfēng sub-lineage controversy.

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