Tiānjiè Juélàng Shèng chánshī quán lù 天界覺浪盛禪師全錄
Complete Record of Chán Master Juélàng Shèng of Tiānjiè
A massive thirty-three-juan Chán yǔlù of the Míng-Qīng transitional Cáodòng-lineage master Juélàng Dàoshèng 覺浪道盛 (1593–1659), also known as Làng zhàngrén 浪杖人 (“Staff-Man Làng”) and Tiānjiè héshàng 天界和尚, the 33rd-generation Cáodòng-orthodox patriarch and abbot of Shèshān Qīxiá 攝山棲霞 (near Jīnlíng / Nánjīng). Compiled by his senior dharma-heirs Dàchéng 大成 and Dàrán 大然 (et al.). One of the largest Chán yǔlù of its period.
About the work
A thirty-three-juan quán lù (“complete record”), J34 B311. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.
The massive scale of the collection — 33 juan, one of the largest Chán yǔlù publications of the seventeenth century — reflects Dàoshèng’s unusually prolific teaching-career and the devotion of his editor-disciples. The quán lù form (literally “complete record”) indicates a comprehensive gathering of all genres of the master’s output: hall-sermons, small-group instructions, gōng’àn commentary, letters, poetry, prose essays, tomb-inscriptions, and miscellaneous compositions. Dàoshèng’s abbacies at multiple major monasteries across the Míng-Qīng transition — Tiānjièsì 天界寺 in Nánjīng, Qīxiásì 棲霞寺 on Shèshān, and others — produced correspondingly abundant teaching-materials that the quán lù preserves in full.
Abstract
Juélàng Dàoshèng 覺浪道盛 (1593/1/18 – 1659/10/22; Wànlì 20/12/16 – Shùnzhì 16/9/7). Hào Juélàng 覺浪 (“Awakening-Wave”), Làngzhàngrén 浪杖人 (“Staff-Man Làng”). Native of Pǔchéng 浦城 (Fújiàn). Thirty-third-generation Cáodòng-orthodox patriarch (Dòngshàng zhèngzōng sānshísān shì 洞上正宗三十三世, per his tomb-inscription in Tiānjiè Juélàng Shèng chánshī yǔlù juan 12).
Dàoshèng was one of the principal Míng-loyalist Chán masters of the Míng-Qīng transition, contemporary with the Yuánwù/Mìyún Línjì line but operating within the distinct Cáodòng institutional network. His abbacies at Tiānjièsì (near the former Míng-capital Nánjīng) and other Jiāngnán-region Cáodòng monasteries placed him at the geographic and institutional centre of the Míng-loyalist Buddhist resistance to the new Qīng regime.
Dàoshèng’s reputation as a teacher was substantial; the classical Míng-Qīng lay Buddhist literary culture of the mid-17th century engaged extensively with his teaching — including Ǒuyì Zhìxù 蕅益智旭, whose Ǒuyì sān sòng KR6q0183 includes a set of ten Q&A responses to Juélàng chánshī (Fù dá Juélàng chánshī shí wèn 附答覺浪禪師十問) as part of the collection.
Senior dharma-heirs and editors: Dàchéng 大成 and Dàrán 大然 are named as the principal editors of the quán lù. Their lineage-position as direct disciples of Dàoshèng places them at the 34th-generation Cáodòng line.
Dating: notBefore c. 1625 (start of Dàoshèng’s mature productive period); notAfter c. 1665 (reasonable outer bound for the compilation’s completion — Dàoshèng died in 1659, with the quán lù compiled and published in the decades immediately following).
Translations and research
- Chao, Raymond (Qiáo Jīnchén). 2011. The Sound of Emptiness: A Study of Chinese Chán / Zen Buddhism in the Seventeenth Century. Extensive treatment of Dàoshèng as a central Míng-loyalist Chán figure.
- Jiang Wu. 2008. Enlightenment in Dispute. Broader context on the Míng-Qīng transitional Chán landscape.
- Chén Yuán 陳垣. 1962. 《明季滇黔佛教考》 and 《清初僧諍記》. Standard treatment of Míng-loyalist Buddhism including Dàoshèng.
- Chen Fang. Various studies on Dàoshèng’s corpus.
Other points of interest
Dàoshèng occupies a distinctive position among Míng-Qīng transitional Chán masters: a Cáodòng master (rather than Línjì) with substantial Míng-loyalist political engagement. His extensive corpus — including both this 33-juan quán lù and his Tiānjiè Juélàng Shèng chánshī yǔlù 天界覺浪盛禪師語錄 (separate, shorter edition) — documents his teaching across the crisis decades of the 1630s–1650s. His political-religious engagement with Míng-loyalist intellectual communities, including his relationships with the Dōnglínpài 東林派 survivors and the fringe Míng-remnant communities in Jiāngnán, makes him a key figure for understanding Chinese Buddhism’s complex relationship to the Míng-Qīng dynastic transition.
Links
- CBETA J34nB311
- Kanseki DB
- Related engagement: KR6q0183 Ǒuyì sān sòng — 智旭’s ten Q&A responses to Dàoshèng.