Língruì ní Zǔkuí Fú chánshī Miàozhàn lù 靈瑞尼祖揆符禪師妙湛錄
Wondrous-Deep Record of Chán Nun Zǔkuí Fú of Língruì
A five-juan early-Qīng Chán yǔlù of the Buddhist nun Zǔkuí Fú 祖揆符 (i.e., Língruì Fúānzhǔ 靈瑞符菴主, catalog-name 符 Fú-nun), one of the two principal nuns in the Hóngchú teaching-community at Sūzhōu Língyánsì who collaborated on the Sòng gǔ hé xiǎng jí KR6q0204. Prefaced by the lay-Buddhist Lǐ Mó 李模 (hào Mìān jūshì 密菴居士 “Secret-Hermitage Layman”) of Wújùn 吳郡. Compiled by her disciples led by Shīzhào 師炤.
A remarkable document of Chinese Buddhist women’s monastic leadership: a substantial solo yǔlù for a nun — genre-wise nearly unprecedented in the Chinese canonical tradition, which overwhelmingly preserves male-monastic teaching-records.
About the work
A five-juan nun’s yǔlù, J35 B338. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.
The yǔlù documents Fú-nun’s own independent teaching-career following her emergence from the Hóngchú-lineage training that she and her co-practitioner Miàozhàn Zǒngdàorén 玅湛總道人 had completed together. Per Lǐ Mó’s preface, Fú-nun was eventually “separated [from her dharma-sister Miàozhàn] and established at two separate places” (fēn shēn liǎng chù 分身兩處), with each undertaking independent abbacies in the Sūzhōu / Wú region — an extraordinary institutional advancement for seventeenth-century Chinese Buddhist women.
Five-juan structure: formal hall-sermons, small-group instructions, gōng’àn commentary, poetry, letters. Fú-nun’s teaching-style is characterised by Lǐ Mó as jù hǔ tóu shōu hǔ wěi 據虎頭收虎尾 (“seizing the tiger’s head and grasping its tail”) — i.e., a fearless, classical-Chán encounter-style that the preface-writer compares favourably to the great male Línjì masters.
Abstract
See Língruì Fúānzhǔ’s existing person note for biographical details on Fú-nun. The Miàozhàn lù represents her mature solo teaching-output, compiled after she had separated from her Miàozhàn co-practitioner and established her own abbacy in the Wújùn (Sūzhōu) region.
Note the title’s phrasing: Líng-ruì ní Zǔ-kuí Fú chánshī 靈瑞尼祖揆符禪師 preserves ní 尼 (“bhikṣuṇī” / “nun”) as an explicit gender-marker within the official monastic title — a rare late-imperial instance where a woman-Chán master’s gender is canonically preserved rather than elided.
Compiler Shīzhào 師炤: senior disciple-nun of Fú-nun; lead editor of the compiled yǔlù. Lifedates and biographical details unrecorded.
Preface-writer Lǐ Mó 李模 (hào Mìān jūshì 密菴居士): late-17th-century Sūzhōu layman; no further biographical material preserved.
Dating: notBefore c. 1660 (Fú-nun’s mature teaching-career begins after her initial awakening under Hóngchú); notAfter c. 1700 (reasonable outer bound for the compilation and publication, given the late-Kāngxī context).
Translations and research
- Grant, Beata. 2008. Eminent Nuns: Women Chan Masters of Seventeenth-Century China. University of Hawai’i Press. The essential monographic treatment, with extensive analysis of Fú-nun and her Miàozhàn lù.
- Grant’s related articles in Late Imperial China and elsewhere provide focused treatment.
Other points of interest
The Miàozhàn lù — alongside KR6q0204 Sòng gǔ hé xiǎng jí (the dual-voice collaboration with Miàozhàn Zǒngdàorén) — makes Fú-nun one of only a handful of pre-modern Chinese Buddhist women whose teaching-voice is preserved in substantial solo canonical form. The pairing of the two works — a collaborative early composition and a mature solo yǔlù — documents her development as a Chán master from dharma-sister to independent teaching-authority.
The Hóngchú lineage’s willingness to train and certify women disciples as full dharma-heirs — producing not one but multiple women with canonical yǔlù — represents a distinctive feature of this specific Línjì-Sānfēngpài sub-lineage, differentiating it from other seventeenth-century Chán communities with more restrictive gender-practice.
Links
- CBETA J35nB338
- Kanseki DB
- Related work by Fú-nun and her dharma-sister: KR6q0204 Sòng gǔ hé xiǎng jí.
- Grant, Beata. 2008. Eminent Nuns.