Zhèngjué Rùnguāng Zé chánshī zǎo xuě jí 正覺潤光澤禪師澡雪集
Bathing-in-Snow Collection of Chán Master Rùnguāng Zé of Zhèngjué
A one-juan Qīng Chán poetic-miscellany by Rùnguāng Zé 潤光澤 (catalog single-character name: Zé 澤), hào Rùnwēng 潤翁, abbot of Zhèngjuésì 正覺寺. Re-edited (chóng biān 重編) by his dharma-heir Zhàoshuǐ 照水 (spring-tide 春臺, referenced as a visiting-disciple in the preface); prefaced by Chén Wéndào 陳聞道.
About the work
A brief one-juan poetic and literary collection, J39 B458. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. The title Zǎo xuě jí 澡雪集 (“Bathing in Snow”) evokes a classical Chán-poetic trope of purification through extreme practice. Chén Wéndào’s preface was written after Zé’s death, when his disciple Zhàoshuǐ came to Chén with the compiled manuscript seeking a preface.
Zé composed his poetry and prose huò xíng yín zé pàn, huò wò bìng chuáng tóu 或行吟澤畔或臥病床頭 (“sometimes reciting-verses by the marshes, sometimes lying on the sickbed”) — a poetic self-description indicating a life-style mixing meditative-solitude retreats and physical frailty.
Abstract
Rùnguāng Zé 潤光澤: Qīng Chán master, abbot of Zhèngjuésì 正覺寺. Lifedates unrecorded. Based on the preface’s jiǎzǐ 甲子 reference (likely Kāngxī 23 = 1684), Zé died by about 1684 with his poetic corpus being compiled by his disciple shortly thereafter.
Dating: notBefore c. 1670 (Zé’s mature productive period); notAfter c. 1700 (the publication-horizon).