Gǔ yīn wáng zhuàn 古音王傳
Biography of the Ancient-Sound King
A one-juan late-Míng allegorical-philosophical narrative by Chuīwàn Guǎngzhēn 吹萬廣真 (1582–1639), with extensive commentarial annotations by three contemporaries: Gǔxīn 古心 (who provides fán zé 凡則 “editorial principles”), the layman Huáng Yùyīng 黃毓英, and Yuánshàn 元善. The title evokes the classical Buddhist legend-figure Gǔyīnwángfó 古音王佛 (“Ancient-Sound King Buddha”) — a trans-cosmic Buddha of the primordial era preceding the present world-age — which Guǎngzhēn uses as an allegorical frame for presenting his Chán-doctrinal position.
About the work
A one-juan Chán allegorical-narrative text, J40 B481. Non-commentary (Guǎngzhēn’s original text is a creative allegorical-biographical composition); commentedTextid omitted.
The text uses a legendary-biographical narrative as a framework for Chán-doctrinal exposition. The multiple commentators’ annotations represent an unusual collaborative-commentarial publication: three contemporaries provide systematic running commentary on Guǎngzhēn’s original allegory.
Note: the catalog classifies the dynasty as 清 (Qīng) but Guǎngzhēn’s death in 1639 places him in the Míng; the text’s composition thus falls within the late-Míng period.
Abstract
See 廣真’s person note. The Gǔ yīn wáng zhuàn complements Guǎngzhēn’s Yī guàn bié chuán KR6q0235 by providing his allegorical-narrative teaching-voice alongside the systematic-treatise voice of the former.
Commentators:
- Gǔxīn 古心: senior Buddhist colleague or disciple of Guǎngzhēn.
- Huáng Yùyīng 黃毓英: lay Buddhist associate.
- Yuánshàn 元善: Buddhist colleague.
All three commentators’ lifedates and full biographical details are unrecorded.
Dating: same as KR6q0235 — Guǎngzhēn’s mature productive period (notBefore 1620, notAfter 1639).
Links
- CBETA J40nB481
- Kanseki DB
- Guǎngzhēn’s parallel systematic treatise: KR6q0235 Yī guàn bié chuán.