Jìdiān Dàojì chánshī yǔlù 濟顛道濟禪師語錄
Sayings-Record of Chán Master Jìdiān Dàojì — a one-juan Southern-Sòng text on Dàojì 道濟 (1148–1209), the celebrated “Crazy Jì” (Jìdiān 濟顛) or “Ji Gong” (Jìgōng 濟公), one of the most beloved folk-legendary figures in Chinese religious culture. A Línjì-Yángqí-lineage Chán monk at Hángzhōu’s Jìngcísì 淨慈寺, Dàojì is remembered through a vast tradition of miraculous-eccentric narratives: drinking alcohol, eating meat, dressing in ragged robes, wandering in apparent madness — while working miracles, rescuing the poor, and embodying an extreme form of Chán freedom-from-convention.
One-juan Southern-Sòng biographical yǔlù-style text, X69 n1361. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. Narrated (xù shù 敘述) by the Southern-Sòng lay Buddhist Shěn Mèngbàn 沈孟柈.
The text is important as one of the earliest written sources on the Dàojì legend, before the later extensive vernacular-narrative tradition (the various Jìgōng zhuàn 濟公傳 novels of the MíngQīng period). Dàojì’s historical existence is secure — he appears in standard Southern-Sòng Chán biographical records — but the legendary accretions around his memory began early and expanded across subsequent centuries into one of the most elaborate Chinese popular-religious hagiographic traditions.
Dating: notBefore c. 1200 (Dàojì’s late career); notAfter c. 1280 (compilation and circulation horizon).
Translations and research
- Shahar, Meir. 1998. Crazy Ji: Chinese Religion and Popular Literature. Harvard. The standard monographic treatment of the Jì-gōng tradition.