Liǎotáng Wéiyī chánshī yǔlù 了堂惟一禪師語錄
Four-juan Yuán yǔlù of Liǎotáng Wéiyī 惟一 了堂惟一 (別號 Jièshì 芥室; lifedates not precisely recorded, died aged 84), Yángqí-branch Línjì dharma-heir of 妙道 Zhúyuán Miàodào 竺原妙道 (1257–1345) — and thus dharma-brother of 無慍 Shùzhōng Wúyùn (KR6q0349). Xuzangjing X71 no. 1417. Compiled by fourteen named ménrén 門人: 宗義, 有端 (named in the juan 1 colophon, alongside Zōngyì; the Kanripo source-text shows a variant graph 省端 here, which the catalog and DILA A000382 regularise to 有端); 思齊, 思靜; 妙淨; 無我; 文暐; 雲澹; 思謙; 普莊; 宗遠; 思廉; 文度; 文朗. Juan 1 covers the Qìngyuánlù Yánqìng chánsì 延慶禪寺 (from Zhìshùn 1 / Gēngwǔ 1330) and the Táizhōulù Zǐtuòshān Guǎngdùsì 紫籜山廣度寺 (from Zhìzhèng 2 / 1342) abbacies; juan 2 the Qìngyuánlù Tiānníngsì 天寧寺 (from Zhìzhèng 23 / 1363) and Tiāntóngsì 天童寺 (subsequent), with sònggǔ, zànyǔ and zìzàn; juan 3 jìsòng and xiǎo fóshì; juan 4 a free-standing hòulù 後錄 of occasional verse.
Abstract
Wéiyī was a native of Nínghǎi 寧海 (Táizhōu), a descendant of the Southern-Sòng chéngxiàng Yè Mèngdǐng 葉夢鼎; he trained first at Sìmíng Wànshòu under Xuěyá Zhuāng 雪崖莊, then received dharma-transmission from Zhúyuán Miàodào at the latter’s seat on Zǐtuòshān. His first installation at Yánqìng (1330) is the earliest dated content in the collection; his opening incense there named Miàodào (“formerly of Píngjiānglù Jiànyán chánsì, Yángqí eleventh generation, Zhúyuán Dào héshàng” 前住平江路薦嚴禪寺楊岐第十一世竺元道和尚) — a precise lineage-placement that anchors him at the eleventh Yángqí generation, one short of 無慍’s and Gǔ-lín-lineage descendants at the twenty-third generation from Huìnéng.
He held four successive abbacies — Qìngyuán Yánqìng (1330), Táizhōu Zǐtuòshān Guǎngdù (from 1342), Qìngyuán Tiānníng (from 1363), and Tiāntóng (subsequent) — the first recorded in the present collection under the juan-1 byline of Zōngyì and Yǒuduān (who edit jointly the first two assemblies), and successive editorial teams taking the later books. The hòulù in juan 4, which closes the collection, is undated. Wéiyī’s known principal dharma-heir is 普莊 Dāiān Pǔzhuāng 呆菴普莊 (1347–1403, KR6q0351) — one of the fourteen editors of the present yǔlù — who would go on to become the 60th abbot of Jìngshān (from Hóngwǔ 26 / 1393). The editorial presence of Pǔzhuāng here implies the compilation was still active after 1359 (when Pǔzhuāng was ordained at thirteen under Zuǒān Yuánliáng 左菴原良 at Tiāntóng, before going on to meet Wéiyī at Tiānníng), and suggests the text was finalised in the mid-to-late Hóngwǔ era.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located. Wéi-yī is treated in biographical apparatus carried forward through Zēng-jí Xù-chuándēng-lù juan 1 and 6 (compiled by 居頂 Jū-dǐng, dharma-heir of 無慍 — thus Wéi-yī’s dharma-nephew), Wǔ-dēng yán-tǒng juan 2 (X81 no. 1568), Wǔ-dēng quán-shū juan 51, and the Tiān-tóng-sì zhì 天童寺志 juan 3.