Chǔshí Fànqí chánshī yǔlù 楚石梵琦禪師語錄
Twenty-juan Yuán-into-early-Míng yǔlù of Chǔshí Fànqí 梵琦 楚石梵琦 (imperial title Fórì Pǔzhào Huìbiàn chánshī 佛日普照慧辯禪師; 28 July 1296 – 25 August 1370), Yángqí-branch Línjì dharma-heir of 行端 Yuánsǒu Xíngduān (KR6q0352) and the leading Chán master of the lower Yangtze in the Zhìzhèng years. Xuzangjing X71 no. 1420. Compiled by fifteen named ménrén 門人 / xiǎoshī bǐqiū 小師比丘, led by 祖光 Zǔguāng: 祖光, 文玹, 曇紹, 祖灊 (the same Zǔqián who headed juan 9 editorial line of KR6q0347 for 清欲), 景瓛 Yíngzhōng Jǐnghuán (Fànqí’s principal named dharma-heir, see DILA A001249), 良彥, 應訢, 明遠, 胤丘, 文晟, 正隆, 善成, 文斌, 中端 and 正參. The twenty juan cover seven separate “assembly” records — Fǔzhēn 福臻 (from Tàidìng 1 / 1324, his first abbacy at twenty-nine), Hǎiyánzhōu Tiānníng Yǒngzuò 海鹽州天寧永祚 (two juan, twice — reflected also in the “six-assembly language” 六會語 title in the prefaces), Hángzhōulù Fèngshān Dàbàoguó 鳳山大報國, Jiāxīnglù Běnjué 本覺, Jiāxīnglù Guāngxiào 光孝, and the second term at Tiānníng Yǒngzuò — followed by dàibié 代別 (juan 8), bǐngfú xiǎocān 秉拂小參 (juan 9), two juan of jǔgǔ 舉古 (10–11), sònggǔ (12), two juan of fózǔ jìzàn 佛祖偈贊 (13–14), fǎyǔ plus five juan of jìsòng 偈頌 (15–19), and finally juan 20’s zá-zhe 襍著, shuǐlù shēngzuò 水陸陞座 (water-land liturgy instructions), and the closing xíngzhuàng 行狀 and tǎmíng 塔銘.
Abstract
The collection carries two prefaces. The first, by Sòng Lián 宋濂 (自稱 Wúxiàng jūshì 無相居士 of Jīnhuá), is undated but clearly posthumous — it describes Fànqí as “having presided at six seats and having passed away” and it positions his line as “Mèngxǐ 妙喜 (Dàhuì Zōnggǎo) in the fifth generation” 妙喜第五世. The second, by Qián Wéishàn 錢惟善 (Qūjiāng jūshì 曲江居士), is dated the autumn of Zhìzhèng 27 / Dīngwèi 丁未 (1367) — three years before Fànqí’s death, when the “six-assembly language” was just entering circulation. The tǎmíng in juan 20 was commissioned by Yíngzhōng Jǐnghuán 景瓛 (Fànqí’s chief dharma-heir) and is the principal biographical source for his life.
Fànqí’s career trajectory is summarised in 梵琦’s person-note: ordination at Tiānníng (Hǎiyán) at nine, precepts at Zhāoqìng at sixteen, the breakthrough at Yàndū on hearing colour-tower drums at night during an imperial audience, formal dharma-transmission from Xíngduān at Jìngshān, and the succession of abbacies mapped in the juan-structure. The twenty-juan length — unusual for Yuán-period yǔlù, most of which come in at six to ten juan — reflects both Fànqí’s long career (six decades in orders) and the degree to which his influence on subsequent Míng-dynasty Chán (and especially the Chán / Pure-Land synthesis) made the preservation of his writings a matter of dynastic cultural-capital.
Sòng Lián’s preface specifically deplores the degeneration of formal Chán practice in the late Yuán — the “gourd-seal yìnkě” and the formulaic “chuán gōngàn 傳公案” drills of the late-Zhì-zhèng years — and positions Fànqí’s style as a restoration of genuine Chán practice. This positioning accords with Fànqí’s known late-life turn toward the Pure-Land synthesis, documented separately in his Xīzhāi jìngtǔ shī 西齋淨土詩.
The preserved yǔlù is more than an archive of teaching: it includes (in juan 20) his shuǐlù 水陸 liturgy instructions, a standard source for late-imperial Chinese ritual practice, and a sequence of occasional jìsòng that includes verse-suites addressed to Japanese monks and Korean contacts — reflecting the same East-Asian Chán network in which his Jiāxīng monasteries played a node.
Translations and research
No book-length Western-language study of Fàn-qí or this yǔlù located; partial treatments exist in studies of Yuán–Míng Chán / Pure-Land synthesis (the Xī-zhāi jìng-tǔ shī, often translated in anthology form) and in studies of Mèng-shān Dé-yì 蒙山德異 / Jiā-xīng Chán. Chinese biographical apparatus: Bǔ-xù gāo-sēng zhuàn juan 14 (X77); Zēng-jí Xù-chuándēng-lù juan 5 (X83); Xīn-xù gāo-sēng zhuàn (B27 n0151).
Other points of interest
Fànqí’s Xīzhāi jìngtǔ shī 西齋淨土詩 — foundational for the later Ming synthesis of Chán and Pure-Land — does not appear to be included in the X71 no. 1420 yǔlù and transmits independently (e.g., X61 n1180); a partial Japanese edition circulated in the Ōbaku 黃檗 network in the 17th century.