Yúān Zhìjí chánshī yǔlù 愚菴智及禪師語錄
Ten-juan Yuán-to-early-Míng yǔlù of Yúān Zhìjí 智及 愚菴智及 (zì Yǐzhōng 以中, 別號 Xīlù 西麓; imperial title from the Yuán Dìshī Míngbiàn zhèngzōng Guǎnghuì chánshī 明辨正宗廣慧禪師; 1311 – 3 October 1378), Yángqí-branch Línjì dharma-heir of 行端 Yuánsǒu Xíngduān (KR6q0352) — and thus shīxiōng 師兄 to 梵琦 Chǔshí Fànqí, 曇噩 Mèngtáng Tánè, 祖銘 Gǔdǐng Zǔmíng, and 法林 Zhúquán Fǎlín within the Yuánsǒu circle — and 53rd lièzǔ of Jìngshān. Xuzangjing X71 no. 1421. Compiled by ten named ménrén 門人: 觀通 Ruìguāng Xīyuǎn Guāntōng 瑞光希遠觀通 (dharma-heir), 溥震, 正除, 希顏 Tiāntóng Yòngyú Xīyán 天童用愚希顏 (dharma-heir), 忻悟 Língyǐn Kōngsǒu Xīnwù 靈隱空叟忻悟 (dharma-heir), 寶盈 Xùnzhōng Bǎoyíng 巽中寶盈 (dharma-heir), 至寶, 慧鏡, 護位, and 道彝.
The preserved structure: juan 1 Chāngguó Lóngjiào chánsì 昌國隆教禪寺 (from Zhìzhèng 2 / Rénwǔ 壬午 1342, 30 tiáo 條); juan 2 Pǔcí chánsì 普慈禪寺 (39 tiáo); juan 3 Hángzhōu Jìngcí Bàoēn chánsì 淨慈報恩禪寺 (from 戊戌 1358, 34 tiáo); juan 4 Jìngshān Xīngshèng Wànshòu chánsì (first term, 11 tiáo); juan 5 second term at Jìngshān (59 tiáo); juan 6 xiǎocān (13 tiáo); juan 7 sònggǔ (55 首) and zànyǔ (35 首); juan 8 onwards close with miscellaneous verse and — in juan 10 — the closing tǎmíng 塔銘.
Abstract
The preface is by Sòng Lián 宋濂 (same zhífèn 職分 as in his preface to KR6q0352; dated 洪武8 / Yǐmǎo 乙卯.2.21 = 22 March 1375); he writes at the request of Qīngliáng Zǐpián 清涼子楩 (用堂楩公), the same intermediary through whom the KR6q0352 re-cutting had been arranged, carrying a manuscript prepared by 觀通 Guāntōng. Sòng Lián’s preface presents Zhìjí as a “master of a generation” whose teaching “resolves the bindings of entanglement like a falcon slipping its jesses and rising into the clouds.”
Zhìjí was a native of Wúxiàn 吳縣 (Sūzhōu), lay surname Gù 顧. He entered religion as a child at Qiónglóng Hǎiyúnyuàn 穹窿海雲院 and later heard the Huáyán master Xiánshǒu 賢首 on the Dharma-dhātu Contemplation 法界觀. First visited Xiàoyǐn Dàxīn 笑隱大訢 at Jiànyè; a crucial wù 悟 came on seeing autumn leaves fall onto the courtyard. Went to Shuāngjìng (Jìngshān), met Xíngduān, submitted his attainment, and received yìnkě.
Abbatial sequence: Chāngguó Lóngjiào 昌國隆教 (from 1342), Pǔcí 普慈, Jìngcí 淨慈 (from 1358 by invitation of Chéngxiàng Dáshī 達失 [Dāshì Tiěmùěr]), two terms at Jìngshān. Imperial title from the Yuán Dìshī: Míngbiàn Zhèngzōng Guǎnghuì chánshī 明辨正宗廣慧禪師. In Zhìzhèng 35 = Yǐmǎo 乙卯 (1375) he returned to his home temple Hǎiyún 海雲, where he died on the 4th of the 9th month of Hóngwǔ 11 (3 October 1378), shìshòu 68.
Named dharma-heirs — in addition to the four among the editors — include Dúān Dàoyǎn 獨庵道衍 of Běijīng Qìngshòu 慶壽 (better known in Míng history as Yáo Guǎngxiào 姚廣孝, the key strategist of the Yǒnglè usurpation), Hǔqiū Nánchēn Zhìbǎo 虎丘南琛智寶, and Xùnzhōng Bǎoyíng. Zhìjí’s line is thus, in the Míng, a critical node between the late-Yuán Jiāngnán Chán establishment and the political-cultural restructuring under Chéngzǔ.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature on the yǔlù proper located. Yao Guangxiao / Dào-yǎn studies (e.g., the Sino-Japanese monograph tradition on the Yongle usurpation) touch on Zhì-jí as his teacher. Chinese biographical apparatus: Zēng-jí Xù-chuándēng-lù juan 1 and 5; Xù-dēng zhèng-tǒng juan 13; Wǔ-dēng quán-shū juan 55; Jìng-shān zhì (53rd liè-zǔ).