Nánshí Wénxiù chánshī yǔlù 南石文琇禪師語錄
Four-juan early-Míng yǔlù of Nánshí Wénxiù 文琇 南石文琇 (zì Nánshí 南石; 1345 – 1 November 1418), Yángqí-branch Línjì dharma-heir of Xíngzhōng Zhìrén 行中至仁 (1309–1382, dharma-heir of 行端 Yuánsǒu Xíngduān and thus 文琇’s entry into the Jìngshān succession). Xuzangjing X71 no. 1422. Compiled by five named ménrén 門人 led by his principal dharma-heir 宗謐 Cuìfēng Zōngmì 翠峰宗謐, with 妙門, 復初, 廷璨 and 良玓. Four abbacy-records populate juan 1–2: Sūzhōu Pǔmén chánsì 普門禪寺, Língyán Bàoguó Yǒngzuò chánsì 靈巖報國永祚禪寺, Sūzhōu Wànshòu Bàoēn Guāngxiào chánsì 萬壽報恩光孝禪寺, and — as 55th lièzǔ of Jìngshān — Jìngshān Xīngshèng Wànshòu chánsì 徑山興聖萬壽禪寺. Juan 2 closes with sònggǔ, and juan 3–4 continue with jìsòng and closing miscellanea.
Abstract
The preserved text opens with a short bá 跋 by Yuánxìn 圓信 of Jìngshān Qiānzhǐān 千指菴. The principal preface is by Yáo Guǎngxiào 姚廣孝 (1335–1418, the Chán monk 智及-heir Dúān Dàoyǎn 獨庵道衍 in his capacity as dharma-brother) — one of the most remarkable Míng-Buddhist-prefatorial documents surviving, since Yáo writes as the senior statesman-strategist of the Yǒnglè court (Tàizǐ shǎoshī 太子少師; Púsàjiè dìzǐ 菩薩戒弟子) and as a fellow-student of Wénxiù in the same fourth-generation descent from Xíngduān. Dated the 27th of the 2nd month of Yǒnglè 11 (7 March 1413), the preface surveys the late-Yuán generation of masters — 清欲 Liǎoān Qīngyù, 梵琦 Chǔshí Fànqí, Xíngzhōng Zhìrén, 無慍 Shùzhōng Wúyùn, 惟一 Liǎotáng Wéiyī, Mùān Cōng 木菴聰 — as a past heyday, laments that “after the deaths of these great elders, monasteries fell silent” and that “those who styled themselves good spiritual friends now just fabricate perverse explanations and bawl out meaningless shouts and blows, fooling the countryside — they are truly a race of wild foxes,” and positions Wénxiù as the reviver of correct Chán standards in the Yǒnglè reign. Yáo further records that in the early Yǒnglè period Wénxiù was summoned to the capital to participate in the editorial team for the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn 永樂大典 (a unique attestation of Chán monastic involvement in that project), was kept in Běijīng for three years while the compilation was finished, and subsequently was appointed to Jìngshān by the Sēnglù sī 僧錄司 on the grounds that “only Wénxiù can fill this seat.”
Wénxiù was a native of Kūnshān 崑山 (Sūzhōu), lay surname Lǐ 李. Per the DILA extensive notice: ordained at Shàolóngān 紹隆菴 under Zhìxīng 智興 héshàng; in Hóngwǔ 4 (1371) he went to Hǔqiūshān to hear Xíngzhōng Zhìrén expound, was recognised by Xíngzhōng as a live vessel, and became first shìsī 侍司 and then jìshì 記室 under him. After Xíngzhōng’s death (1382) he held successively the three Sūzhōu abbacies, then the Jìngshān seat after his return from the capital in the 1410s. He died on the 24th of the 9th month of Yǒnglè 16 (1 November 1418), shìshòu 74, sēnglà 67. His own lamp-record work — cited in DILA as Zēngjí Xùchuándēnglù 增集續傳燈錄 in six juan — is distinct from the better-known 30-juan work of the same title by 居頂 Yuánjí Jūdǐng (Wénxiù’s exact contemporary in the Míng establishment).
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located. Wén-xiù figures marginally in Yáo Guǎng-xiào / Dào-yǎn studies because of the 1413 preface. Chinese biographical apparatus: Bǔ-xù gāo-sēng zhuàn juan 14 (X77); Zēng-jí Xù-chuándēng-lù juan 5 (X83); Wǔ-dēng quán-shū juan 56; Wǔ-dēng huì-yuán xù-lüè juan 2 (X80); Jìng-shān zhì (55th liè-zǔ).
Other points of interest
The Yáo Guǎngxiào preface is the clearest single Míng testimony to the political-Buddhist programme of the Yǒnglè court — situating the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn enterprise, the imperial dàbàoēn 大報恩 liturgy, and the reactivation of Jìngshān at the top of the Chán hierarchy as deliberately coordinated projects of dynastic legitimation. Yáo’s description of his own old-age commitment to Wénxiù’s yǔlù — “I and the master are brothers in the dharma-gate; I cannot decline the preface” — marks one of the last Míng statements of Línjì dharma-fraternity between a court strategist and an orthodox Jiāngnán abbot.