Sōngyǐn Wéi’ān Rán héshàng yǔlù 松隱唯菴然和尚語錄
Recorded Sayings of Venerable Rán, Wéi’ān of Sōng-yǐn by 德然 (說), 慧省 (編次)
About the work
Three-juan recorded-sayings of the Yuán–Míng transition Chán master Wéi’ān Dérán 德然 (d. 1388; also Sōngyǐn Rán 松隱然), dharma-heir of Qiānyán Yuáncháng 千巖元長 (1284–1357) in the Zhōngfēng Míngběn 中峰明本 → Qiānyán line of the Línjì Yángqí 臨濟楊岐 house, compiled (biāncì 編次) by his disciple Huìxǐng 慧省. Preserved in the Jiāxīng zàng 嘉興藏 as J25 no. B154. The text carries two framing pieces: a 1371 hòu xù 後序 by Huáiwèi 懷渭 (清遠懷渭 Zhúān 竹菴, 1318–1376), then resident at Nánpíng 南屏, and a subsequent 1376 preface by the eminent early-Míng literatus Sòng Lián 宋濂 (1310–1381), hànlín xuéshì 翰林學士 of Jīnhuá 金華, himself a lay student of Qiānyán. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.
Abstract
Author. Dérán, style Wéi’ān, native of Huátíng 華亭 (modern Sōngjiāng, in the vicinity of Shanghai), lay surname Zhāng 張. At age seven he chanted the Lotus Sutra at Tiānlóngsì 天龍寺 in Hángzhōu; he was tonsured young under Wúyòng Shǒuguì 無用守貴 (a fellow disciple of Qiānyán’s in the Zhōngfēng line). He first studied under Shíwū Qīnggǒng 石屋清珙 (1272–1352, of the Línjì branch known for the Shānjū shī 山居詩), who inscribed for him the two characters Sōngyǐn 松隱 and directed him that “your karmic connection lies in Wú and Sōng” (緣在吳松). Dérán built a hermitage on the north bank of Guōhuì 郭滙 at Huátíng and inscribed Shíwū’s calligraphy as its plaque, thus Sōngyǐnān 松隱菴. He subsequently met Qiānyán Yuáncháng at Fúlóngshān 伏龍山 Shèngshòusì 聖壽寺 and had his decisive awakening. Upon Qiānyán’s death at Zhìzhèng 17 (1357), the community requested Dérán to succeed him at the Shèngshòusì abbacy; after “more than a year” (yú nián 逾年) he retired to Sōngyǐnān. In the early Hóngwǔ years he was summoned (zhǐ 徵) by imperial edict for his reputation as a man of the Way but returned home on grounds of illness. He wrote ten Chuánjū shī 船居詩 (“verses on living on a boat”) and a blood-written copy of the Huáyán jīng 華嚴經, enshrined in a seven-storeyed stupa at his own foundation. He died on Hóngwǔ 21.4.14 = 18 May 1388 and was entombed at Sōngyǐnān (DILA A010704, drawing on Bǔxù gāosēng zhuàn 補續高僧傳 juan 25 and Wǔdēng quánshū 五燈全書 juan 58). Dharma-heirs: Dàoān 道安 and Dàchuān Shùn 大川順.
Contents. Juan 1: (a) Sòng Lián’s 1376 preface, Wéi’ān Rán héshàng yǔlù xù; (b) the Jīnhuá Shèngshòusì yǔlù 金華聖壽寺語錄, the primary abbatial sermon-cycle of Dérán’s brief Shèngshòusì abbacy after Qiānyán’s death — this opens with his arrival at the shānmén 山門, his zhānxiāng 拈香 dedications for the emperor and for Qiānyán (“Kāishān Fóhuì Yuánjiàn Pǔjì chánshī Qiānyán dà héshàng 開山佛慧圓鑑普濟禪師千巖大和尚”, Qiānyán’s posthumous title), and a sequence of shàngtáng 上堂, xiǎocān 小參, seasonal and festival sermons (suìdàn 歲旦, duānwǔ 端午, làbā 臘八, jiézhì 結制, kāilú 開爐); (c) fǎyǔ 法語 dharma-discourses to named disciples (Shēng 生, Zhēn 真, Míng 明, and other unnamed chánzhě 禪者); (d) sònggǔ 頌古, fifty-odd encomiastic verses on classical precedent-cases (Shìzūn 世尊 at Tùshuài, Bodhidharma before Liáng Wǔdì, Yúnmén’s dōngshān shuǐshàng xíng 東山水上行, Zhàozhōu’s wú 無, Wǔzǔ Fǎyǎn’s ox-through-lattice, Mùzhōu, etc.). Juan 2: jìsòng 偈頌, occasional verses — farewells, inscriptions, topographical meditations. Juan 3: (a) long-form gē 歌 (“songs”) — the Huànyǐn gē 幻隱歌, Gǔyīn gē 古音歌, Tuōbō yín 托缽吟, Chuánjū yín 船居吟, Yuèhǎi gē 月海歌, Dòngxuán gē 洞玄歌, Lǎnān gē 懶菴歌, Tóutuó gē 頭陀歌, Wànshān gē 萬山歌, Zuòchán míng 坐禪銘, Shíèrshí gē 十二時歌, and more — mostly composed as parting gifts or inscriptions for fellow monks; (b) zànbá 讚跋, portrait-encomia and colophons for self-images (shīzhēn 師真), a portrait of Gāofēng Yuánmiào 高峰原妙 (1238–1295, grand-teacher of the Zhōngfēng line), a stupa-offering verse for Gāofēng’s tomb, and a portrait-encomium for Qiānyán himself (Shèngshòu Qiānyán héshàng 聖壽千嵒和尚); and (c) Huáiwèi’s 1371 hòu xù.
Sòng Lián’s preface (Hóng-wǔ bǐng-chén = 1376), signed hàn-lín xuéshì Jīn-huá Sòng Lián, is the more famous of the two framing pieces. It sketches the setting — the Wǔyún-shān 五雲山 in a neighbouring county (rú qīng-lián huā 如青蓮華, “like a blue lotus flower”), with Shèng-shòu chán-sì 聖壽禪寺 at its centre — and confirms Dé-rán’s direct relationship to Qiān-yán (rù-shì dì-zǐ 入室弟子, “heart-son disciple”). Sòng Lián praises the pointed austerity of Dé-rán’s language (“qiào-bá rú tóng-guān tiě-bì lì-jiàn cháng-máo 峭拔如銅關鐵壁利劍長矛” — “pointed and abrupt as bronze barriers and iron ramparts, sharp swords and long lances”) and declares himself honoured to frame Dé-rán’s yǔlù since he had earlier framed Qiān-yán’s — thus noting a bān-ruò zhī yuán 般若之緣 (“prajñā connection”) across two generations of father-and-son. Sòng Lián’s note that Dé-rán’s full biography is already in the Sōng-yǐn-ān jì 松隱菴記 (which he presumably also composed) is the reason the preface omits the biographical detail — for that the reader must consult the bǔ-xù gāo-sēng zhuàn 補續高僧傳 entry and Dé-rán’s own Chuán-jū shī.
Huáiwèi’s postface (Hóngwǔ 4 1371 spring, 3rd month), signed Nánpíng zhùshān Huáiwèi 南屏住山懷渭, places the yǔlù in the lineage of the great Chán recorded-sayings collections and echoes the Gǔtǎzhǔ 古塔主 reading of the Yúnmén yǔlù as the model of discerning Chán attainment through language.
Dating. notBefore 1357 (Qiānyán’s death at Zhìzhèng 17.6.14, which triggered Dérán’s first public abbacy at Shèngshòusì — the earliest plausible date for the Jīnhuá Shèngshòusì yǔlù recorded in juan 1); notAfter 1376 (Sòng Lián’s dated preface, terminus for the received compilation). The printing preserved in the Jiāxīng zàng is a Chóngzhēn 2 己巳 = 1629 re-cutting at Sūzhōu Dōushuàiyuán 姑蘇兜率園 on the Buddha’s enlightenment day (佛成道日 = 12.8), with donors Wáng Míngluán 王鳴鸞, Chén Wūruì 陳兀瑞, Fàn Yǐmíng 范以明; proofreader Zhū Gǔn 朱袞; calligrapher Pān Gēng 潘耕; cutter Jiǎng Chéngróng 蔣成榮; final reviewer the bǐqiū Míngwén 明聞 of Dōushuàiyuán — names preserved in the block-colophon at the close of juan 3.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. For context on Dé-rán’s master, see 任宜敏 2003, 〈千巖元長禪師禪學思想析論〉, 佛學研究 pp. 266–271, and the entry on Qiān-yán Yuán-cháng in 水月齋主人 ed., 2008, 《禪是佛心．教是佛語：元明禪宗概說》 (臺北縣中和：久佑達文化), pp. 51–53. For Sòng Lián’s Buddhist associations more broadly, see his Hù-fǎ lù 護法錄 as redacted by Yún-qī Zhū-hóng 雲棲袾宏 in the late Míng. A brief modern summary of the Sōng-yǐn lineage (Dé-rán → Dào-ān 道安 / Dà-chuān Shùn 大川順) is in the Wǔ-dēng quán-shū 五燈全書 juan 58 and the Bǔ-xù gāo-sēng zhuàn 補續高僧傳 juan 25.
Other points of interest
- The juan-3 portrait-encomia constitute an informal chart of the Zhōngfēng → Qiānyán lineage as it stood at mid-Hóng-wǔ: Dérán’s verses commemorate Gāofēng Yuánmiào (lineage grandfather), Qiānyán Yuáncháng (direct teacher), and a further circle of jūshì 居士 patrons (members of the Huì-* 慧 dharma-name cohort — Huìběn 慧本, Huìjué 慧覺, Huìzhì 慧質, Huìmíng 慧銘, Huìshān 慧山, Huìcáng Shěnshì 慧藏沈氏) who sponsored his Huátíng establishment. The pattern makes the yǔlù a snapshot of an early-Míng Sōngjiāng Chán lay-clerical network.
- Dérán’s Chuánjū shī 船居詩 (ten pieces) — praised by Sòng Lián as “qīngjué kě sòng 清絕可誦” — survive only through extracts and the general approbation in the biographical sources; the full sequence does not appear integrated in this yǔlù (though the Chuánjū yín 船居吟 of juan 3 appears related). A single dated piece is embedded among the gē cycle.
- The 1629 Jiāxīng-canon printing colophon at the close of juan 3 is a rare Sūzhōu printing-record for a Míng Chán work that otherwise circulated in manuscript only, and documents the lay-donor network at Dōushuàiyuán 兜率園 that underwrote Jiāxīng-canon supplementary volumes.