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破山禪師語錄

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Text ID
KR6q0402
Date
1666–1680
Dynasty
清

Pòshān chánshī yǔlù 破山禪師語錄

Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Pòshān by 海明 (說), 印正 (等編)

About the work

Twenty-juan yǔlù of Pòshān Hǎimíng 海明 破山海明 (1597–1666), the thirty-fifth-generation Línjì (Yángqí-branch) patriarch, sole Sìchuān dharma-heir of Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟 (1566/7–1642), and — to a commoner who has never entered a Chán hall — simply “the master who brought Tiāntóng Mìyún’s line to Shǔ”. Compiled (biān 編) by his Sichuan-to-Hú-běi disciple Liányuè Yìnzhèng 印正 蓮月印正 (1614–1691) from his abbacy at Dāngyáng Yùquánsì 當陽玉泉寺 in Jīngzhōu. The received Jiāxīng-canon block (J26 no. B177) replaces and enlarges an earlier twelve-juan edition prepared by Pòshān’s other heir Zhàngxuě Tōngzuì 丈雪通醉 (1610–1695) at Zhāojuésì 昭覺寺 in Chéngdū in Kāngxī dīngyǒu (1657, during the master’s lifetime), and incorporates a posthumous 行狀 xíngzhuàng by Yìnzhèng (dated Kāngxī 12 guǐchǒu = 1673), a 年譜 niánpǔ compiled by two further heirs Yìnluán 印巒 and Píngshān Yìnshòu 平山印綬, and a 塔銘 tǎmíng by the Bāxiàn literatus-official Liú Dàokāi 劉道開. The final twenty-juan recension was re-cut in Jiāhé (Jiāxīng) in Kāngxī 19 gēngshēn (1680) in the third lunar month, with two new prefaces by Shī Bó 施博 (Kāngxī gēngshēn Buddha’s-birthday 4/8 = 5 May 1680) and Wáng Tíng 王庭 (Kāngxī 19.4.20 = 17 May 1680). Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.

Abstract

Author. Pòshān Hǎimíng, biéhào Wànfēng 萬峰, lay surname Jiǎn 蹇 (branch of the Sòng-era minister Jiǎn Zhōngdìng gōng 蹇忠定公, i.e. the Yǒnglè chief grand secretary 蹇義 1364–1435), was born in Wànlì 25 dīngyǒu 1/21 wǔ-hour (8 March 1597) at Dàzhúxiàn 大竹縣 in Shùnqìngfǔ 順慶府 (modern Nánchōng, Sìchuān) — the xíngzhuàng locates him at “蜀北果州之大竹” and the tǎmíng at “順慶之大竹”. Tonsured at 19 sùi at Fóēnsì 佛恩寺 in his home district under the elder Dàchí 大持; on hearing Huìrán 慧然 lecture on the Shǒuléngyán jīng 首楞嚴經 at the passage on chángzhù zhēnxīn 常住真心, he failed to resolve his doubt and left Sichuan. He trained three years at Pòtóushān 破頭山 in Chǔ (i.e. the Fourth-Patriarch’s mountain in Huángméi, where his biéhào Pòshān 破山 was acquired), and at age 26–27 sùi, after a cliff-side self-oath (“wù bù wù, xìngmìng zài jīnrì — enlightened or not, my life is on the line today”), fell from the precipice, broke his left foot, and broke through his doubt. He then journeyed south, tested kōans with Xuějiào Yuánxìn 雪嶠圓信 at Jìngshān (1623 exchange: the wood-incense-burner snatched and feigned-smashed), received full ordination from Zhànrán Yuánchéng 湛然圓澄 at 27 sùi in guǐhài winter (1623), and in jiǎzǐ spring (1624) joined Mìyún Yuánwù at Jīnsù 金粟. The 行狀 preserves an almost shot-by-shot transcript of the famous encounter-cycle under Mìyún: the two-fold hē 喝, the overturned chánchuáng 禪床, the “zhāngsǐ màihuó” (feigning death on the attendant’s couch) — Mìyún’s assessment dāngrén bùràng yú shī, wéi shī yǒu zhī 當仁不讓於師惟師有之 becomes the yǔlù’s self-defining slogan. In dīngmǎo (1627) Mìyún sent him the Cáoqī zhèngmài láiyuán 曹谿正脈來源 transmission-slip; he retired to Fúshān 福山 on the Tiáo 苕 until 崇禎己巳 autumn (1629), when he accepted the 嘉禾東塔 call.

Abbacies and the “fourteen dàochǎng”. The xíngzhuàng lists fourteen preaching seats across a thirty-seven-year abbatial career: (1) Jiāhé Dōngtǎ 嘉禾東塔 (1629 autumn –); (2) Liángshān Wànfēng 梁山萬峰 (1633 onward, after his return to Shǔ with the Kuízhōu patron 馮伯井); (3) Zhōngqìng 中慶; (4) Qīlíng 栖靈 at Kāixiàn; (5) Dàníng 大寧; (6) Zǐyún 紫雲; (7) Qīfèng 栖鳳; (8) Xiángfú 祥符 at Dàngqú; (9) Wújì 無際 / Fóēn 佛恩 at Dàzhú (his natal district); (10) Pánlóng 蟠龍 at Xùlú; (11) Wànfú 萬福 at Nánpǔ; (12) Jīnchéng 金城 (Liángshān Jīnchéngzhài, the Shùn-zhì-interregnum stronghold where he sheltered with the Yáo 姚 family); (13) Shuāngguì 雙桂, the temple he founded out of a ruined Míng-elite villa-grove with a pair of surviving ancient Osmanthus (guì 桂), his final seat and the place of his death. The tǎmíng compresses this into “jiǔ zuò dàochǎng 九坐道場” — the nine public abbacies — against the xíngzhuàng’s “yīshíyǒusì 一十有四”; the discrepancy is not an error but a terminological split (post-1644 Sichuan-interior sheltering communities like Jīnchéng, Wànfú, Pánlóng are not always counted as formal dàochǎng).

The “酒肉 question”. During the Zhāng Xiànzhōng 張獻忠 devastations of Sichuan (1644–) Pòshān sheltered in the army camp of the wéishā bandit-commander Lǐ Yào-zi 李鷂子 (also called Lǐ Yīyáng 李一陽 at other points in the text). Lǐ, “extreme in slaughter”, taunted the monk to eat meat; Pòshān agreed on condition that Lǐ stop killing — “gōng bù shā rén, wǒ biàn shí ròu” — and by accepting the meat stopped large-scale killing in the camp. The episode made him posthumously notorious as a “jiǔròu sēng 酒肉僧” and is given an extended apologetic in the 塔銘 (the “shèn bù déyǐ zhī kǔxīn 甚不得已之苦心” locution, comparable to Yīyǐn 伊尹’s expedient ministry). In Kāngxī jiǎchén autumn (1664), invited by the Sichuan governor-general Lǐ Guóyīng 李國英 (the Lǐ zǒngzhì of the text) to Yúzhōu to preach for his deceased mother, Pòshān swore off meat and wine from that date on — “shānyě xī yù èmó ér kāizhāi, jīn féng shànyǒu ér zhǐhūn 山野昔遇惡魔而開齋今逢善友而止暈”.

Death. Pòshān died at Shuāngguìsì on Kāngxī 5 bǐngwǔ 3/16 hài-hour (19 April 1666), sìtái 70 / sēnglà 43 in the xíngzhuàng (50 in the 塔銘 — a discrepancy against the 癸亥 1623 full ordination at age 27 which, 1666 – 1623 = 43, confirms the 行狀 figure and exposes the 塔銘’s “坐臘五十九” as a slip or copyist error). He had, in jiǎchén autumn 1664 (Kāngxī jiǎchén), thrice summoned Yìnzhèng back from Yùquán to take Shuāngguì for him — his own planned pilgrimage to sweep Mìyún’s stūpa at Tiāntóng was cancelled by the journey-rigours — and on his deathbed distributed six departing jì 偈 keyed to the six sense-faculties (yǎn ěr bí shé shēn yì) to six heirs. Zhàngxuě Tōngzuì carried the yībō 衣缽 and zhǎofà 爪髮 (nail-and-hair relic) to Chéngdū Zhāojuésì to build a shadow-hall; the full-body stūpa was built at Gènlóngshān 艮龍山 in the southern Liángshān foothills. Eighty-seven dharma-heirs are enumerated.

Dating of the received recension. The twenty-juan Jiāxīng block is dated by its own colophon (卷二十末尾) to “Kāngxī gēngshēn nián jìchūn yuè Jiāhé Léngyán Bōrě fāng fùzàng liútōng” — i.e. cut at the Léngyán Bōrě fāng 楞嚴般若坊 workshop in Jiāxīng in the third lunar month of Kāngxī 19 = spring 1680 — and framed by the Shī Bó 施博 front 序 of the same year’s Buddha’s-birthday (4/8 = 5 May 1680) and the Wáng Tíng 王庭 xù dated 4/20 (17 May 1680). The niánpǔ that closes the volume carries its own preface by the same Shī Bó dated Kāngxī 9 gēngxū Chóngyáng (9/9 = 22 October 1670) — establishing that the 年譜 and 塔銘 were first cut in Jiāhé in 1670 as a standalone block, then, ten years later, “bǔrù yǔlù 補入語錄” — appended into the re-cut full yǔlù — at Zhàngxuě’s instruction, delivered by his two grand-disciples Zhúlàng 竹浪 and Yěyuè 野月. notBefore = 1666 (master’s death — terminus post quem for the 行狀, 年譜, 塔銘, and the full twenty-juan recension, although the earlier Zhàngxuě twelve-juan edition predates this); notAfter = 1680 (date of the Jiāhé re-cut and the Shī Bó + Wáng Tíng prefaces that frame the block). The catalog meta’s dynasty = 清 tracks the Jiāxīng imprint; given that the authorial voice is that of a Míng-educated monk who crosses the dynastic change mid-career (his 1629 Dōngtǎ and 1633 Wànfēng abbacies are Míng; everything from 1644 on is Qīng), the retained 清 is defensible as the period of the received recension.

Contents by juàn. Following the mùlù of juan 1: (j.1–5) Shàngtáng 上堂 convocation-sermons I–V, from the first Dōngtǎ assembly (1629) through Shuāngguì (1666); (j.6) Xiǎocān 小參 I; (j.7) Xiǎocān 小參 II; (j.8) Jīyuán 機緣 encounter-dialogues; (j.9–12) Fǎyǔ 法語 dharma-talks I–IV; (j.13) Shūwèn 書問 letters; (j.14) Niāngǔ 拈古 + Sònggǔ 頌古 + Liánfāng jì 聯芳偈 (dharma-transmission verses to his 87 heirs); (j.15) Shìjì 示偈 qīyán sìjù I; (j.16) Shìjì II; (j.17) Shìjì III + Fózǔ zàn 佛祖讚 + Zìzàn 自讚; (j.18) Zájì 雜偈 qīyán bājù / wǔyán bājù; (j.19) Zájì + Zuòchán zhēn 坐禪箴 + Shíèr shí gē 十二時歌 + Mùniútú sòng 牧牛圖頌 + Tí xiǎoxiàng 題小像 + Tí xínglè tú 題行樂圖 + Wànfēng jǐng 萬峰景 (ten Wàn-fēng-site verses); (j.20) Xù 序 (six pieces including the Wǔyúnshān tǎmíng 五雲山塔銘 that Pòshān wrote for lay-nun Bìxū Shàng 碧虛尚 at San-tai) + Shū 疏 + Míng 銘 + Ǒuyán 偶言 (including the 1664 Yúzhōu exchange with Lǐ Guóyīng) + Fóshì 佛事 + 行狀 + 年譜(附) + 塔銘(附). The niánpǔ runs year-by-year 1597–1666 (Wànlì 25 through Kāngxī 5) and is the densest dated chronology of any major Mìyún-line master.

Tiyao

Not applicable — this is a Jiāxīng-canon imprint (J26 B177), not a WYG text; the front preface position is occupied by the two 1680 xù of Shī Bó and Wáng Tíng, translated in substance under Abstract above.

Translations and research

  • Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in Seventeenth-Century China (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). Chapter 4 and pp. 183–207 treat Pòshān and Zhàng-xuě as the chief Mìyún-line transmission into Sì-chuān and Guì-zhōu; ch. 7 discusses the “武人-護法” problem (lay-patron warlords as dharma-patrons) with Pòshān’s Lǐ Yào-zi episode as case-study.
  • Chén Yuán 陳垣, 《清初僧諍記》 (1941; repr. Beijing: Zhōng-huá shū-jú, 1962). Ch. 3 places Pòshān in the Mìyún-Hànyuè 漢月 controversy as the one senior Mìyún heir who conspicuously did not participate in the public 正邪 polemic, retiring instead to Sì-chuān.
  • Yáng Zēng-wén 楊曾文, 〈破山海明禪師及其法系〉, in 《佛學研究》 1998 (collected in idem, 《禪宗文獻研究六種》, Beijing, 2020). Reconstructs the Shuāng-guì line and the 87-heir network.
  • Dài Jì-jūn 戴繼軍 (ed.), 《雙桂堂志》 (Chéng-dū: Bā-shǔ shū-shè, 2003). The modern gazetteer of Shuāng-guì-sì at Liáng-shān (now Liáng-píng 梁平, Chóng-qìng), incorporating field inscriptions and republished portions of the present yǔlù.
  • Xíng Dōng-fēng 邢東風 (transl.), Hǎi-míng Pòshān’s Shàng-táng yǔlù: Selections, partial English rendering in Zen Buddhist Studies (unpublished dissertation materials cited in Jiang Wu 2008); no complete Western-language translation exists.
  • A critical Chinese-language edition with variorum collation against the Kāng-xī 1657 twelve-juan Zhāo-jué block is Hóu Chōng 侯沖 & Lǐ Yǒng-bīn 李永斌 (ed.), 《破山海明禪師全集》 (Chéng-dū: Bā-shǔ shū-shè, 2012).

Other points of interest

  • The two editions of Pòshān’s yǔlù. The earlier twelve-juan Zhāojué block (Zhàngxuě Tōngzuì, dīngyǒu = 1657, during the master’s lifetime, with the master’s formal approval per the Wáng Tíng 敘) and the present twenty-juan Jiāxīng block (Yìnzhèng + addenda, 1680) stand in the same ratio as the two editions of Mìyún Yuánwù’s own yǔlù (the 1638 and 1643 Wǔshíjiǎ reprints): Pòshān’s case is the paradigm for an early in-life twelve-juan “working” edition replaced by a full posthumous twenty-juan “canonical” edition. Wáng Tíng’s preface explicitly says Zhàngxuě’s earlier block “shānyì pǒ duō, shīyì yóu jiàn shǎo 芟逸頗多師意猶見少” — many passages had been excised, and the master’s intention was still under-represented — which is the explicit rationale for the 1680 re-cut.
  • Shī Bó 施博 and Wáng Tíng 王庭 as the Jiāxīng literary network. Both are identified in the prefaces as Zuìlǐ 檇李 (Jiāxīng) men — Shī Bó hào Yuēān 約菴/約庵, Wáng Tíng as a former Chuānběi fēnshǒu 分守川北 circuit-intendant who had received Zhàngxuě’s Zhāojué block directly. Their joint patronage — at the Jiāxīng Léngyán Bōrě fāng 楞嚴般若坊 (the Jiāhé printing workshop that serviced the last Jiāxīng canon-additions) — is a small but clear datum for the late-Kāng-xī Jiāxīng literary-Buddhist revival, on which see Chén Yúnnǚ 陳玉女’s studies of Jiāxīng printing and Zhāng Déjiàn 張德建, 〈楞嚴般若坊考〉 (《佛學研究》 2015).
  • Liú Dàokāi’s dating. The 塔銘 header identifies Liú Dàokāi as 敕封徵仕郎翰林院庶吉士 and 癸酉科孝廉 — his Míng juren examination cycle (Chóngzhēn 6 guǐyǒu = 1633, age ca. 23 if born ca. 1610), whence his career crossed into Qīng service. DILA records his extant works as a Kāng-xī-era preface to the 《懶石聆禪師語錄》 (dated Shùnzhì jǐhài = 1659), a 塔銘 for Pòshān (this one), and a twenty-seven-year-long compilation 《楞嚴經貫攝》 (ten juàn). The tǎmíng accordingly falls between Pòshān’s death (1666) and the 1670 first cutting of the 年譜/塔銘 block in Jiāhé — a narrow and cleanly datable window, and a useful anchor for Liú Dàokāi’s mid-Kāng-xī chronology.
  • Yìnzhèng’s Húběi base and the Yùquán connection. Yìnzhèng’s 行狀 is signed from 當陽玉泉 當陽玉泉 — the Yùquánsì at Dāngyáng (Jīngmén, Húběi), the great Zhìzhě 智者 Tiāntāi seat re-taken in the seventeenth century by the Mìyún Línjì network. By 1673 Yìnzhèng had moved his main base from the Sìchuān Jiāzhōu Shuāngguì home-temples out to Jīngmén, which is why the biānjí work of the 1680 Jiāhé cut could be coordinated with the Jiāxīng publishers (Húběi → Jiāxīng is one week’s water-route down the Yangtze). The companion yǔlù of Yìnzhèng himself (《玉泉蓮月正禪師語錄》 2 juan + 《蓮月禪師語錄》 6 juan) is preserved elsewhere in the Jiāxīng canon.
  • Pòshān as the “Mǎzǔ redivivus of Shǔ”. Both prefaces (Shī Bó, Wáng Tíng) and the 塔銘 make the same framing move: Mǎzǔ Dàoyī 馬祖道一 founded Chán at Shífāng in western Sìchuān (the shǒudàn Shífāng 首誕什邡 of the 塔銘), and Pòshān’s Shuāngguì is the temple that finally re-roots that Sichuanese primary charism. This framing is historiographically self-serving (it elevates the Sichuan periphery over the Jiāngnán Mìyún core) and became constitutive of the mid-Qīng “Shǔzōng 蜀宗” self-consciousness visible in Zhàngxuě’s 《錦江禪燈》 (the sister-text to this yǔlù, now in Xùzàng).

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