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大休珠禪師語錄

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Text ID
KR6q0413
Date
1646–1659
Dynasty
清

Dàxiū Zhū chánshī yǔlù 大休珠禪師語錄

Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Dà-xiū Zhū by 珠 (說), 廣熙 (等錄)

About the work

Twelve-juan yǔlù of Dàxiū Zhū 珠 大休珠 (1615–c. 1656), fǎhuì 法諱 Zhū 珠 (“Pearl”), hào Dàxiū 大休 (“Great-Rest”), also Dàxiū dàorén 大休道人. Cáodòng 曹洞 master — primary dharma-transmission received from Shíyǔ Míngfāng 石雨明方 (Bǎoshòu lǎorén 寶壽老人) but inheriting the line of his earlier teacher Xiàngtián Píngdì 象田平地 (the Xiàngtián predecessor of Jíniàn Jìngxiàn at KR6q0412) — i.e. Dàxiū occupies the same Zhàn-rán-line Cáodòng cluster as the masters of KR6q0410–KR6q0412, but via a somewhat different teacher-path. The central historical significance of this text is that Dàxiū Zhū is the post-Hàn-shān Déqīng abbot who revived Cáoxī Nánhuásì 曹溪南華寺 in Guǎngdōng — the ancestral seat of Chán Buddhism under Huìnéng 慧能 (638–713), which had been restored by Hànshān 1600–1623 and had since decayed until Dàxiū’s 1654 appointment by the Qīng-era two-Guǎng military governor Zhāng Guóxūn 張國勛 (zhèntái Yúntái 鎮臺雲臺). Compiled by the shìzhě 侍者 Guǎngxī 廣熙 廣熙 (head recorder) with biāncì 編次 (editing) by Xíngxìn 行信 of the Ruìlù 瑞鹿 sub-line. The 總序 (general preface) is by Tán Zhēnmò 譚貞默 (1590–1665, hào Zàoān 埽菴, the Hàn-shān-lay-disciple zhuàngyuán-era Guózǐ sīyè), dated 順治 15 戊戌 嘉平月望 (= 8 January 1659 Western) — Tán’s latest dated preface before his 1665 death, and accordingly one of his most important late-life prose pieces. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J27 B192.

Abstract

Author: early life (1615–1637). Dàxiū’s own life-record (xíngshí 行實) in juan 3 of the present yǔlù — delivered as a shàngtáng on petition by his lay-patrons Wāng Zhènhuá 汪振華, Lǐ Shèngzhēng 李聖徵, Xú Zhāngfǔ 徐彰甫, etc. — is the single richest source for his biography. Dàxiū was born in Yángzhōufǔ Tàizhōu Huájiāzhuāng 楊州府泰州華家莊 (Jiāngsū) in 1615 to father Zhōu Nánjīn 周南津公 and mother Jìshì 紀氏. A house-fire (huílù 回祿) forced family relocation to Kējiābǎo 柯家堡. Widowed at a young age, his mother raised him alone for over thirty years. At 13 took up vegetarianism; at 15 was formally married but practiced sexual continence (“suī qǔ ér lǜshēn tóngzhēn 雖娶而律身童真”) and had no children across seven years of marriage. At 22 (= 1636), his wife committed suicide by hanging; Dàxiū cut half his own hair with scissors, wrote a departure-letter to his mother, and ran away to Héchángchǎng Xīfāngān 河墒場西方菴 to seek tonsure from Déxīn lǎoshī 德心老師. The mother came after him and forced him home. Dàxiū negotiated a formal release, and on the bǐngzǐ 丙子 12.8 of 1636 (= 2 February 1637 Western) his mother escorted him to Ānfēngchǎng Qīngjìngān 安豐場清淨菴, where he was tonsured by Yuèmén héshàng 越門和尚 — a Yúnmén / Zhàn-rán-line Cáodòng master whose lineage thereby becomes Dàxiū’s primary formation-line. (Note: the xíngshí text is highly specific about the lunar-date and supplies the only precise dating for Dàxiū’s tonsure.)

Chán training (1637–1643). Yuèmén died within a year of Dàxiū’s tonsure; Dàxiū was transferred to the care of an elder dharma-brother Běnyuán 本源 and in dīngchǒu 丁丑 1637 traveled with Běnyuán to Tiāntóngsì for full precepts from Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟 (1566/7–1642). Mìyún struck him with the staff at first interview; three years of intense ascetic practice (sānnián yī bù jiě dài, xié bù zhì xí 三年衣不解帶脅不至蓆) and the first awakening on the phrase “wú xīn fāng hé dào 無心方合道” (“only mindlessness matches the Way”). Subsequent training between multiple teachers: wùyín 戊寅 (1638) with Ěrmì 爾密 héshàng (a Cáodòng master at Xiǎnshèng — Ěrmì 爾密 is not the Línjì Fèiyǐn Tōngróng but a separate Cáodòng figure) on the Huáyán hélùn 華嚴合論; jǐmǎo 己卯 (1639) with Liùrú héshàng 六如 at Wǔyúnmén 五雲門 and with Jùdé héshàng 具德 at Guǎngxiàosì 廣孝寺 for kitchen-duty tuījiā 推架 training; gēngchén 庚辰 (1640) back to Xiǎnshèng with Ěrmì for Sīyì fàntiān jīng 思益梵天經; xīnsì 辛巳 (1641) with Huìróng fǎshī 慧融法師 at Zhūshāān 硃砂菴 for Fǎhuā and Léngyán lectures, and a decisive awakening during the 1641 winter-retreat at Xiǎnshèng with the Dōushuài sān wèn 兜率三問 verse-response. Late 1641–42: at Xiàngtiánsì 象田寺 under Xiàngtián Píngdì xiānshī 象田平地先師, who tested him on the zhàozhōu wú 趙州無 and yǒu 有 gōngàn and “shēnxiāng qìhé 深相契合” — deeply matched him. Píngdì was about to seal Dàxiū when Dàxiū hurried off to Tiānhuá to hear Fǎhuā lectures; before his return Píngdì had died. Dàxiū then traveled to Tiāntāi Hùguósì to receive the second-stage Cáodòng sealing from Xiàoyún Jìyùn 寂蘊 嘯雲寂蘊 (head heir of KR6q0410 Rùjiù Míngxuě) on the wǔwèi 五位 Cáodòng sequence. Rénwǔ 壬午 spring (1642) visited Shíqí Tōngyún 通雲 at Língjiùsì (cf. KR6q0405) — tested but not sealed (Dàxiū had already committed to the Cáodòng path). Then two years reading the zàng 藏 at Yúnfēngsì Zhànmíng lǜshī 雲峰寺湛明律師 in Tāizhōu. Guǐwèi 癸未 (1643): returned to Xiàngtián for the memorial visit to Píngdì’s tomb, where the dharma-brother Gǔlíng 古靈 delivered the Xiàngtián fǎyī 象田法衣 (dharma-robe reserved by Píngdì’s will for the qualified heir) into Dàxiū’s hands. Then to Bǎoshòusì to see Shíyǔ Míngfāng 石雨明方 (Yǔ lǎorén 雨老人); sealed on the “bèihòu shì shèn-me 背後是甚麼” / “yǒu shèn jiāoshè 有甚交涉” exchange; installed as wéinà 維那 at Lóngmén.

Formal transmission (甲申 正月 / January-February 1644). At Shíyǔ’s birthday shàngtáng at Lóngménsì in jiǎshēn zhēngyuè (1644 lunar 1st month), Shíyǔ formally delivered the fùfǎ 付法 in public with the verse “yī lǐng pò jiāshā, jīn yòu quē yījiǎo; rǔ shī liú yǔ rǔ, wǒ jīn wèi gài què 一領破袈裟今又缺一角汝師留與汝我今為蓋卻” — “a single torn robe, now missing a corner; your [former] master left it for you, I now cover-and-reject-it.” Dàxiū chose to preserve the Xiàngtián lineage-identity over the Bǎoshòu identity: “yīn bù gǎn fù Xiàngtián, suī qīn chéng Bǎoshòu fùzhǔ, ér sìfǎ Xiàngtián lǎohéshàng 因不敢負象田雖親承寶壽付囑而嗣法象田老和尚” — “I dared not betray Xiàngtián; although I personally received transmission from Bǎoshòu, my dharma-succession is Xiàngtián’s.” He then became abbot of Xiàngtián.

Abbacies. (1) Xiàngtiánsì 象田寺 (1644 winter, with one-year retreat disrupted by internal conflict). (2) Wēngzhōu huángyángjiān 滃州黃楊尖 bìguān retreat (1645). (3) Shàngyú Ruìxiàngsì 上虞瑞象寺 (briefly, on Ní + Zhōu patron petition). (4) Guìjī Tiānhuásì 會稽天華寺 (bǐngxū 丙戌 1646 autumn, on petition of Táo Zhāng 陶章 — this is the first full abbacy with a recorded shàngtáng corpus, j.6–7 of the yǔlù). (5) Fórìsì 佛日 as xītáng 西堂 under Xièfǎ lǎo héshàng 謝法老和尚 (dīnghài 丁亥 1647 spring). (6) Wūzhèn Mìyìnsì 烏鎮密印寺 (Húzhōu, 1647–49, on patronage of rural-gentry Táng 唐, Shěn 沈, Kǒng 孔). (7) Jiāxīng Báiliánsì 嘉興白蓮寺 (jǐchǒu 己丑 winter 1649, where the xíngshí was delivered). (8) Jiāxīng Dìngyǐnsì 定隱寺. (9) Dàjué Miàojìsì 大覺妙濟寺. (10) Cáoxī Nánhuá Chánsì 曹溪南華禪寺 (final abbacy, jiǎwǔ 甲午 1654 6.6 invitation by the two-Guǎng zhèntái Zhāng Guóxūn 張國勛 / Yúntái; entered temple 10.15). The Nánhuá seat is historically the most significant Chán seat in China — the ancestral temple of Huìnéng, restored by Hànshān Déqīng in 1600–1623. Dàxiū’s 1654 appointment followed a 30-year post-Hàn-shān vacancy, and his two-year tenure (1654–1656) constitutes the first serious post-Hàn-shān Nánhuá abbacy. Died at Nánhuá after “exactly two years’ residence” (“qià zhù èr zǎi 恰住二載”) = c. October–November 1656, aged ~42 suì (“nián wèi jí ài 年未及艾” — “not yet 50”). Died sitting in the hall, self-composed, after a seven-day notice to his assembly (“jiéqī jízhòng, lìwáng zuòtuō 刻期集眾立亡坐脫”).

Compositional history. The Tán Zhēnmò 總序 (1659 January) describes a two-stage editorial process: Dàxiū during his lifetime had asked Tán to write individual prefaces for the Miàojì yǔlù 妙濟錄 and Dìngyǐn yǔlù 定隱錄 (both done); but the full quánlù 全錄 preface was delayed, and Dàxiū died before it was written (“ér jìyīn é zhì, jiànnuò wèi huáng 而寂音俄至踐諾未遑”). The integrated twelve-juan block was then cut by the sìfǎ tángtóu mǒugōng 嗣法堂頭某公 (the un-named head dharma-heir) of the six huì 會, reducing the original materials “yuēlüè cún bàn 約略存半” (roughly to half their original extent). Tán’s 1659 zǒngxù was composed for this final integrated cutting. notBefore = 1646 (the Tiānhuá first-abbacy shàngtáng corpus); notAfter = 1659 January (Tán Zhēnmò’s zǒngxù).

Contents by juan. The twelve juan are organized by abbacy, not chronologically (the Nánhuá block leads despite being the last abbacy): (j.1) Cáoxī Nánhuá Chánsì yǔlù — shàngtáng, wǎncān, shìzhòng, fǎyǔ; (j.2) Jiāxīng Báilián Chánsì yǔlù — same structure; (j.3) Jiāxīng Dìngyǐn Chánsì yǔlù + xíngshí 行實 (the master’s own 1649–50s self-biography, delivered as shàngtáng on lay-patron petition); (j.4) Dàjué Miàojì Chánsì yǔlù + jīyuán fù zhūchà 機緣(附諸剎); (j.5) Húzhōu Mìyìn Chánsì yǔlù + sònggǔ + fóshì + zázhù; (j.6) Yuèchéng Tiānhuá Chánsì yǔlù — bǎi wèn shàng 百問上 (100 questions, upper); (j.7) — bǎi wèn xià 百問下 (100 questions, lower); (j.8) Nánhuá shūwèn shàng 書問上 (letter-correspondence, upper); (j.9) — shūwèn xià (附諸剎) (letter-correspondence, lower, with appendix from other temples); (j.10) Nánhuá pǔshuō shàng 普說上; (j.11) — pǔshuō xià (附諸剎); (j.12) Cáoxī Dàxiū Zhū chánshī jìzàn 曹溪大休珠禪師偈讚 (gāthā and portrait-praises). The promised tǎmíng and xíngzhuàng listed under the “附” 附 appendix-heading in the mùlù are not preserved in the Kanripo transcription — possibly not included in the original Jiāxīng block, or present in a subsequent supplementary block not yet digitized.

Tiyao

Not applicable — this is a Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J27 B192), not a WYG text. The Tán Zhēnmò zǒngxù (1659-01) and the master’s own xíngshí in juan 3 provide the principal compositional and biographical documentation. The promised appendix-level tǎmíng / xíngzhuàng are not present in the accessible source.

Translations and research

  • Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in Seventeenth-Century China (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). Dà-xiū’s Nán-huá abbacy is mentioned at pp. 225–27 as a post-Hàn-shān restoration-datum, and his doubled Cáo-dòng / Xiàng-tián-Píng-dì / Shí-yǔ Míng-fāng transmission-profile is part of Jiang’s analysis of mid-seventeenth-century Cáo-dòng internal reshuffling.
  • Sūn Jìng-xǐng 孫徑行, 《曹溪南華寺志》 (modern edition: Guǎng-zhōu: Huá-chéng, 2010). Juan 4 on Nán-huá abbacy succession includes Dà-xiū’s 1654–56 tenure as the first substantial post-Hàn-shān abbacy, with cross-reference to this yǔlù for primary documentation.
  • Liào Zhào-hēng 廖肇亨, 《忠義菩提》 (2013). Ch. 7 on the Hàn-shān-lay-disciple Tán Zhēn-mò network, in which the 1659 preface to this yǔlù is a late-life document. Tán’s preface here is cross-referenced to his prefaces for KR6q0407 Fú-shí Tōng-xián, KR6q0408 Lín-yě Tōng-qí, and KR6q0411 Sān-yí Míng-yú — making Tán the single most prolific preface-writer in the J26–J27 Jiā-xīng Mìyún + Zhàn-ran cluster.
  • Chén Yuán 陳垣, 《釋氏疑年錄》 (Běi-jīng: Zhōng-huá, 1964). Dà-xiū Zhū’s dates are given as 1615–1656 matching the xíng-shí evidence; the entry confirms the Nán-huá death circumstances.
  • Chén Yuán, 《清初僧諍記》 (1962). Context for the Cáo-dòng / Línjì boundary negotiations at the moment of Dà-xiū’s career; his deliberate refusal to accept sealing from Shí-qí Tōng-yún in 1642 at Líng-jiù is a significant boundary-maintenance episode parallel to Ruì-bái Míng-xuě’s 1625 refusal of Mìyún Yuán-wù (cf. KR6q0410).
  • No Western-language translation.

Other points of interest

  • Huìnéng restoration: the central datum. Dàxiū’s 1654–1656 Nánhuásì abbacy is one of the most significant zǔtíng 祖庭 restoration-events of the seventeenth century. Hànshān Déqīng had rebuilt Nánhuá 1600–1623 on imperial (Wànlì) patronage, but after Hànshān’s 1623 death the seat had decayed for over three decades. The 1654 Qīng-era appointment — orchestrated by the Zhāng Guóxūn two-Guǎng military governor’s office — is thus the first post-Hàn-shān recovery of a major Chán ancestral seat under the new Manchu regime, and Dàxiū’s tenure establishes the model for later Qīng-court-patronized Cáodòng restoration at ancestral sites. The present yǔlù preserves Dàxiū’s Nánhuá corpus as nearly half of the whole (j.1 + j.8–12 = six of twelve juan), confirming the central symbolic importance of the Nánhuá abbacy to the overall literary monument. Tán Zhēnmò’s zǒngxù explicitly positions Dàxiū as the third Nánhuá restoration-abbot after Huìnéng and Hànshān: “cáoxī yī dī… zì Lúzǔ Hànzǔ liǎng dàshī yǐ qì Xiū héshàng ér sān yě 曹溪一滴 … 自盧祖憨祖兩大師以迄休和尚而三也”.
  • The Xiàngtián–Bǎoshòu double transmission. Dàxiū’s xíngshí documents an unusually clear case of double transmission from two separate Zhàn-ran-line Cáodòng teachers: the posthumous Xiàngtián dharma-robe from Xiàngtián Píngdì 象田平地 (via the intermediary Gǔlíng 古靈), and the living fùfǎ from Shíyǔ Míngfāng 石雨明方 at Bǎoshòusì. Dàxiū’s explicit choice to preserve the Xiàngtián lineage-identity over the Bǎoshòu identity is striking — he does not identify himself as a “Shíyǔ dharma-heir” despite the living transmission, but maintains a deferred transmission-loyalty to Xiàngtián Píngdì. This is an important methodological datum for how early-Qīng Chán dharma-genealogies could track the teacher one served in practice rather than the teacher who formally sealed one. Compare the contrasting case of Ruìbái Míngxuě at KR6q0410, who refused Mìyún’s attempted Línjì-sealing precisely to preserve his Cáodòng commitment.
  • Tán Zhēnmò’s late-life preface cluster. Tán Zhēnmò’s 1659 January zǒngxù to this yǔlù is Tán’s earliest dated late-life preface (Tán died 1665); it is followed closely by his prefaces to KR6q0408 Línyě Tōngqí (wùxū 戊戌 Buddha-birthday, 10 May 1658), KR6q0407 Fúshí Tōngxián (rényín 壬寅 lunar-12.15 = 23 January 1663), and KR6q0411 Sānyí Míngyú (related piece). Tán is the single most prolific preface-writer spanning both the Cáodòng and Línjì branches of the J26–J27 cluster, and his prose from this last seven-year period (1658–1664) constitutes a substantial late-literary corpus worth collective editing. See Liào Zhàohēng 2013 for the broader Tán-circle reconstruction.
  • Sealing by Xiàoyún Jìyùn (1641–42). Dàxiū’s sealing at Tiāntāi Hùguósì by Xiàoyún Jìyùn 嘯雲寂蘊 — the head heir of KR6q0410 Rùjiù Míngxuě and the compiler of that yǔlù — on the Cáodòng wǔwèi 五位 sequence is an important cross-textual datum: it links the J26 B188 (Ruìbái Míngxuě) and J27 B192 (Dàxiū Zhū) yǔlù via a specific individual (Xiàoyún) who served as a Cáo-dòng-sealing authority for both lines. Dàxiū’s contact with Xiàoyún is therefore a specific cross-lineage continuity-marker in the Zhàn-ran-line Cáodòng of the 1640s.
  • Three refused Línjì sealings. Juan 3’s xíngshí documents three distinct interactions with Mìyún Línjì-line masters that did not result in sealing: (a) Mìyún Yuánwù at Tiāntóng in 1637–40 (Mìyún struck him but did not seal); (b) Shíqí Tōngyún 通雲 at Língjiùsì in 1642 spring (tested with the “kàn bù jiàn gè gānjìng nàsēng 看不見個乾淨衲僧” exchange, rebuffed by the master with a stick, Dàxiū likewise rebuffed back); (c) various non-central Línjì figures. Dàxiū’s repeated refusal of Línjì sealings — while accepting both Xiàngtián Píngdì and Shíyǔ Míngfāng Cáodòng transmissions — makes him the most thoroughly boundary-maintaining Cáodòng figure of his generation, doctrinally even stricter than Ruìbái Míngxuě.

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