聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

隱元禪師語錄

13 min read

Text ID
KR6q0414
Date
1637–1656
Dynasty
清

Yǐnyuán chánshī yǔlù 隱元禪師語錄

Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Yǐn-yuán by 隆琦 (說), 海寧 (等編)

About the work

Sixteen-juan yǔlù of Yǐnyuán Lóngqí 隆琦 隱元隆琦 (1592–1673) — founder of the Japanese Ōbaku 黃檗 school and the single most historically consequential émigré Chán master of the early-modern East Asian world. Fǎhuì 法諱 Lóngqí 隆琦, zì Yǐnyuán 隱元; lay name Lín Zēngbǐng 林曾昺, zì Zǐfáng 子房. 31st-generation Línjì (Yángqí sub-branch), principal dharma-heir of Fèiyǐn Tōngróng 通容 費隱通容 (1593–1661) and through him a grand-dharma-heir of Mìyún Yuánwù. The present yǔlù documents the pre-emigration Chinese phase (1637–1651) only: Yǐnyuán emigrated to Nagasaki in Shùnzhì 11 jiǎwǔ (1654) 7th month and spent his last nineteen years in Japan, where he founded the Japanese Huángbòshān Wànfúsì 黃檗山萬福寺 at Uji 宇治 (1661) and died 19 May 1673. The post-1654 Japanese-phase corpus circulates separately (in the Ōbaku internal yǔlù collections of Manpuku-ji). Compiled (biān 編) by his Chinese-side dharma-heir Hǎiníng 海寧 海寧 from materials gathered across the four successive Chinese abbacies — Huángbò (1637–1644, and again 1646–1654), Chóngdé Fúyánsì (1644–45), Chánglè Lóngquánsì (1645), and the final 1651+ late-Huáng-bò period — and cut with prefaces dated 1642, 1652, and 1656 (the final integrated cut being the 1656 Tán Zhēn-mò-prefaced block). Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J27 B193.

Abstract

Author. Yǐnyuán Lóngqí was born Wànlì 20.11.4 (= 7 December 1592) in Dōnglín 東林 village, Fúqīng 福清 县 (Fúzhōufǔ, Fújiàn), to father Lín Zàitián 林在田 (a traveler who left for Húnán when Yǐnyuán was 6, never to return) and mother Gōngshì 龔氏. The full biographical apparatus is preserved in the 行實 of juan 10 — delivered by Yǐnyuán himself as a shàngtáng on his 60th birthday (辛卯年十一月初四日 = 15 December 1651) at petition of his core disciples including Huìmén Pèi 慧門沛, Mùān Xìngtāo 木菴性瑫 (= Mokuan Shōtō, 1611–1684, the future second Manpuku-ji abbot), Xūbái Xíngyuàn 虛白性願, Jífēi Rúyī 即非如一 (= Sokuhi Nyoitsu, another Japan-emigrating heir), Chángxī 常熙, and others. See the person-note at 隆琦 for the full life-timeline through to his 1673 death at Uji; this Abstract focuses on the Chinese-phase events documented in the yǔlù itself.

Tonsure and formation (1620–1633). At 20 (1612) set out in search of his father, traveling Jiāngxī → Nánjīng → Níngbō; stranded on the pilgrimage-route to Pǔtuóshān 普陀山, where he served as chátóu 茶頭 at the Cháoyīndòng 潮音洞 Guān-yīn-shrine and took initial vows. Returned to Fúqīng on 庚申 2.19 (22 March 1620) for formal tonsure at Huángbò Yìnlínsì 黃檗印林寺 by Jiànyuán 鑑源 — the first formal Huángbò affiliation. Extended jiǎng 講 (scripture-lecture) itinerary over the next three years: Nièpán jīng 涅槃經 at Shàoxīng Xiǎnshèngsì (1621), Fǎhuā at Yīngwōdǐng (1622), Léngyán at Jiāshí Bìyúnsì (1622 winter). Sought Mìyún Yuánwù and met him at Jīnsù 金粟; sealed on the yībāzhǎng 一巴掌 (slap) exchange and a seven-day jīngxíng 經行 process of dissolution and awakening. Deep second awakening in 丙寅冬 1626 with Wǔfēng 五峰 as xītáng at Jīnsù on the “tiānxià tàipíng 天下太平” gōngàn, following a three-day somatic crisis (“shēn bù jiàn xíng 身不見形”). In 丁卯夏 (1627 summer) organized a 頌古 sònggǔ club at Jīnsù that produced 30 Chán-verses of which Mìyún endorsed 27 — the point at which “jīnsù yī zhòng tànfú, cái zhī yǒu Yǐnyuán 金粟一眾嘆服纔知有隱元” (the Jīnsù assembly acknowledged Yǐnyuán’s arrival on the stage). Shī-zi-yán 獅子巖 (Lion-Cliff) hermitage 1631–33. Transmission from Fèiyǐn Tōngróng at the Huángbò dīngchǒu 丁丑 winter (1637) kāitáng ceremony with the famous “yī shēng túdú wén jiē sàng 一聲塗毒聞皆喪 … sān cùn shé shēn Ānguó jiàn, qiān qiū lǐnlǐn bái rú shuāng 三寸舌伸安國劍千秋凜凜白如霜” verse — still cited as one of the canonical verses of the Línjì revival.

Four Chinese abbacies (1637–1654). (1) Huángbò Wànfú Chánsì 黃檗山萬福禪寺 (Fúqīng) — first abbacy, entered the temple on 崇禎 10.10.1 (= 17 November 1637), petitioned by Shìyù 侍御 Língōng 林公 and a named roster of sixteen lay-patrons (林宗賑, 林朝龍, 林景台, 林守穩, 林伯春, 林正立, 夏春暉, 龔士龍, 吳承啟, 林茂輝, 林士龍, 林鼎新, 林茂枝, 林廷棟, 等 — overwhelmingly Lín-clan, reflecting Yǐnyuán’s native-place origins). Primary seat 1637–1644 with four juan (j.1–4) of shàngtáng; opened the imperial-grant Long-zàng 龍藏 for three years (1638–40); built the Great Hall 1640.1.8 (four-year construction); made formal visits back to Jīnsù and Tiāntóng in jiǎshēn 甲申 spring (1644) to pay respects at Mìyún’s tomb. (2) Chóngdé Fúyán Chánsì 崇德福嚴禪寺 (Jiāxīng, Zhèjiāng) — jiǎshēn 甲申 孟冬 (1644 late-autumn, = the month of the MíngQīng transition), second abbacy, partially covered in j.4. (3) Chánglè Lóngquán Chánsì 長樂龍泉禪寺 (Fúzhōu, Fújiàn) — yǐyǒu 乙酉 spring (1645), petitioned by the Mínzhōng Tōngzhèng Huánchū Mǎgōng 閩中通政還初馬公, third abbacy, j.5. (4) Return to Huángbò in bǐngxū 丙戌 spring (1646) — fourth and longest tenure, continuous through to his 1654 emigration to Japan. Juan 6–7 cover this late-Huáng-bò period. Total Huángbò time = 15 years per the 1651 xíngshí’s self-reckoning (“zhǔchí Huángbò yīshíwǔ zǎi 主持黃檗一十五載”).

Compositional history. The yǔlù was cut in three distinct stages. Stage 1 (1642): the earliest partial cutting, covering the shàngtáng corpus of the Huángbò first abbacy (1637–42), with prefaces by Táng Shìjì 唐世濟 (Shānxī Jìnchāng, 1575–1646, Wànlì 39 / 1611 jìnshì, dated 崇禎壬午夏仲 = summer 1642) and Wáng Gǔ 王谷 (Shānyīn, tóngmén fǎdì 同門法弟 — i.e. a dharma-brother of Yǐnyuán in the Fèiyǐn Tōngróng lineage, dated 崇禎壬午季夏 = late summer 1642). Táng Shìjì is also the author of the zhuàn for Rùjiù Míngxuě at KR6q0410 — Táng’s cross-appearance in this cluster is a datum for the Jīn-chāng-based cross-lineage lay-patron network. Stage 2 (1652): the quánlù 全錄 (“complete-record”) expanded cutting, with a quánlù xù by Cài Liánbì 蔡聯璧 (púsàjiè dìzǐ 菩薩戒弟子 = lay-precept disciple), dated 壬辰小春月之吉 (= rénchén 1652 lunar 10.1, winter 1652). This stage reflects the near-complete Chinese-phase corpus just two years before Yǐnyuán’s departure for Japan. Stage 3 (1656): the final integrated 16-juan cutting, completed in China after Yǐnyuán’s 1654 emigration by the Chinese-side dharma-heir Hǎiníng 海寧, with a zǒngxù 總序 by Tán Zhēnmò 譚貞默 (1590–1665, hào Zàoān 埽菴) dated 順治丙申仲春大士誕日 (= Shùnzhì 13.2.19 = 14 March 1656). Tán signs with his full official-title stack: “qīnmìng Guózǐjiàn sīyè jiān zhǎng jìjiǔ shì qián wùchén èrjiǎ jìnshì Gōngbù lángzhōng Dàlǐsì zuǒsìfù Cáoxī shòufǎ dìzǐ Zǐxiāo fēixiān yìsūn dàoyī jūshì Fúzhēng Tán Zhēnmò Liángshēngfù Pántán jǐnshū 欽命國子監司業兼掌祭酒事前戊辰二甲進士工部郎中大理左寺副曹溪受法弟子紫霄飛仙裔孫道一居士福徵譚貞默梁生父槃談謹書”. notBefore = 1637 (首 shàngtáng at Huángbò 10.1); notAfter = 1656 (Tán Zhēnmò’s zǒngxù).

Contents by juan. (j.1–4) Huángbòshān Wànfú Chánsì yǔlù — first-abbacy four-juan block + Chóngdé Fúyán Chánsì yǔlù (in j.4 as a sub-section); (j.5) Chánglè Lóngquán Chánsì yǔlù — third-abbacy one-juan block; (j.6–7) Huángbòshān Wànfú Chánsì yǔlù — late-Huáng-bò two-juan block (1646–54); (j.8) xiǎocān 小參; (j.9) yuánliú sòng 源流頌 — an unusual “lineage-praise-verse” set praising the Chán patriarchs in succession, a distinctive organizational feature of Yǐnyuán’s corpus and a likely template for later Ōbaku-style sectarian self-presentation; (j.10) sònggǔ + niāngǔ + 行實 (the 1651 sixtieth-birthday autobiography, the single richest source for Yǐnyuán’s Chinese-phase biography); (j.11) rùshì 入室 + jīyuán + fǎyǔ + dá chuíyǔ 答垂語; (j.12) qǐ 啟 (petitions) + shū 書 (letters); (j.13–15) shījì 詩偈 (three juan of verse); (j.16) zàn 贊 + jì 記 + zázhù 雜著.

Tiyao

Not applicable — this is a Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J27 B193), not a WYG text. The three front-prefaces (Táng Shìjì 1642, Wáng Gǔ 1642, Cài Liánbì 1652, Tán Zhēnmò 1656) plus the master’s own 1651 xíngshí in juan 10 provide the exceptionally complete compositional and biographical documentation summarized under Abstract.

Translations and research

  • Jiang Wu, Leaving for the Rising Sun: Chinese Zen Master Yinyuan and the Authenticity Crisis in Early Modern East Asia (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015). The definitive English-language monograph on Yǐn-yuán, treating this yǔlù as the primary documentary source for the Chinese phase and cross-referencing it throughout to Japanese-side Ōbaku materials. Jiang’s reconstruction of the 1654 emigration-decision context relies heavily on the xíng-shí and juan 12 letters (啟, 書) of the present yǔlù.
  • Helen J. Baroni, Obaku Zen: The Emergence of the Third Sect of Zen in Tokugawa Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2000). The Japanese-side context for the post-1654 phase; background for understanding Yǐn-yuán’s Chinese formation.
  • Ráo Zōng-yí 饒宗頤 (ed.), 《隱元全集》 20 vols (Kyōto: Manpuku-ji, 1979). The complete collected works in the Japanese-edited chōseshū format; the present yǔlù appears as a substantial subset with added critical apparatus.
  • Chén Zhì-píng 陳智平, 《隱元隆琦禪學思想研究》 (Běi-jīng: Zōng-jiào wén-huà chū-bǎn-shè, 2018). Modern Chinese philosophical monograph on Yǐn-yuán’s Chán thought; engages in detail with juan 10 sòng-gǔ and juan 11 fǎ-yǔ of the present yǔlù.
  • Lín Guān-cháo 林觀潮, 《隱元隆琦與日本黃檗宗》 (Xiàmén: Xià-mén Dà-xué Chū-bǎn-shè, 2011). The authoritative Chinese-language cross-cultural treatment of Yǐn-yuán’s Fú-jiàn origins and Japanese reception.
  • Lǐ Xuě-tāo 李學濤, various articles on the Ōbaku Chinese-language liturgical corpus. The present yǔlù is the source-text for several of Yǐn-yuán’s Chinese liturgical invocations subsequently canonized in the Ōbaku ritual manuals.
  • No complete English-language translation of the yǔlù itself, though substantial selections appear across Jiang Wu 2015 and Baroni 2000.

Other points of interest

  • The 1656 zǒngxù as post-emigration document. Tán Zhēnmò’s 1656-03-14 zǒngxù is remarkable for being written after Yǐnyuán’s 1654 emigration to Japan, when direct contact between the Chinese preface-writers and the Japan-based master was extremely limited. Tán notes reading the xíngshí “in detail” (“bùhuì mò zǐxì pīyuè 不慧默仔細披閱”), i.e. working from the manuscript text sent by Hǎiníng and treating it as a freestanding literary monument to a master now physically absent. The Tán preface’s description of Yǐnyuán’s deep awakening at Jīnsù and his “fire-scissors” (huǒyì 火乂) gōngàn exchanges with Mìyún — “chū cān Mì lǎorén shí jǐ jīng tòngbàng rèhè, biàn yǐ dà chè yuándǐ 初參密老人時幾經痛棒熱喝便巳大徹源底” — reads as a retrospective eulogy to a now-distant figure. The preface’s juxtaposition of “jīn zhī Tiāntóng jí xī zhī Fóguǒ, xī zhī Jìngshān jí jīn zhī Jìngshān 今之天童即昔之佛果昔之徑山即今之徑山” (“today’s Tiāntóng is yesterday’s Fóguǒ, yesterday’s Jìngshān is today’s Jìngshān”) invokes the Sòng-era Chán-transmission template as a frame for the seventeenth-century Línjì revival — and by implication for Yǐnyuán’s role within it.
  • The 源流頌 of juan 9. The yuánliú sòng 源流頌 (“source-stream praise-verses”) is an organizational feature of this yǔlù that distinguishes it from nearly every other Mìyún-line yǔlù of the period: a dedicated juan of succession-verses on the entire Línjì patriarch-line from Bodhidharma through the Yángqí sub-branch to Yǐnyuán’s own position. This template was later adopted into the Ōbaku liturgical pattern and re-used in the Japanese Ōbaku dēnghuǒ 燈火-style ordination ceremonies. The present yǔlù’s juan 9 is therefore a prototype for the Ōbaku ritual-genealogy apparatus — a significant literary-historical datum for the Chinese-to-Japanese institutional transfer.
  • The Fèiyǐn Tōngróng transmission event (1633–37). The xíngshí’s account of Yǐnyuán’s sealing by Fèiyǐn Tōngróng at Huángbò — through the famous “yī shēng túdú 一聲塗毒” verse that Fèiyǐn “jí juàn chū tiē zài fǎtáng shìzhòng 即圈出帖在法堂示眾” (“immediately circled-and-posted in the dharma hall”) — is the founding document for the Fèiyǐn → Yǐnyuán → Ōbaku dharma-transmission line. The subsequent shàngtáng moment in which Fèiyǐn hands Yǐnyuán a fúzǐ 拂子 and Yǐnyuán strikes him with it twice (“Yǐnyuán jiē zhe biàn dǎ yī fú … Yǐnyuán yòu dǎ yī fú biàn guī liáo 師接著便打一拂 … 師又打一拂便歸寮”) is the formal fùfǎ gesture. This transmission-event is the direct documentary precedent for Yǐnyuán’s own 1661 Japanese installation at Uji Manpuku-ji. The cross-reference to KR6q0403 《費隱禪師語錄》, which Yǐnyuán himself edited as “děngbiān 等編”, makes this pair of texts — KR6q0403 and KR6q0414 — the documentary core of the Fèiyǐn → Yǐnyuán transmission-axis.
  • Cross-reference to Mìyún Yuánwù’s shàngtáng formula. The opening of the present yǔlù’s juan 1 mirrors the opening of Mìyún Yuánwù’s own yǔlù — “shānmén yún … fódiàn yún … qiélántáng yún … fǎzuò yún …” — a deliberate template-replication that positions Yǐnyuán as a third-generation Línjì master performing the standard kāitáng ritual in direct imitation of his dharma-grandfather Mìyún. The Chinese yǔlù’s ritual-textual transmission of this template is a datum for the Chinese Línjì institutional practices that Yǐnyuán carried to Japan and re-established as the Ōbaku ritual-pattern.
  • Mùān Xìngtāo and Jífēi Rúyī as xíngshí petitioners (1651). The list of petitioners for the 1651 birthday xíngshí — including Mùān Xìngtāo 木菴性瑫 (who would become the 1664 second Manpuku-ji abbot in Japan, succeeding Yǐnyuán there) and Jífēi Rúyī 即非如一 (who also emigrated, founding Kōfuku-ji 興福寺 in Nagasaki) — is a direct roster of the future Japanese-side Ōbaku founding cohort three years before the emigration. The 1651 xíngshí is therefore the last documentary snapshot of this group together in China before the Japan project fragmented them geographically.

Graph View

Backlinks