石霜爾瞻尊禪師語錄

Shíshuāng Ěrzhān Zūn chánshī yǔlù 石霜爾瞻尊禪師語錄

Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Ěr-zhān Zūn of Shí-shuāng by 達尊 (說), 本開 (等記錄)

About the work

Two-juan yǔlù of Shíshuāng Ěrzhān Dázūn 達尊 石霜爾瞻達尊 (1608–1663) — the post-Míng-Qīng-transition restorer of the ancient Shíshuāngshān seat 瀏陽石霜山 in Liúyáng, Húnán, the ancestral Línjì-revival monastery of Shíshuāng Qìngzhū 石霜慶諸 (807–888) and Címíng Shíshuāng Chǔyuán 慈明石霜楚圓 (986–1039). Fǎhuì 法諱 Dázūn 達尊, hào Ěrzhān 爾瞻 (from the Shījīng allusion “nǎi rú zhī rén xī, bāng zhī yuán fāng; ěr zhān rén xī, bāng zhī yí wàng 乃如之人兮邦之媛方爾瞻人兮邦之儀望”). Lay surname Táng 唐, of Níngbō Yínxiàn 寧波鄞縣. Línjì-line, dharma-heir of Dùnsǒu Zhìjì 鈍叟智際 at Dōngmíng Lǜluóān 東明綠蘿菴 (the “Yuánluó 緣蘿” / “Lǜluó 綠蘿” of the prefaces), who was himself a Mìyún Yuánwù line master in the generation below the main 通-character heirs. Recorded by shìzhě 侍者 Běnkāi 本開 本開. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J27 B200.

Abstract

Author. Dázūn was born 萬曆 36 (= 1608) to the Táng 唐 family of Níngbō Yínxiàn 鄞縣 (the same prefecture that produced the late-Míng Chán greats Yúnmén Zhànrán at Xiǎnshèngsì and Yǔfēng Yuánxìn 雪嶠圓信). Family lived near Pǔtuósì 補陀寺; daily entered the temple for worship. One day on a walk found an abandoned pútuán 蒲團 (sitting-cushion) + jièyī 戒衣 (precept-robe) set at the roadside, waited for an owner that never came, and took the discarded set to Fúquánshān 福泉山 to request tonsure from Yuánmíngshī 圜明師. Father and brother came to retrieve him but, seeing Dázūn’s resolute intent, gave way. Tonsured at Fúquánshān; served Yuánmíng three years.

Initial training and Mìyún interview (1635). Traveled to Tiāntóngsì to meet Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟 (密祖) at the height of his Tian-tong abbacy. Mìyún tested him on the xiāngxìn 香信 exchange; Dázūn’s response was struck by the master’s staff. Received full precepts from Mìyún Chóngzhēn 乙亥 winter (= 1635 winter) at age 28 suì. Subsequently visited Jīnsù Chénggōng 金粟乘公, Biànshān Xuěgōng 弁山雪公, and Nánjiàn Wèngōng 南澗問公 (= Nánjiàn Cíwèn 南澗慈問, 1580–1659, Mi-yun heir). Finally arrived at Dōngmíng 東明 and met Dùnsǒu Zhìjì 鈍叟智際 (Jìgōng). The sealing exchange is preserved in detail in the tǎmíng: on the Jiāshān bōchén jiàn Fó 夾山撥塵見佛 gōngàn, Dùnsǒu tested “shì Jiāshān fèilì, shì zhě sēng fèilì 是夾山費力是者僧費力”; Dázūn responded “yīrèn fēnshū 一任分疏” (“I’ll leave it to your parsing”). Later, on the bīnzhǔ mù 賓主穆 gōngàn, Dùnsǒu sang him the mìchuán verse “yuānyāng xiù chū cóng jūn kàn, bù bǎ jīnzhēn dù yǔ rén 鴛鴦繡出從君看不把金鍼度與人” (“I’ll let you see the embroidered mandarin ducks, but I won’t hand over the gold needle [that made them]”); Dázūn suddenly broke through — “piēěr qì wù, biàn lǐbài 瞥爾契悟便禮拜” — “zhēn dàdì píngchén jìngjiè, cóngqián àiyīng lìshí bīngshì yǐ 真大地平沉境界從前礙膺立時冰釋矣” (“a truly ground-sinking-flat境界; prior impediments to my chest melted like ice”). Attended Dùnsǒu for five years at Héngshān 衡山 (Nányuè). Dùnsǒu fled the Zhāng Xiànzhōng / Qīng-transition chaos to Tánzhōu 潭州 and died there in 乙酉 乙酉 (1645). Nányuánshī 南源師 retrieved the body back to Héngyuè for burial.

Shíshuāng abbacy (1646–1663). 順治丙戌 (= 1646): Liúyáng Shíshuāng Běnhuō 瀏陽石霜本豁 (probably a fǎxiǎodì and the leader of the Shíshuāng restoration) and other regional patrons petitioned Dázūn to take the Shíshuāng abbacy. The seat — Shíshuāng Qìngzhū’s ancestral Chán hall in Liúyáng, Húnán, devastated by the MíngQīng transition warfare — needed substantial restoration. Dázūn entered with “mángxié zhúzhàng, xínglǐ xiāorán 芒鞋竹杖行李蕭然” (“straw sandals, bamboo staff, sparse traveling kit”), opening with the signature shàngtáng “xíng yī bù tàduàn wēichén zhūFó mìnggēn, tuò yī tuò tuò pò cóngshàng lièzǔ bābí 行一步踏斷微塵諸佛命根唾一唾唾破從上列祖巴鼻” (“take one step and cut off the life-root of the buddhas of the dust-motes, spit and smash the nose-hook of all patriarchs”). Eighteen-year tenure (1646–1663), with a single interruption in 戊戌 (1658) when a monastic dispute led Dázūn to briefly withdraw; disciples brought him back by jǐhài 己亥 (1659) autumn. Restored Shíshuāng Qìngzhū’s pagoda in 庚子 庚子 (1660) spring and petitioned Mùchén Dàomǐn 木陳道忞 at Tiāntóng for the restoration-jì 記, which Dàomǐn obliged. Dàomǐn notes in his preface to the present yǔlù that after receiving the manuscript he recognized Dázūn as “Lóngchí Huàn lǎorén xià xíngzì fǎsì zhōng dìyī qiáochǔ yě 龍池幻老人下行字法嗣中第一翹楚也” — “the first-rank dharma-heir of the 行-generation under Lóngchí Huàn lǎorén [= Huànyǒu Zhèngchuán 幻有正傳 1549–1614, Mìyún’s teacher]“.

Death (1663). Built a pre-mortem shòutǎ 壽塔 (“longevity-pagoda”, traditionally built before death) adjacent to Qìngzhū’s ancestor-pagoda in 康熙癸卯 康熙癸卯 (= 1663). Illness followed immediately. Died 康熙 2 癸卯 9.1–9.4 (= early October 1663): 9.1 stopped eating; midday of an unnamed day soon after, dictated a farewell letter to Xiǎoān Yùgōng 曉菴昱公 entrusting post-mortem affairs; died sitting cross-legged at 亥時 (9–11 pm). Body remained in samādhi seven days; cremation-day rain-mist lifted at the qǐkān 起龕 moment; ashes interred 10月9日 (= early November 1663). World-age 56 suì / sēnglà 31. Dharma-heirs named in the tǎmíng: Rùwēi Kuīgōng 入微恢公 (who brought the manuscript to Dàomǐn for the preface), Yuǎnān Piàngōng 遠菴僼公 (also a Dázūn dharma-brother and co-instigator of the taming-request), and others.

Compositional history. The yǔlù is framed by three prefatorial pieces and a back-appended tǎmíng: (1) front-preface by Lǐ Wényìn 李文胤 (Miǎotíng 淼亭, 同里 = fellow-villager from Níngbō Yínxiàn), dated 康熙丙午孟冬 = Kāngxī 5 / 1666 lunar 10 = November 1666; (2) front-preface by Mùchén Dàomǐn 弘覺忞老人 at Tiāntóng, post-1659 imperial-audience, undated but post-1663 (Dázūn’s death) and pre-1674 (Mùchén’s death) — by internal reference “yuè wǔ nián shǒu Xián chánrén chí gōng yǔlù zhì 閱五年首賢禪人持公語錄至” (“after five years [since the 1660 pagoda-jì], disciple Shǒuxián 首賢 禪人 brought the yǔlù”) the preface dates to c. 1665–66; (3) the closing 塔銘 塔銘 by Běnxiù 本秀 (zì Guāngxiù 光繡, hào Shèngyuèshì 聖月氏; a dharma-younger-brother of Dázūn in the same Mù-chén-line 本-generation cohort as Běnshēng 本昇 at KR6q0409 and Běnkāi 本開 at the present text), dated 康熙丙午上巳日 = Kāngxī 5 / 1666 lunar 3.3 = 4 April 1666. notBefore = 1646 (Shíshuāng first-abbacy shàngtáng corpus). notAfter = 1666 (both Lǐ Wényìn and Běnxiù dated 1666).

Contents by juan. (j.1) 住瀏陽石霜禪寺語錄 — jùshì 據室 + sǎo zhū chánshī tǎ 掃諸禪師塔 (including pagoda-sweeping rituals for Címíng Chǔyuán 慈明老祖 and Léiqiān 雷遷 ancestral figures) + shìzhòng 示眾 + shàngtáng 上堂 + jīyuán 機緣; (j.2) niāngǔ 拈古 + sònggǔ 頌古 + jìsòng 偈頌 + zàn 贊 (including self-portraits) + shūwèn 書問 + fóshì 佛事 + zázhù 雜著 + 附 塔銘 (the Běnxiù 1666 taming).

Tiyao

Not applicable — this is a Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J27 B200), not a WYG text. Two front-prefaces (Lǐ Wényìn 1666-11, Mùchén Dàomǐn c. 1665–66) and the back-appended Běnxiù 1666-04-04 tǎmíng provide the exceptionally complete biographical documentation summarized under Abstract.

Translations and research

• Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute (2008). Dá-zūn appears in the post-1645 Mi-yun line’s second-generation roster as the restorer of Shí-shuāng-shān. The post-Zhāng-Xiàn-zhōng reopening of Shí-shuāng-shān is contextualized in ch. 7 as one of several Qīng-era zǔ-tíng restorations parallel to Dà-xiū Zhū’s 1654 Nán-huá abbacy (cf. KR6q0413) and Zhàng-xuě Tōng-zuì’s 1663 Zhāo-jué restoration (cf. KR6q0415).
• Shí-shuāng-sì zhì 石霜寺志 (modern reprints from the Yuèlù Shūshè). Dá-zūn’s 1646 entry and 1663 death are documented as the primary Qīng-era restoration-period.
• Liào Zhào-hēng 廖肇亨 and Chén Yún-nǚ 陳玉女 works on Jia-xing-era Mi-yun-line Chán, for context on the post-1644 Hú-nán regional Chán recovery.
• No Western-language translation.

Other points of interest

• Post-transition Shíshuāng restoration. Dázūn’s 1646 Shíshuāng entry is one of the most consequential Qīng-era zǔtíng 祖庭 restorations — the revival of a Chán ancestral seat of the very first rank (the home-seat of both Shíshuāng Qìngzhū 石霜慶諸 and Címíng Chǔyuán 慈明石霜楚圓, i.e., the seat central to the Línjì-tradition lineage-history). The ZhāngXiànzhōng devastation of 1644–46 had left Húnán’s monastic institutions in ruins; Dázūn’s 18-year tenure is the first significant post-catastrophe Húnán Chán abbacy. His parallel is Dàxiū Zhū at Cáoxī Nánhuá (1654–56, at KR6q0413) and Zhàngxuě Tōngzuì at Chéngdū Zhāojué (1663+, at KR6q0415) — three simultaneous post-1644 Chán restoration-programs at three different zǔtíng seats.
• Dùnsǒu Zhìjì as hidden transmission-teacher. Dázūn’s transmission came not from the famous Mìyún direct-heirs but from the less-documented Dùnsǒu Zhìjì 鈍叟智際 at Dōngmíng Lǜluóān 東明綠蘿菴 on Héngshān — a small-seat master whose own Chán-lineage position is “Lóngchí Huàn lǎorén xià 龍池幻老人下 行-character generation” per Mùchén’s identification. This illustrates the wider Mi-yun-line network beyond the famous direct heirs (Mùyún, Fèiyǐn, Shíqí, Mùchén, Yǐnyuán etc.): there were also multiple smaller-seat masters at Héngshān / Dàhuīshān / other peripheral sites whose disciples appeared in the post-Qīng-transition Chán restoration-generation. Dázūn, as the “dìyī qiáochǔ 第一翹楚” (first-rank luminary) of this peripheral-line, is a case-study in how these lesser-known sub-lines contributed foundational restoration-era abbots.
• The 1663 pagoda-building → death sequence. Dázūn’s construction of his own shòutǎ 壽塔 (“longevity-pagoda”) just before falling ill and dying is a distinctive Chán-biographical pattern (self-aware death preparation) that parallels the Mítuó-shàngtáng pattern of Xuěguān Zhìyín at KR6q0418 (“wú jīn kěyǐ xiè yù Mítuó yǐ 吾今可以謝喻彌陀矣”). The 7-day post-death samādhi display, the rain-cessation on the cremation day, and the eastern-Asian death-ritual motifs preserved in the tǎmíng constitute a deliberately-shaped yǔanjì 圓寂 narrative.
• Literary-citation-pattern. The tǎmíng’s deep Shījīng / classical-literature allusion structure — especially the běijīng 北京 “龍池幻老人下行字法嗣中第一翹楚” direct quote of Mùchén’s judgment, and the closing Kuáng zhěn 狂枕 / Wén shī 聞師 sequence — positions Dázūn in the literary-Chán (wénchán 文禪) register characteristic of the post-1660 Jiāxīng Chán revival. This register, typical of the second-generation post-Mi-yun heirs’ yǔlù, reflects the deeper lay-literatus integration of late-seventeenth-century Chán writing compared to the more austere early-seventeenth-century examples.

Links

• CBETA
• Preface author: Mùchén Dàomǐn (to be created / 弘覺忞老人).
• Preface author: 李文胤 Lǐ Wényìn (1666-11 preface, fellow-villager from Níngbō).
• Tǎmíng author: 本秀 Běnxiù (dharma-brother of Dázūn; 1666-04-04 taming).
• Dharma-teacher: Dùnsǒu Zhìjì 鈍叟智際 at Dōngmíng Lǜluóān (to be created if relevant to later texts).
• Grand-teacher (indirect): 圓悟 Mìyún Yuánwù.
• Parallel Chán zǔtíng restorers: KR6q0413 大休珠 (Nánhuá 1654); KR6q0415 丈雪通醉 (Zhāojué 1663+).