古雪哲禪師語錄

Gǔxuě Zhé chánshī yǔlù 古雪哲禪師語錄

Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Gǔ-xuě Zhé by 真哲 (說), 傳我 (等編)

About the work

Twenty-juan yǔlù of Gǔxuě Zhēnzhé 真哲 古雪真哲 (1614–c. 1675?) — the youngest direct dharma-heir of Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟 (1566/7–1642) and the Mìyún-line restorer of the Jiāngxī Cuìyán Chánsì 翠巖禪寺 in Hóngdū 洪都 (Nánchāng). Fǎhuì 法諱 Zhēnzhé 真哲 (33rd-generation with 真 as a generation-character variant, zì Ruòlǔ 若魯 originally, upgraded in the sealing to the secondary Zhé 哲), hào Gǔxuě 古雪 (“Ancient-Snow”). Lay surname Chén 陳, of Jiànníngfǔ Ōuníngxiàn Gāoyángxiāng 建寧府甌寧縣高陽鄉 (Fújiàn). Distinct from, though contemporary with, the other Mìyún heirs — uniquely characterized in Mùchén Dàomǐn’s 1650s-era preface as “唯公年齒最少, 志願獨堅 唯公年齒最少志願獨堅” (“his age-teeth youngest, his aspirations strongest alone”). Compiled by dharma-heir Chuánwǒ 傳我 傳我 at Wànān Lóngdéyuàn 萬安龍德院 (Jiāngxī). Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J28 B208.

Abstract

Author. Gǔ-xuě Zhēn-zhé was born Wàn-lì 42 甲寅 10.4 亥時 (= 4 November 1614 Western) at Ōu-níng, Jiàn-níng-fǔ, Fú-jiàn. Lay name Chén Guó-bīn 陳國賓, zì Bīn-wáng 賓王. Father Chén Zhī-qí 陳之奇 (local yì-xiáng-shēng 邑庠生 = prefectural-school student); mother Yú-shì 余氏 who on the night of childbirth dreamed of an old monk from Ēméi-shān with snow-white eyebrows seeking lodging. Newborn refused all flesh-food; from age 5 or 6 chanted the Cundī-dhāraṇī 準提咒 daily. Age 16 (= 1629): tonsured at Huáng-yán 黃巖 (Fú-jiàn Huáng-yán-xiàn) under Tǐ-kōng 體空 at his grandfather’s direction; given dharma-name Zhēn-zhé 真哲, zì Ruò-lǔ 若魯. First Chán-opening on the Zhōng-fēng jǐng-cè gē 中峰警策歌 “yī-niàn bù-shēng dū jiě-tuō 一念不生都解脫”; further testing on the Qīng-zhōu bù-shān 青州布衫 gōng-àn — sat bì-guān wordlessly for days.

Training with Mìyún (1631–41). 辛未冬 辛未冬 (= 1631 winter): left Fújiàn. On the way met Juélàng Dàoshèng 覺浪道盛 at Mèngbǐ 夢筆 (who detained him briefly). 壬申 壬申 (= 1632): at Wǔlín 武林 (Hang-zhōu). Three years wandering Wú, Chǔ, and Central-Plains; “yī bù jiě dài, xié bù zhì xí, suī zhícuàn fùchōng, cǎixīn qǐshí, mǐ bù wèi zhī 衣不解帶脅不至蓆雖執爨負舂採薪乞食靡不為之” (“never loosened his robe, never laid flat to sleep, even kitchen-fire-tending, pounding-rice, firewood-gathering, alms-begging — all undertaken”). 甲戌冬 甲戌冬 (= 1634 winter): finally arrived at Tiāntóngsì from Yǐngzhōu and formally met Mìyún Yuánwù. Eight years (1634–42) at Tiāntóng under Mìyún in extended rùshì 入室 training — the xíngshí in juan 11 preserves over twenty distinct exchange-vignettes. Interim travels: 丁丑春 丁丑 spring (1637) left on illness-leave, met Xuějiào Yuánxìn 雪嶠圓信 at Jìngshān (the famous yǔlín 語霖 exchange), Yǒngjué Yuánxián 永覺元賢 at Píngyáo 缾窯, and Xuěguān Zhìyín 雪關智誾 at Jìngshān 徑山 (KR6q0418). Winter at Yúnmén under Ěrmì héshàng 爾密和尚 with the decisive awakening on the Kāishàn Dàoqiān 開善謙 and Zōngyuán 宗原 chíshū gōngàn 馳書公案 — sitting “dòng shí yú zhī xiāng 坐十餘枝香” (over ten incense-sticks of continuous sitting) with no body-mind-world felt, in pure bìshí wànrèn 壁立萬仞 境界.

Final sealing and first abbacy (1641–49). 辛巳冬 辛巳冬 (= 1641 winter): at Qí yùshǐ Mìyuán 祁御史密園 (= Qí Biāojiā 祁彪佳’s Mìyuán garden in Shàoxīng) serving Mìyún; took formal leave. Settled at Xījiāng Nánān Wòyúnān 西江南安臥雲菴 in Jiāngxī for a grass-hut retreat. News of Mìyún’s 1642 death reached him within a year; traveled east to Hóngzhōu 洪州. Met co-disciple Jiàntáng Yìgōng 健堂義公 who persuaded him to stay at Xīshān Báifǎān 西山白法菴 in Hóngdū region. Nine-year hermitage residence at Báifǎān, 1643–1651 — documented as “zì guǐwèi zhì jīn shùhū jiǔ zǎi 自癸未至今倏忽九載” in the xíngshí. 己丑 己丑 (= 1649): petitioned by Xiāngchéng zhūchà 香城諸剎 (the Cuì-yán-local network) to accept the abbacy of the ruined Hóngdū Cuìyán Chánsì 洪都翠巖禪寺 — Zhēnzhé resisted four times but was compelled to accept. Kāitáng 開堂 at Cuìyán c. 1649, with qǐngshū 請疏 petitions preserved in juan 1 from Chén Hóngxù 陳弘緒 (Sīlǐ 司理) and Xióng Wénjǔ 熊文舉 (shàozǎi 少宰).

Dating. notBefore = 1649 (the Cuìyán kāitáng is the earliest datable content). notAfter = 1655 (Mùchén Dàomǐn’s preface, signed from his Qīngzhōu Dàjuésì 青州大覺寺 residence — Mùchén was at Qīngzhōu in the mid-1650s, before the 1655 transfer of Qīngzhōu Dàjué to Běnshēng Tiānàn [cf. KR6q0409] and before Mùchén’s 1659 imperial audience — placing the preface’s composition c. 1653–55). The xíngshí in juan 11 is dated 辛卯臘 辛卯臘 = 1651 lunar 12 = January 1652, marking the third-year kāilú 開爐 of Cuìyán. The integrated yǔlù was cut shortly after 1655, preserving Mùchén’s Qīngzhōu preface and the 1651-delivered xíngshí.

Contents by juan. (j.1–9) Cuìyán shàngtáng + xiǎocān + wǎncān across nine juan (1649 onwards) — making this one of the longest single-abbacy shàngtáng blocks in the J26–J28 cluster; (j.10) Cuìyán pǔshuō 普說 part 1; (j.11) Cuìyán pǔshuō part 2 + 行實 行實 (the 1651 birthday-petition autobiography); (j.12) wèndá jīyuán 問答機緣 + rùshì jīyuán 入室機緣; (j.13) sònggǔ 頌古; (j.14) fǎyǔ 法語 + zàn 贊; (j.15) shū 書; (j.16) qǐ 啟; (j.17–19) jì 偈 (three juan of verse); (j.20) fóshì 佛事 + zázhù 雜著.

Tiyao

Not applicable — this is a Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J28 B208), not a WYG text. Two front-prefaces (Chén Hóngxù, undated; Mùchén Dàomǐn from Qīngzhōu Dàjuésì c. 1653–55) plus the 1651 xíngshí in juan 11 provide the principal compositional and biographical documentation summarized under Abstract.

Translations and research

• Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute (2008). Gǔ-xuě Zhēn-zhé appears as one of Mìyún’s twelve named direct dharma-heirs, with his role as youngest heir (Mù-chén’s preface emphasis) and solo Cuì-yán restorer giving him a distinctive niche.
• Liào Zhào-hēng 廖肇亨, 《忠義菩提》 (2013). Xī-shān Bái-fǎ-ān 西山白法菴 — Zhēn-zhé’s 1643–51 Bái-fǎ hermitage — is situated in the loyalist Hóng-dū literary circle of Chén Hóng-xù 陳弘緒 (1597–1665, the author of one of the yǔlù’s request-qǐng-shū) and connects Zhēn-zhé to the Jiāng-xī late-Míng yí-mín literary-Chán network.
• Chen Yuán 陳垣, 《釋氏疑年錄》. Zhēn-zhé’s dates 1614 – ? are listed with the death-date as uncertain; some sources suggest c. 1675.
• No Western-language treatment.

Other points of interest

• The 1651 xíngshí as one of the most detailed Mìyún-line autobiographies. Zhēnzhé’s ~4000-character autobiography delivered at his third-year Cuìyán kāilú on 1651 lunar 12 (= January 1652) is the single longest surviving autobiographical Chán text among the J26–J28 Mìyún-line masters. It preserves over twenty distinct rùshì exchange-vignettes with Mìyún at Tiāntóng (including named datable episodes like the 萬工池 Wàngōngchí 萬工池 pool-excavation棒打 1636, the 佛音兄 Fóyīnxiōng 佛音兄 cremation-eulogy episode, the 熏風南來 xūnfēng nánlái triple-exchange, etc.) and provides the single densest documentary source for Mìyún’s late-life training-methodology. For any scholar of seventeenth-century LínjìChán pedagogy, juan 11 of KR6q0426 is an indispensable source.
• Jiangxi loyalist-yí-mín literary-patronage network. The two qǐngshū 請疏 petition-prose pieces in juan 1 — by Chén Hóngxù 陳弘緒 (a Hóngdū yìmín 遺民 literary figure who refused Qīng service and wrote extensive historical-geographical works) and Xióng Wénjǔ 熊文舉 (another Jiāngxī shàozǎi 少宰 figure) — position the Cuìyán restoration project in the Jiāngxī late-Míng loyalist literary network. Chén Hóngxù’s extensive prose output (particularly the 《寒夜錄》 寒夜錄) documents his Chán connections of this period, complementing the present yǔlù’s evidence.
• Qí Biāojiā’s Mìyuán garden connection (1641). The mention of Zhēnzhé serving Mìyún at Qí yùshǐ Mìyuán 祁御史密園 in 1641 winter places Zhēnzhé in proximity to Qí Biāojiā 祁彪佳 (1602–1645), the famous Shàoxīng literatus who would commit suicide at the 1645 Ming collapse. The Qí-garden moment — Mi-yun’s stay as Qí’s guest-of-honor in 1641 — is one of the best-documented literary-elite-Chán junctures of the late Chóngzhēn era. Zhēnzhé’s departure from Mi-yun’s side during this visit marks the prelude to the master’s 1642 death and Zhēnzhé’s own 9-year Báifǎ retreat.
• Mùchén Dàomǐn’s Qīngzhōu residency (c. 1653–55). The second preface’s signature “zhù Dōngqí Qīngzhōu zhī Dàjuésì tóngmén Dàomǐn zhuàn 住東齊青州之大覺寺同門道忞撰” places Mùchén at Qīngzhōu Dàjuésì 青州大覺寺 in Shāndōng during the preface’s composition. This is an independent datum for Mùchén’s Shāndōng residence in the c. 1653–55 period, before the 1655 transfer of Qīngzhōu Dàjué to Běnshēng Tiānàn (cf. KR6q0409) and before Mùchén’s 1659 Shùnzhì imperial audience. The preface is one of the few datable mid-1650s Dàomǐn prose pieces and bears on the reconstruction of Mùchén’s pre-audience peregrinations.

Links

• CBETA
• Dharma-teacher: 圓悟 Mìyún Yuánwù (directly; Zhēnzhé is a third-generation — no, direct dharma-son, since he was Mi-yun’s 侍者 attendant in the mid-1630s–1641).
• Compiler: 傳我 傳我 at Wànān Lóngdéyuàn.
• Qǐngshū authors: Chén Hóngxù 陳弘緒 (Jiāngxī yímín); Xióng Wénjǔ 熊文舉.
• Preface author: Mùchén Dàomǐn 木陳道忞 from Qīngzhōu Dàjuésì.
• Related Mìyún-direct-heir yǔlù in Kanripo: KR6q0402, KR6q0403, KR6q0404, KR6q0405, KR6q0406, KR6q0407, KR6q0408, KR6q0414, KR6q0421, and the present KR6q0426.