芝巖秀禪師語錄

Zhīyán Xiù chánshī yǔlù 芝巖秀禪師語錄

Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Zhī-yán Xiù by 秀 (說), 明一 (等編)

About the work

Two-juan yǔlù of Zhīyán Xiù 秀 芝巖秀 — dharma-heir of Èryǐn Xíngmì 二隱行謐 (1606–1665, at KR6q0430) and abbot of Húguǎng Jīngzhōu Jiānglíng Shuǐyuè Chányuàn 湖廣荊州江陵水月禪院 in the 1670s; it was Xiù himself who brought Xíngmì’s manuscript to the Manchu prince Chání 察尼 in 1678 and secured the imperial-kin patronage for the cutting of his master’s yǔlù at KR6q0430. Full-form name Chāoxiù 超秀 (with the 超 generation-character prefix used in KR6q0430 juan-head co-compiler line, where Xiù is listed as co-editor of Xíngmì’s yǔlù); bare-form Xiù 秀 in the present yǔlù’s catalog-header. Fǎhuì 法諱 Xiù 秀, hào Zhīyán 芝巖 (“Ganoderma-Cliff”). Lay surname Luó 羅, of XīShǔ Dázhōu Gǔméngxī Zhōngzǐshān 西蜀達州古蒙溪鍾子山 (modern Dáxiàn 達縣, east-Sichuan). Compiled by dharma-heir Míngyī 明一 明一. Cut under the patronage network of the Jīngnán Qīng garrison-elite. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J28 B213.

Abstract

Author. Zhīyán Xiù was born c. 1620s (inferred from career-chronology) in east Sichuan to the Luó 羅 family. Father Luó Wénhòu 羅文厚, mother Tángshì 湯氏. Nursery-name Sēngbǎo 僧保 (“Monk-Protected”) — given after his mother’s pre-natal dream of an old monk seeking lodging. Age 7: inspired by Jīngāng jīng lectures heard at Luóhànsì 羅漢寺 via his uncle-in-law Lǐ Dòngquán 李洞泉. Age 8: encountered itinerant Chángméi lǎosēng 長眉老僧 from Qúxiàn Lánhuásì 渠縣蘭華寺; tonsured under Chángméi after a 3-day refusal-of-food protest to his parents. Three years as zhìzànglóu 藏樓 sūtra-attendant.

Wǔ-tái pilgrimage and consultation-tour (c. 1630s–50s). Vision of an old monk announcing “Wǔ-tái Wén-shū pú-sà fàng-guāng, rǔ dāng sù jí cān-lǐ 五臺文殊菩薩放光汝當速即參禮” prompted him to leave Sichuan during the Chóng-zhēn famine era (1630s–40s). Traveled through Qín 秦 (Shǎn-xī) to Wǔ-tái-shān 五臺山 (saw Mañjuśrī’s light). At Zhēn-dìng-fǔ 真定府 consulted Yún-wǒ héshàng 雲我和尚. Went south to Gū-sū. Consulted Gǔ-nán Mù-yún héshàng 通門 古南牧雲和尚 (cf. KR6q0406, KR6q0212) — given the “fù-mǔ wèi-shēng qián běn-lái miàn-mù 父母未生前本來面目” huà-tóu. One year with Gǔ-nán with no breakthrough. Moved to Yáng-zhōu Tiān-níng 揚州天寧 under Jù-dé héshàng 具德和尚 — formal sealing-style exchanges (“jì zài Gǔ-nán yīn shèn wú yán 既在古南因甚無言” / “rán wú miàn-mù 然無面目”). Further consulted Xuě-dòu, Yún-mén, Tiān-tóng. Finally settled at Bào-ēn-sì 報恩寺 under Yù-lín Tōng-xiù 玉林通琇 (1614–1675, the Shùn-zhì-era imperial-audience master) for extended training — multi-year rù-shì exchanges preserved in juan 2.

Sealing by Xíngmì (1661). 辛丑春 辛丑春 (= 1661 spring): after “yīshí èrzǎi 一十二載” (roughly 12 years of training), left Yùlín’s assembly to return to Sichuan via Yíxīng. At Yíxīng Qǐshān 宜興屺山 happened to encounter 二隱 Xíngmì 二隱和尚 giving a shàngtáng; Xiù engaged Xíngmì in sharp exchange (“bāshí wēngwēng rù chǎngwū, zhēnchéng bùshì xiǎoérxì 八十翁翁入場屋真誠不是小兒戲”), received Xíngmì’s stick and walked out. Xíngmì detained him at 龍池 and on 辛丑 2.22 (= 22 March 1661 approximately) formally transmitted the fúbìngjì 拂并偈 — the full lineage-transmission. Xiù worked to repair the 大殿 at Bǎoān for over a year as Xíngmì’s close attendant.

Shuǐyuè abbacy and the 1678 patronage event. Subsequently accepted abbacy at Huáyánān 華嚴菴 and then Jiānglíng Shuǐyuè Chányuàn 江陵水月禪院. The Shuǐyuè seat was founded by lay-patron Qǐróng Wáng hùfǎ 啟融王護法 (yòubiāo zǒngróng 右標總戎, Qīng garrison commander at Jīngnán) and supporters Wáng Yuánhǎi 王元海 etc. Xiù oversaw construction of the seat at the Míngyuèlóu 明月樓 and Míngyuèchí 明月池 site on the north side of the 右副 river-complex. In 1678 during the Three Feudatories Revolt, Xiù brought his deceased master Xíngmì’s manuscript to the Manchu prince Chání 察尼 (also stationed at Jīngnán) and secured the imperial-kin patronage for the cutting of KR6q0430.

Compositional history. The present yǔlù carries a front-preface by Wáng Wénnán 王文南 (jīngkuí jiěyuán chūshēn 經魁解元出身 — an examination-laureate, likely related to the Wáng patron-family) — undated but presumably c. 1678–85. No tǎmíng preserved — Xiù was probably still alive at the cutting. notBefore = 1661 (the 辛丑 2.22 Qǐshān sealing and subsequent abbacy); notAfter = 1685 conservatively. Woodblocks stored at Jiāxīng Léngyánsì 嘉興楞嚴寺 per the juan 2 closing colophon “bǎn cún Jiāxīng Léngyánsì liútōng 板存嘉興楞嚴寺流通”.

Contents. (j.1) front-preface; shàngtáng 上堂 corpus at Shuǐyuè Chányuàn; xiǎocān 小參. (j.2) sònggǔ 頌古; zájì 雜偈; fóshì 佛事; 行實 行實 (the detailed self-biography at Shuǐyuèsì, with extensive Yùlín Tōngxiù exchange-sequences preserved).

Tiyao

Not applicable — this is a Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J28 B213), not a WYG text. The Wáng Wénnán front-preface and the juan 2 xíngshí provide the principal biographical documentation summarized under Abstract.

Translations and research

• Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute (2008) and Leaving for the Rising Sun (2015). Yù-lín Tōng-xiù’s training-assembly (in which Xiù spent over a decade) is a principal context for understanding the mid-century Línjì training-pedagogy.
• Liào Zhào-hēng 廖肇亨, 《忠義菩提》 (2013). Context for the Jīng-nán lay-patron network under Qīng garrison leadership.
• No dedicated Western-language treatment of Zhī-yán Xiù specifically.

Other points of interest

• Cross-reference pair with KR6q0430. KR6q0431 is the direct companion-volume to KR6q0430: Xiù’s own yǔlù is the complement to the Xíngmì yǔlù whose cutting he engineered. The two volumes preserve a continuous mother-son editorial genealogy from 1658 (Xíngmì’s hòubá to Línyě’s yǔlù at KR6q0408) → 1661 (Xiù’s sealing by Xíngmì at Qǐshān) → 1678 (Xiù’s engineering of Xíngmì’s own yǔlù cutting at Jīngnán) → post-1678 (Xiù’s own yǔlù cutting at the same site) across a 20-year span of Línjì textual-transmission labor.
• Yùlín Tōngxiù exchange-sequence. Juan 2’s xíngshí preserves over a dozen direct-quotation exchanges between Xiù and Yùlín Tōngxiù 玉林通琇 during Xiù’s multi-year residence at Bàoēnsì — including the “yītáng fēng lěngdàn, qiāngǔ yì fēnmíng 一堂風冷澹千古意分明” recognition-exchange, the “miáo bù chéng, huà bù jiù 描不成畫不就” běnlái miànmù exchange, and the “qūzhōu kān èr ānzhǔ 趙州勘二庵主” gōngàn exchange. This provides one of the richest surviving direct-dialogue records of Yùlín Tōngxiù — the Shùn-zhì-era imperial-audience master — supplementing Yùlín’s own yǔlù. For any scholar of Yùlín’s teaching-method, KR6q0431 juan 2 is a significant supplementary source.
• Qīng garrison-elite Chán-patronage. The 啟融王 Qǐróng Wáng patron — identified as yòubiāo zǒngróng 右標總戎 (Qīng Húguǎng right-wing garrison commander) — is the front-line military officer who sponsored both the Shuǐyuè Chányuàn construction and the subsequent Chání patronage of Xíngmì’s yǔlù cutting. The multi-layer patronage architecture — local garrison commander + Manchu imperial prince + Jiāxīng Canon network — reflects the specific institutional shape of Qīng militarily-secured regional Buddhist patronage in the post-Three-Feudatories aftermath. This is an important regional-history datum for Húguǎng Qīng-era Chán.
• 12-year Yùlín training as sui generis. Xiù’s roughly 12-year residency at Yùlín Tōngxiù’s Bàoēnsì is an unusually long discipleship for the period — considerably longer than the typical 3–5-year cānxué cycles of his contemporaries. His eventual turn from Yùlín to Xíngmì for formal transmission — without breaking his Yùlín respect — is an unusual cross-master-boundary event. The xíngshí records that Yùlín himself noted “cǐ yǔ shén qiè lǎosēng yì 此語甚恰老僧意” (“these words precisely match my intent”) while also acknowledging “chéng kǒng lǎosēng bùxìn nà 誠恐老僧不信那” — a mutual-respect parting. Xiù then explicitly chose Xíngmì’s Cáo-dòng-influenced MìyúnLínyě sub-line over Yùlín’s own direct Mi-yun-line line, a deliberate lineage-choice.

Links

• CBETA
• Dharma-teacher: Xíngmì (at KR6q0430) — formal transmission Xīnchǒu 2.22 = 22 March 1661.
• Extended training-master: Yùlín Tōngxiù 玉林通琇 (1614–1675, the Shùn-zhì-era imperial-audience master; separate Kanripo text not cataloged here).
• Other consulted masters: Mùyún Tōngmén (at KR6q0406); Jùdé 具德 at Tiānníng.
• Compiler: 明一 Míngyī.
• Patronage architecture: 啟融王 + Manchu prince Chání + Jiāxīng Canon (via Xiù’s own agency).