Yuèchuáng Liǎo chánshī yǔlù 月幢了禪師語錄
Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Yuè-chuáng Liǎo by 了 (說), 達最 (等編)
About the work
Four-juan yǔlù of Yuèchuáng Chèliǎo 了 月幢徹了 (1614–1667), Línjì chánshī of the Pòshān → Zhàngxuě “Shǔzōng” line, dharma-heir of Zhàngxuě Tōngzuì 通醉 丈雪通醉 (1610–1695) and — by imperial grace — bearer of the dharma-name Zhēnfó 真佛 bestowed by the Southern-Míng Yǒnglì emperor. Compiled by the dharma-heir Zǔbí Dázuì 達最 祖鼻達最. Opens with a single preface by Xú Shìwěi 徐士煒 of Gūsū Hánshān 姑蘇寒山, signed xūnmù shū 薰沐書. Contents: juan 1 — shàngtáng; juan 2 — xiǎocān / guǎnglù / rùshì jīyuán / kānyàn jīyuán / wèndá jīyuán / fǎyǔ / 行實 xíngshí; juan 3 — sònggǔ / fēndēng / shūwèn / zhūzàn; juan 4 — jì / gē. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J29 B237.
Abstract
Authorship. Juan-1 opens at Yúnnánfǔ Shíbǎo Chányuàn 雲南府石寶禪院 with a gēngzǐ 3/14 dating-notice — 1660/4/22 Gregorian — when Yuèchuáng was formally requested to take the abbacy by the Yúnnán lay patrons Yǔhóng Wánggōng 禹洪王公 and Míngyǔ Yánggōng 明宇楊公. The juan-2 xíngshí, narrated at Ānlóng Húshān 安龍湖山 in 甲午 春 = 1654 spring to the guāntáng disciple Gūdēng 孤燈, gives the principal biographical record: born 甲寅 7/20 未時 = 1614-08-24 at Jiāngjīn 江津 (Sìchuān Chóngqìng), lay surname Máo 毛 / Táo 陶 (mother); decisive xǐng under Guīyuán dàshī 歸源大師 on wànfǎ guīyī; consolidation under Língfá 靈筏, Xiàngyái 象崖, and finally Zhàngxuě Tōngzuì at Yǔmén 禹門 in 己丑 臘 = 1650 early; formal transmission 辛卯 夏 (1651) with yuánliú fúzǐ xìnjīn 源流拂子信金.
Abbacies and dating. The 行實 covers the period through 辛卯 1651 transmission; subsequent seats (1651–66) are documented in the juan-1 shàngtáng and juan-2 xiǎocān. The Shíbǎo (Yúnnánfǔ) abbacy begins 1660/3/14 lunar = 1660/4/22 Gregorian. Prior to the 1660 Yúnnánfǔ ministry, Yuèchuáng had opened dharma at a smaller Shíbǎoyuàn in 癸巳 冬 = 1653 per the DILA authority note. Death date Kāngxī 丙午 季冬 12/22 = 1667-01-16 (shìshòu 53), per the parallel DILA entry, gives notAfter = 1667. The compiled corpus cannot post-date the master’s death; the first datable event is 1654 at Ānlóng (the 行實 narration), whence notBefore = 1654.
Imperial patronage. The Southern-Míng Yǒnglì emperor (reigned in Guìzhōu / Yúnnán 1647–61), admiring Yuèchuáng’s reputation, requested dharma-instruction in verse, bestowed the name Zhēnfó 真佛 and a chěnfú robe, and made substantial treasury donations for state zhùxī 祝釐. Two poetic memorials biǎochéng jìsòng 表呈偈頌 are recorded. This is one of the rare direct Southern-Míng imperial patronage-episodes in Qīng-era Chán yǔlù literature.
Lineage. Yuèchuáng stands in the Pòshān Hǎimíng → Zhàngxuě Tōngzuì → Yuèchuáng Chèliǎo transmission, part of the Shǔzōng → Qiánnán 蜀宗 → 黔南 displacement of the mid-seventeenth century as Sichuanese Línjì masters migrated into Guìzhōu and Yúnnán under pressure of the 1644+ warfare. The principal dá-generation heirs Jiànduān Dázǔ, Zǔbí Dázuì (this volume’s compiler), Shànquán Dáwèi, Jíshèng Dàozhēn, and Xiǎnjīn Dágǔ make Yuèchuáng the principal origin-point of the early-Qīng Qiánnán Chán establishment.
Tiyao
Not applicable — Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J29 B237). The Xú Shìwěi preface and the juan-2 行實 provide the principal documentation.
Translations and research
- Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute (Oxford 2008), chs. 4 and 7 — for the Mì-yún / Pòshān / Zhàng-xuě Sichuan-Guì-zhōu context.
- See KR6q0415 and KR6q0035 for the Zhàng-xuě corpus and the Jǐn-jiāng chán-dēng regional lamp-history.
Other points of interest
- Name disambiguation. DILA authority standardizes the dharma-name as 徹了 with 月幢了 / 月幢 / 月幢徹了 / the lay name 毛應僧 and the imperially-bestowed 真佛 all attested. The Jiāxīng Canon catalog form is the bare single-character 了, followed here with the person-note at 了.
- Southern-Míng imperial patronage. Among early-Qīng Chán yǔlù, the volume is distinctive for recording a Yǒnglì court imperial-summons episode with memorial verses — preserving material that would otherwise have been purged from a Qīng-era imprint had the text not been prepared for the Jiāxīng Canon’s relatively permissive editorial framework.