Qìngzhōng Tiěbì Jī chánshī yǔlù 慶忠鐵壁機禪師語錄
Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Qìng-zhōng Tiě-bì Jī by 慧機 (說), 燈來 (編)
About the work
Three-juan yǔlù of Qìngzhōng Tiěbì Huìjī 慧機 慶忠鐵壁慧機 (1603–1668), the principal Sìchuān LínjìYángqí dharma-heir of Jùyún Chuīwàn Guǎngzhēn 廣真 聚雲吹萬廣真 (1582–1639) and Huìjī’s second-generation head of the Jùyúnpài 聚雲派 at Jùyúnsì 聚雲寺 (Zhōngzhōu, Sìchuān). Compiled by the chief dharma-heir Sānshān Dēnglái 燈來 三山燈來 (1614–1685), who simultaneously edited the Guǎngzhēn volumes KR6q0448 and KR6q0449. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J29 B240. Contents: shàng-juan — shàngtáng; zhōng-juan — pǔshuō / xiǎocān / shìzhòng / fǎyǔ / biāncèyǔ / cháhuà; xià-juan — jīyuán / wèndá / sònggǔ / fóshì / shījì. Two prefaces: (i) Móu Dàoxíng 牟道行 hóngwù 弘悟 (jìnshì, lìbù shàngshūláng qián Zǐwēi shěrén, jīn púsàjiè dìzǐ Gǔróng bǐngsù dàorén 賜進士出身吏部尚書郎前紫微舍人今菩薩戒弟子古戎秉素道人), undated, a zhēbiǎo 遮表 dialectical framing of Tiěbì’s preaching; (ii) Xióng Rǔxué 熊汝學 of Lúshān Qiānzhàngyán (same preface-writer as KR6q0448, KR6q0449), dated 崇禎壬午秋九日 = 1642 autumn 9th, signing as dìzǐ 弟子 — establishing Xióng’s formal lay-disciple status under Tiěbì.
Abstract
Dating. notBefore = 1639 (Tiěbì’s succession to the Jùyún abbacy on Guǎngzhēn’s death in 崇禎十二 / 1639) — the earliest possible start of any Tiěbì yǔlù material. notAfter = 1642 (Xióng Rǔxué preface). This 3-juan selective compilation was cut together with the Guǎngzhēn B238/B239 complex (same Zhōngzhōu Zhìpíng printing-workshop, same preface-circle) in the 1642 Jùyúnpài publication campaign.
Relation to KR6q0451. This B240 (3 juan) is the early selective yǔlù covering Tiěbì’s first preaching-period after assuming the Jùyún abbacy; KR6q0451 (20 juan, J29 B241) is the definitive chóngbiān 重編 expansion prepared after Tiěbì’s 1668 death by his other chief heir Zhúfēng Huànmǐn 幻敏, and incorporates the later seven abbacies (Qìngzhōng, Yúnyán, Bǎoshèng, Zhìpíng) not yet open at the time of this B240 imprint.
Móu Dàoxíng’s preface. Uses the classical zhēbiǎo 遮表 (concealing / revealing) antithesis as a framework for reading Tiěbì’s yǔlù: each utterance is analyzed as simultaneously zhē and biǎo, with Móu challenging the reader to locate which is which. An unusual critical preface emphasizing the formal problem of interpreting a yǔlù against contemporary “blind leading blind” (yīmáng zhòngmáng 一盲眾盲) Chán-reading tendencies.
Xióng Rǔxué’s preface. Locates Tiěbì’s teaching in the Sōngshān 嵩山 (Dàmó) → Guǎngzhēn → Tiěbì transmission-line and presents Tiěbì as the one who continues-and-opens (jìwǎng kāilái 繼往開來) the Jùyún revival of Dàhuì Zōnggǎo’s Línjì teaching. Xióng admits he never met Guǎngzhēn (yú hèn bù jí jiàn Jùyún 余恨不及見聚雲) and came to the lineage through Tiěbì directly.
Tiyao
Not applicable — Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J29 B240). The Móu Dàoxíng and Xióng Rǔxué prefaces provide the principal documentation.
Translations and research
- Hasebe Yūkei, 〈《続灯正統》と聚雲法門 (I) (II)〉, Zengaku kenkyū-jo kiyō 31–32 (2003).
- 《續燈正統》 j. 16 — traditional biography of Huì-jī.
- 《治平鐵壁機禪師年譜》 (preserved within KR6q0451) — the authoritative chronological life.
Other points of interest
- Paired with KR6q0451 as a single Tiěbì corpus. B240 (3 juan, early recension, 1642) and B241 (20 juan, definitive chóngbiān, post-1668) together constitute the complete extant Tiěbì yǔlù — the B240 covering only the opening 1639–42 window of the Jùyún seat, B241 the full thirty-two-year preaching career.
- Same compiler, same preface-circle. Dēnglái’s four consecutive Jiāxīng Canon entries KR6q0448 / KR6q0449 / KR6q0450 / KR6q0451 (J29 B238–B241) form a single publishing campaign of the Jùyúnpài lineage: grandfather (Guǎngzhēn, two volumes) + father (Tiěbì Huìjī, two volumes) compiled by the grandson (Dēnglái), with Xióng Rǔxué as the common lay-patron preface-writer across all four.