Dábiàn Quán chánshī yǔlù 達變權禪師語錄
Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Dá-biàn Quán by 顯權 (說), 海澂 (錄)
About the work
Five-juan yǔlù of Dábiàn Xiǎnquán 顯權 達變顯權 (DILA standardized; zì Dábiàn, with the catalog form retaining the single character 權 from Quán), LínjìYángqí dharma-heir of Mùchén Shānwēng Dàomín 道忞 木陳山翁道忞 (1596–1674) at Tiāntóngsì 天童寺. Recorded by shìzhě attendant Hǎichéng 海澂. Front-preface by tóngmén fǎdì Bīngān Zhāng Lìlián 冰菴張立廉 of Lùchéng 鹿城 (= Zhènhǎi 鎮海, modern Níngbō coastal area), undated. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J29 B248. Contents: xù; juan 1 zhù Míngzhōu Cíxīxiàn Wǔlěishān Língfēng Chánsì yǔlù — entry-sermon at the Wǔlěishān Língfēng Chánsì 五磊山靈峰禪寺 abbacy in Cíxī (Míngzhōu, modern Níngbō prefecture); subsequent juan with shàngtáng / xiǎocān / fǎyǔ / jīyuán / fóshì arrangements, in standard Línjì yǔlù organization.
Abstract
Dating. No precise dated entries in the corpus. notBefore = 1660 (conservative bound for Xiǎnquán’s Língfēng abbacy, which post-dates his Tiāntóng fēnzuò role under Dàomín who returned from his 1659–60 imperial summons to the Shùnzhì palace). notAfter = 1674 (Xiǎnquán is recorded as having predeceased Dàomín, who himself died Kāngxī 13 = 1674; the preface phrase jí shī shùnshì ér jǐnrán shānghuái 及師順世而盡然傷懷 confirms posthumous compilation). The Zhāng Lìlián preface refers to Dàomín’s personal sponsorship of the publication after Xiǎnquán’s death: jīn fù shōushí yílù wéi shī diǎnchū mòhòu guāngmíng 今復收拾遺錄為師點出末後光明 — a rare instance of a master compiling a deceased disciple’s yǔlù.
Authorship. Per the Zhāng Lìlián preface and DILA authority A001978: native of Fēngchéng 豐城 (Jiāngxī), lay surname Wáng 王. First training at Tiāntóngsì under Mìyún Yuánwù 圓悟 before Yuánwù’s 1642 death (shǎo shì xiān Tiāntóng zhuīfú 少侍先天童椎拂, where xiān Tiāntóng = “the late Tiāntóng [abbot]” = Yuánwù), then formal fùfǎ under Dàomín on Dàomín’s succession to the Tiāntóng seat. Shìshòu 52. Praised in the preface as yányì fú wù lèi Xiù Tiěmiàn 嚴毅服物類秀鐵面 (severe like Xiù Tiěmiàn), tuōluò xínghái lèi Guǎng wúxīn 脫落形骸類廣無心 (free of form like Guǎng Wúxīn), cǎoyī fēishí qīngkǔ liànxíng lèi Xiànggǔ tóutuó 草衣菲食清苦鍊行類象骨頭陀 (austere like Xiànggǔ Tóutuó), diǎnsī zhòngwù wǎng xiè cānchéng lèi Shíshuāng jiānsì 典司眾務罔懈參承類石霜監寺 (diligent in office like Shíshuāng’s monastic-supervisor) — a four-fold encomium framing his ascetic and disciplinary character.
Lineage and seat. Xiǎnquán’s Língfēngsì at Wǔlěishān 五磊山 in Cíxī is the same Cíxī monastery preserved in the contemporary 嘉興 publication network. Sole recorded dharma-heir: Wǔlěi Língshān Tiānyīn Cháo 五磊靈山天音朝.
Tiyao
Not applicable — Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J29 B248). The Zhāng Lìlián preface and DILA authority A001978 provide the principal documentation.
Translations and research
- See KR6q0199 for Mù-chén Dào-mín’s Běi-yóu jí documenting his 1659–60 Shùn-zhì palace ministry — the immediate institutional context for Xiǎn-quán’s promotion to Líng-fēng abbacy.
- Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute (Oxford 2008), ch. 7 — for the broader Mì-yún → Mù-chén imperial-Línjì context.
- 《五燈全書》 j. 72, j. 94 — DILA-cited traditional biographies.
Other points of interest
- Posthumous yǔlù compiled by the master. The preface’s note that Dàomín himself collected and sponsored the publication of his predeceased dharma-heir’s yílù 遺錄 (“remaining records”) is unusual — most Jiāxīng Canon yǔlù are compiled by surviving disciples. Dàomín’s personal involvement (described in the preface as expressing tiān sàng yǔ 天喪予, the Confucian formula of master-mourning-disciple from Lúnyǔ 11.9) gives this volume a distinctive elegiac character.
- Zhāng Lìlián as 同門. The preface-writer’s self-styling as tóngmén fǎdì 同門法弟 indicates Zhāng was also a Mùchén Dàomín disciple — though listed in the catalog as preface-writer rather than as a published Chán yǔlù author, suggesting lay-Chán affiliation rather than monastic ordination.