Fāngróng Xǐ chánshī yǔlù 方融璽禪師語錄
Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Fāng-róng Xǐ by 如璽 (說), 興林 (等編)
About the work
Three-juan yǔlù of Fāngróng Rúxǐ 如璽 方融如璽 (b. 1602-08-23), Cáo-dòng-school dharma-heir of Tiānjiè Juélàng Dàoshèng 道盛 天界覺浪道盛 (1593–1659). Compiled by ménrén Xīnglín 興林 děng. Three-abbacy structure: juan 1 — Tiānjièsì 天界寺 (Nánjīng) shàngtáng; Hóngjìsì 弘濟寺 shàngtáng; xiǎocān; juan 2 — Yúnjūshān 雲居山 shìzhòng; juan 3 — jīyuán / shìzhōng chuíyǔ / xiǎo fóshì / xíngjiǎo chuíyǔ / fózǔ zàn / gē / jì / 行實 xíngshí / fù Jìngtǔ shī. Front-matter: three qǐngqǐ 請啟 invitation-memorials by separate lay-disciple groups (zhòng hùfǎ zǎiguān, zhòng hùfǎ xiàolián wénxué, zhūsì fāngzhàng jí zhòng qísù), preserving rosters of about 100 named patrons including officials and local xiāngshēn. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J29 B249.
Abstract
Authorship. The juan-3 行實 zìjì 自紀 (self-narrative) is a remarkably extended autobiography running to several pages. It opens with Rúxǐ’s birth-circumstances at Jīngyángxiàn 涇陽縣 (Xīān, Shǎnxī), lay surname Rèn 任, lay-name Fúshēng 福生 — bestowed by a 90+-suì zúzǔ fēngjūn on auspicious dream-prophecy grounds (the deceased Hētǎsì 赫塔寺 zhǔshì sēng Hǎifú 海福 had appeared in a dream of Rúxǐ’s mother, suggesting reincarnation; the lay-name fúshēng “Fú-born” cryptically marks this). Tonsured at 16 (1617) under Dàcái héshàng 大材和尚 at Bǎolínsì on Wǔtáishān; received full Three-Platform precepts at 35 (1636 丙子) under Zhuānyú héshàng 顓愚和尚 at Sūxī Bǎiguì shūyuán. Decades-long pilgrimage circuit through Pǔxián / Éméi, Wǔdāng, Bóshān, the various Jiāngnán teachers (Yīān, Huìdēng, Fǎchuáng, Zhànrán, Xuějiāo Yuánxìn at Jìngshān, Mìyún Yuánwù at Jīnsù in 1625, Wúniàn at Huángbò). The decisive transmission was from Juélàng Dàoshèng at Tiānjièsì in his 己亥 = 1659 dying transmission-mandate (shòu Tiānjiè chánshī zhǔ 受天界禪師囑).
Three abbacies. (i) Zhēnrú Chánsì 真如禪寺 (順治丙戌 = 1646) — pre-Tiān-jiè period, likely Yún-jū-affiliated; (ii) Tiānjièsì (康熙庚子 = 1660) — succession to Dàoshèng’s flagship Cáodòng seat at Nánjīng (the jīzī shān 雞紋為杖 invitation referenced in the zhūzǎiguān 諸宰官 qǐngqǐ); (iii) Hóngjìsì 弘濟禪寺 (康熙壬寅 = 1662). The juan-2 Yúnjū 雲居 shìzhòng preserves material from the earlier jiānyuàn monastic-supervisor period (1637 entry, 10-year tenure per the xiàolián wénxué qǐngqǐ’s phrase xī lǐng Yúnjū shí sì 昔領雲居十祀).
Dating. notBefore = 1660 (Tiānjiè abbacy entry). notAfter = 1670 as a conservative bound. The 行實 was narrated when Rúxǐ was 60 suì (= 1661); the 1662 Hóngjì entry is the latest dated event. The 3-juan compilation likely consolidated within the decade following.
Lay-patron prosopography. The three qǐngqǐ invitation-memorials together preserve about a hundred named Nánjīng / Jiā-xīng-area Cáodòng patron-signatures from the early Kāngxī period — among them officials Liú Yúmó 劉餘謨, Huáng Guóqí 黃國琦, Lú Lǎng 陸朗, Lǐ Gāo 李皋, the literati Bái Mèngnài 白夢鼐, Wú Yítāo 吳儀濤, Yú Huái 余懷 (the famous Bǎnqiáo zájì author), and the Ōuyáng 歐陽 family-cluster. This is a uniquely detailed Cáo-dòng-line lay-prosopography for the 1660s Jiāngnán scene.
Tiyao
Not applicable — Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J29 B249). The juan-3 行實 zìjì and the three qǐngqǐ invitation-memorials provide the principal documentation.
Translations and research
- For Jué-làng Dào-shèng’s Cáo-dòng line and the Tiān-jiè-sì lineage: see Jiang Wu, Leaving for the Rising Sun (Oxford 2014).
- 《洞上》 j. 15 p. 610 — DILA-cited Cáo-dòng zōng-pǔ.
Other points of interest
- Cross-school pilgrimage record. The xíngshí records consultations with figures from across the Línjì / Cáodòng spectrum — Mìyún Yuánwù (Mìyún Línjì), Wúniàn (Wànshì Línjì), Bóshān, Xuějiāo Yuánxìn (Hǔqiū Línjì), Yīān (Cáodòng), Zhuānyú (precept-master) — making this an unusually rich documentation of the late-Míng / early-Qīng cross-school monastic-pilgrim circuit before final commitment to a single line.
- Yú Huái lay-patron signature. Yú Huái 余懷 (1616–1696), author of the famous Bǎnqiáo zájì 板橋雜記, appears in the xiàolián wénxué qǐngqǐ lay-disciple roster — a witness to his Cáo-dòng-school lay-affiliation in the 1660s.
- Rare lay-name Fúshēng. The xíngshí’s preservation of Rúxǐ’s lay-name 福生 along with the dream-prophecy circumstances is uncommonly detailed for an early-Qīng yǔlù tradition.