Xīngshàn Nánmíng Guǎng chánshī yǔlù 興善南明廣禪師語錄
Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Nán-míng Guǎng of Xīng-shàn by 慧廣 (說), 妙用 (集), 悟進 (重輯並跋), 明方 (序), 黃承昊 (序)
About the work
Single-juan yǔlù of Nánmíng Huìguǎng 慧廣 南明慧廣 (1576–1620), late-Míng LínjìYángqí Hǔ-qiū-school chánshī, dharma-heir of 性沖 Wúhuàn Gǔzhàn Xìngchōng 無幻古湛性沖 (1540–1612) at Chēxī 車溪 and Jìngshān 徑山, in the Hǔqiū → Wúzhǔn Shīfàn → Duànqiáo Mìaolún → … → Wúhuàn → Nánmíng sub-line. Compilation history: (i) initial jí 集 (collection) by his sole dharma-heir 妙用 Yuānhú Miàoyòng (1587–1642) — Huìguǎng having vowed to leave no published yǔlù (the third of his three lifelong vows: bù nà túzhòng 不納徒眾 plus bù chū shì 不出世 plus bù zuò yuánshì 不作緣事; he likewise burned any record of his sayings, jiàn yǒu shù qí yǔ zhé fén qù 見有述其語輒焚去); (ii) chóngjí bìng bá 重輯並跋 (re-edition with postscript) by Miàoyòng’s heir 悟進 Jièān Wùjìn in the 1641 publication-window. Two front-prefaces: (i) Shíyǔ Míngfāng 明方 Cáodòng successor (despite which he was a personal short-term student of Huìguǎng at the Lóngjū 龍居 chánxí), dated 崇禎辛巳仲冬日 = 1641/11/12 first day of mid-winter ≈ 1641-12-23 Gregorian; (ii) Fújiàn provincial judge Huáng Chénghào 黃承昊 of Jiāxīng, undated. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J32 B275.
Abstract
Authorship. Per the existing 慧廣 note: born Wànlì 4 / 10/13 = 1576/11/13, died Tàichāng 1 / 11/27 = 1620/12/20, age 45, sēnglà 23. Native of Hǎiníng 海寧, lay surname Hán 韓. Tonsured at Xīngshànsì 興善寺 (Zuìlǐ / Jiāxīng) under Qínquán 芹泉, full precepts under Gǔxīn Rúxīn 古心如馨 at Bǎohuáshān; three years’ bìguān at Shuāngjìng Báiyúnshān. Awakening on a fragmentary verse-scrap guān fāng zhī bǐ qù, qù zhě bù zhì fāng 觀方知彼去去者不至方; sealed by Wúhuàn Gǔzhàn Xìngchōng. Eight-year service to Wúhuàn at Chēxī and Jìngshān (1611–18) with appointment as shǒuzhòng 首眾. After Wúhuàn’s 1612 death, four-year sǐguān 死關 at Gāotíng Yǒngqìngsì 皋亭永慶寺.
Dating. notBefore = 1611 (Huìguǎng’s first 印可 / yìnkě and beginning of preaching activity). notAfter = 1641 (Míngfāng preface; Wùjìn’s chóngjí bìng bá). The actual master died 1620, so the speaker-side dating is 1611–1620; but the volume as transmitted is the c. 1641 chóngjí recension.
Significance for Cáodòng / Línjì cross-currents. The unusual configuration — a Línjì master’s yǔlù compiled by a (later-Cáo-dòng-affiliated) heir 妙用 and re-edited by a (Cáo-dòng-side) great-grandheir 悟進, with one preface by a Cáo-dòng-line monk 明方 (Yuánchéng’s heir) — reflects the late-Míng / early-Qīng lineage-fluidity at Xīngshànsì in Jiāxīng, where Línjì and Cáodòng practitioners cross-trained and intermarried lineages without strict denominational firewalls. Míngfāng’s preface explicitly notes the cross-line provenance: yú jiàocān Yúnmén jí rù Lóngjū chánxí, zhí Nánshī lǐngzhòng 余初參雲門即入龍居禪席值南師領眾 — Míngfāng joined Yuánchéng’s Cáodòng line at Yúnmén only after first studying under the Línjì master Huìguǎng at Lóngjū.
Prefaces. Míngfāng’s preface, dated 1641/11, is the principal contemporary witness: it confirms the existence of the Wùjìn chóngjí edition (from a manuscript previously held by Xuánwēi xiōng 玄微兄 = 妙用 Miàoyòng, identified at Pǔmíngsì by 1641), records Huìguǎng’s teaching method (yī niàn yuánqǐ wú shēng 一念緣起無生 — the 三乘權學 yǎnqì exchange that triggered Míngfāng’s own awakening), and locates the corpus within the 斷橋 (Duànqiáo) yīmài 斷橋一脈. Huáng Chénghào’s preface emphasizes Huìguǎng’s deliberate refusal to publicize his teaching, and the importance of Miàoyòng’s quiet preservation.
Tiyao
Not applicable — Jiā-xīng-canon imprint of a Míng yǔlù (J32 B275). The two prefaces and the Wùjìn 跋 postscript provide the principal documentation.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located. For the broader Wú-huàn → Nán-míng → Yuān-hú line, see the KR6q0416 entry on Yuān-hú Miào-yòng and the linked materials.
- 《徑石滴乳集》 j. 4; 《五燈會元續略》 j. 1.
Other points of interest
- Three lifelong vows. Huìguǎng’s three vows — never to take a public abbacy (bù chū shì), never to engage in yuánshì affairs, and never to accept disciples (bù nà túzhòng) — make this yǔlù doubly extraordinary: it preserves a master who had vowed against any preserved teaching at all, recovered only because his single accidentally-acquired heir 妙用 (in violation of Huìguǎng’s own vow) compiled the material against the master’s intentions.
- Compilation across three generations. The chain Huìguǎng → Miàoyòng (compiled) → Wùjìn (re-edited) → 1641 imprint preserves an unusual cross-generational compilation pattern, with the master’s own preference for invisibility actively contradicted by the editorial intentions of his heirs.