Qīngyuán Yúzhě Zhì chánshī yǔlù 青原愚者智禪師語錄
Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Yú-zhě Zhì of Qīng-yuán by 智 (說), 興磬 (編), 興斧 (編)
About the work
Four-juan yǔlù of Yàodì Wúkě Dàzhì 智 (= Fāng Yǐzhì 方以智, 1611 – 1671), the late-Míng polymath, scholar-philosopher, and Cáodòng chánshī. Cáo-dòng-school dharma-heir of Juélàng Dàoshèng 道盛 覺浪道盛 (1593–1659) — same teacher as 如璽 (cf. KR6q0458) — and abbot of the historic Qīngyuánshān Jìngjūsì 青原山淨居寺 in Jízhōu 吉州 (Jiāngxī), the home seat of Qīngyuán Xíngsī 青原行思. Compiled by ménrén Xīngqìng 興磬 + Xīngfǔ 興斧. Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J34 B313.
Abstract
Authorship. Per the 智 note: lay-name Fāng Yǐzhì, zì Mìzhī 密之. Tóngchéng 桐城 native (Ānhuī), late-Míng 1640 jìnshì, prominent Hóng-guāng-court resistance figure. Tonsured under Juélàng Dàoshèng in the 1650s; multiple monastic hào including Wúkě 無可, Yàodì 藥地, and the abbacy-form Qīngyuán Yúzhě 青原愚者 (“Fool of Qīngyuán”). Death c. 1671 by Wànānjiāng drowning incident — disputed circumstances.
Dating. notBefore = c. 1654 (post-tonsure preaching, after the 1654-period Cáodòng entry under Dàoshèng). notAfter = 1671 (death).
Lineage and significance. Cáodòng (Shòuchāng) line: Wúmíng Huìjīng → Huìtái Yuánjìng → Juélàng Dàoshèng → Yàodì Wúkě Zhì. Stands as parallel dharma-brother to 如璽 Fāngróng Rúxǐ (cf. KR6q0458, abbot of Tiānjièsì) — the two principal post-1659 continuators of Dàoshèng’s line, with Rúxǐ at Tiānjiè (Nánjīng) and Wúkě at Qīngyuán (Jiāngxī).
Cultural-historical significance. As Fāng Yǐzhì, Wúkě’s lay scholarly output includes the Tōngyǎ 通雅 encyclopedic philology, the Wùlǐ xiǎoshí 物理小識 natural-philosophy compilation (an unusually broad encyclopedic engagement with Western-influenced learning), and the Yàodì pǎozhuāng 藥地炮莊 — a Cáo-dòng-school commentary on the Zhuāngzǐ unique in the late-Míng / early-Qīng. The Chán yǔlù preserved here at KR6q0483 complements that broader output as Wúkě’s monastic-doctrinal voice.
Qīngyuán seat. The Qīngyuánshān Jìngjūsì abbacy is institutionally significant — Wúkě’s installation at the Qīng-yuán-school’s foundational seat of Qīngyuán Xíngsī (the Sixth-Patriarch heir who founded the Sōng-school Cáodòng) constitutes a Cáo-dòng-school continuity-claim back to the patriarchal origin.
Tiyao
Not applicable — Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J34 B313). DILA authority A007940 provides extensive cross-references.
Translations and research
- Voluminous secondary literature on Fāng Yǐ-zhì: see Willard J. Peterson, Bitter Gourd: Fang I-chih and the Impetus for Intellectual Change (Yale 1979); 余英時 《方以智晚節考》 (1972); Jiang Wu, Leaving for the Rising Sun (Oxford 2014).
- See also KR6q0221 (Dào-shèng’s quán-lù) and KR6q0458 (the dharma-brother Rú-xǐ).
Other points of interest
- Loyalist polymath in monastic robes. Few Chán yǔlù of any period are by a master with comparable lay-scholarly stature. Wúkě’s parallel pre-tonsure career as a leading Hóng-guāng-court official and post-tonsure career as a Cáodòng chánshī makes this volume an exceptional cross-cultural document of MíngQīng intellectual transition.
- Historic seat at Qīngyuán Xíngsī’s monastery. The abbacy at Qīngyuánshān Jìngjūsì gives the Cáodòng line direct institutional continuity with its seventh-century origin under Qīngyuán Xíngsī (the Sixth-Patriarch heir whose lineage produced Cáo-dòng-school).