Hǎizhuàng Āzì Wú chánshī yǔlù 海幢阿字無禪師語錄
Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Ā-zì Wú of Hǎi-zhuàng by 今無 (說), 今辯 (重編)
Two-juan yǔlù of Āzì Jīnwú 今無 阿字今無 (1633 – 1681-11-01, age 49), Cáodòng 35th-generation dharma-heir of Tiānrán Hánshì 天然函昰 函昰 (cf. KR6q0526) and one of Tiānrán’s most senior dharma-heirs. Native of Pānyú 番禺 (Guǎngzhōu), lay surname Wàn 萬. Compiled (zhòngbiān 重編) by his co-disciple Lèshuō Jīnbiàn 今辯 今辯樂說 (1637–1695), the same Lǐngnán Cáodòng editor responsible for the parent collection KR6q0526 and the Liáoyáng yǔlù KR6q0527 reissue.
The yǔlù documents Jīnwú’s twelve-year abbacy at Hǎizhuàngsì 海幢寺 in Guǎngzhōu (entered 壬寅 = 1662) plus material from his secondary preaching at Éhú 鵝湖, Héyuán 河源, and other sites; it concludes with a detailed xíngzhuàng (biographical inscription) covering his Manchurian sojourn under 函可, his cross-frontier travels, and his death at age 49 in 辛酉 = 1681. notBefore = 1662 (Hǎizhuàng entry, the earliest period of recorded sermons), notAfter ≈ 1690 (date of 今辯’s editorial work, contemporary with his work on KR6q0526–0527; no postface date is given in the present file). Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J38 B408.
Contents. Juan 1: portrait-frontispiece (with Tiān-rán’s epigram “Sì-shí jiǔ nián yī zì wú 四十九年一字無 — for forty-nine years, one letter only: wú”), shàng-táng, pǔ-shuō, xiǎo-cān. Juan 2: xiǎo-cān (cont.), chá-huà, sòng-gǔ, shū-wèn (epistolary), xiàng-zàn (image-encomia for Śākyamuni, Amitābha, Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, Cundī, Kṣitigarbha and others), and the closing xíng-zhuàng.
Tiyao
Not applicable — Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J38 B408).
Translations and research
- Jiang Wu 2008. Enlightenment in Dispute. Oxford UP — chapters on the Lǐng-nán Cáodòng network include Jīn-wú.
- Ā-zì-Wú nián-pǔ 阿字無年譜 mentioned at the end of the xíng-zhuàng as separately compiled; its survival is uncertain.
Other points of interest
The yǔlù is a key witness to mid–17th-century Cantonese-Manchurian Chán networks: Jīnwú’s three-year sojourn (age 22–25) under the exiled Qiānshān Shèngrén 函可 connects the Hǎiyún 海雲 / Léifēng community in Guǎngzhōu directly to the Qiānshān 千山 frontier project. The xìngzhuàng preserves an unusually candid evaluation by Dànguī Jīnshì 澹歸今釋 of his “elder brother” (兄) within the Léifēng cohort, praising in particular the literary talent and “force of disposition” (氣格雄傑) that gave Jīnwú special standing as a writer-monk.