Xiāngyán chánshī yǔlù 香嚴禪師語錄
Recorded Sayings of Chán Master Xiāng-yán by 明耀 (等編錄), 葉燮 (序)
Single-juan yǔlù of Xiāngyán Fāngguì 芳桂 香嚴芳桂 (1631 – 1708-10-14, age 78, sēnglà 62), LínjìYángqí dharma-heir of Pǔmíng Shíguān Xínglíng 行凌 (b. 1614) at Pǔmíngsì 普明寺 in Jiāxīng. Native of Jiāxīng, lay surname Chén 陳. Compiled by his fǎsì Míngyào 明耀 děng biānlù. The work is paired in J38 with his teacher’s yǔlù KR6q0542 《石關禪師語錄》, giving a complete teacher-disciple sequence.
The principal preface is by Yè Xiè 葉燮 橫山先生 (1627–1703), the major Qīng poetics theorist (author of 《原詩》 Yuán shī) and a fellow Jiāxīngfǔ compatriot — one of three prefatorial pieces in juan 1; another is dated 康熙辛酉季夏 = 1681 summer by 法弟 Dúyán 獨巖. The xíngshí in juan 1 records that Fāngguì received fùfǎ in 壬子 = 1672 and succeeded as abbot of Pǔmíngsì in 康熙十六/十七年戊午冬 = 1678 winter, after his teacher’s shǒukān 守龕 (coffin-watching) period concluded. The closing notice records his death at age 78 on 康熙四十七年戊子 9/1 = 1708-10-14. notBefore = 1672 (fùfǎ); notAfter = 1708 (death). Printed as Jiāxīng Canon J38 B424.
Contents. Single juan: prefaces (Yè Xiè + 獨巖); shàngtáng; xiǎocān; jīyuán; fǎyǔ; zàn; niānsòng on classic gōngàn; xíngshí (autobiographical narration); closing death-notice and tǎmíng details. The narration mentions a 1670 flood at the master’s monastery and reconstruction work over multiple Kāngxī decades — a vivid record of Pǔmíngsì institutional history.
Tiyao
Not applicable — Jiā-xīng-canon imprint (J38 B424).
Other points of interest
The Yè Xiè preface is the principal point of literary-cultural interest: it places this otherwise modest yǔlù within the social geography of late-Kāngxī Jiāxīng poetic and intellectual culture. Yè Xiè’s most influential disciple, Shěn Déqián 沈德潛 (1673–1769), grew up within this same JiāxīngSūzhōu milieu — i.e. Fāngguì stood, indirectly, at the social center of the most important poetic-theoretical circle of his era. The yǔlù’s 1708-postface dating-evidence makes it among the latest Jiā-xīng-canon contributions chronicled in the J38 sequence.