Xù Wǔlín Xīhú gāosēng shìlüè 續武林西湖高僧事略
Continued Brief Sketches of the Lives of Eminent Monks of the West Lake at Wǔlín
compiled by 袾宏 (Yúnqī Zhūhóng, 1535–1615, 輯)
About the work
A 1-juan continuation of KR6r0064 Wǔlín Xīhú gāosēng shìlüè, compiled by Yúnqī Zhūhóng 雲棲袾宏 (1535–1615), the most influential figure of the late-Míng Buddhist revival, abbot of Yúnqīsì 雲棲寺 on Wǔyúnshān 五雲山 immediately south-west of Hángzhōu. The work supplements KR6r0064 with biographical sketches of 30 further West-Lake monks, principally from the Yuán and Míng dynasties — i.e., the period subsequent to the original Shìlüè’s closing horizon. Composition is dated to the period of Zhūhóng’s mature literary activity at Yúnqīsì, c. 1580–1615.
Abstract
The continuation preserves the format of the original: a brief prose biography of each subject paired with a verse-eulogy. The 30 supplementary lives include major Yuán-period West-Lake masters (Tiāntāi reformers and Línjì Chán figures, including the great late-Yuán abbot of Língyǐnsì), early-Míng monks affiliated with the Húzhōu / Hángzhōu establishment, and figures from Zhūhóng’s own lineage and acquaintance — notably Bǎozhì 寶誌 of Língyǐnsì and the immediate predecessors of Zhūhóng’s own teachers. The verse-eulogies are by Zhūhóng himself, in seven-character juéjù in the manner of 元敬’s originals.
The selection criteria of the Xù are noticeably different from the original. Where 元敬 and 元復 aimed at canonical-typological coverage of West-Lake Buddhism (including the great WúYuè / Northern-Sòng establishment-figures), Zhūhóng’s selection is markedly more devotionally inflected: monks distinguished by Pure-Land practice, by vinaya-strict observance, and by miraculous death-bed scenes are over-represented, reflecting Zhūhóng’s own Pure-Land synthesis and his reform-programme at Yúnqīsì. The work is one of the principal late-Míng documentary sources for the regional Hángzhōu Buddhist establishment as Zhūhóng knew it, and a complement to his more famous Wǎngshēng jí KR6r0076 (a Pure-Land biographical anthology covering the broader empire).
The text was first printed at Yúnqīsì in Zhūhóng’s lifetime, included in the Yúnqī fǎhuì 雲棲法彙 collected works, and entered the canonical print tradition through the Manji Xuzangjing (X77 no. 1527). The bracket 1580–1615 represents the composition window, with the late date being Zhūhóng’s death.
Translations and research
- Chün-fang Yü, The Renewal of Buddhism in China: Chu-hung and the Late Ming Synthesis (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981) — the standard Western-language monograph on Zhū-hóng; treats the Xù-Wǔ-lín-Xī-hú gāosēng shì-lüè in the context of his collected works.
- 釋見曄, 《明代高僧叢林與佛教史學》 (Taipei, 2007).
- 黃啟江, various articles on West-Lake regional Buddhist historiography.
Other points of interest
The two Wǔlín Xīhú gāosēng shìlüè compendia (KR6r0064 and the present continuation) together form the canonical biographical corpus for Hángzhōu Buddhism from its 4th-century origins through the late Míng. Together they document one of the most concentrated and continuous Buddhist establishments in pre-modern China — the West Lake within walking distance of the Southern-Sòng capital — and have been the principal source for modern Hángzhōu Buddhist topography and the recovery of vanished temples and biographies during the Republican-period local-history projects.
Links
- CBETA: X77n1527