Zōngmén tǒngyào zhèngxù jí 宗門統要正續集
Combined Original-and-Continuation Collection of the Essentials of the [Chán] School
original zhèngjí 正集 (10 juan) by 宗永 (Zōngyǒng, fl. late 11th c., 集), Northern Sòng; xùjí 續集 (10 juan) by 清茂 (Gǔlín Qīngmào, 1262–1329, 續集), Yuán
About the work
A 20-juan combined Chán-school gōngàn 公案 (kōan) and dialogue compendium, comprising two distinct compilations: (i) the Zōngmén tǒngyào jí 宗門統要集 (10 juan), the original “Essentials of the [Chán] School” by the Northern-Sòng Yún-mén-school monk Zōngyǒng 宗永 — completed c. 1093 (the earliest preface-date in the canonical witnesses); and (ii) the Zōngmén tǒngyào xùjí 宗門統要續集 (10 juan), the Yuán-period continuation by the great Yuán Línjì master Gǔlín Qīngmào 古林清茂 (1262–1329), completed in his lifetime, by 1335 at the latest. The combined 20-juan work circulates as a single compendium in the canonical tradition.
Abstract
Both compilations follow the gōngàn anthology form pioneered by the Sònggǔ 頌古 collections of the late-Northern-Sòng Línjì establishment (Xuědòu Chóngxiǎn 雪竇重顯, Yuánwù Kèqín 圓悟克勤): each entry presents a canonical Chán dialogue or incident — the běnzé 本則 — typically followed by editorial píng 評 (“commentary”) and sòng 頌 (“verse-eulogy”). The selection covers the standard Chán lineage from the Seven Buddhas of the Past through the Indian patriarchs, Bodhidharma, the Six Patriarchs, the Wǔjiā “five houses,” and forward through the Northern-Sòng Línjì and Yúnmén establishments.
宗永’s Zhèngjí — the earlier and shorter of the two — is one of the principal Northern-Sòng gōngàn anthologies, contemporary with and parallel to the Bìyán lù. 清茂’s Xùjí extends the chronological coverage forward through the Southern Sòng to the Yuán, including the great LínjìYángqí masters of the late Sòng (Dàhuì Zōnggǎo, Hóngzhì Zhèngjué, etc.) and the Yuán Línjì establishment that culminated in 清茂’s own teacher Hēngchuān Rúgǒng 橫川如珙 and his teacher Shítián Fǎxūn 石田法薰.
The work was incorporated into the Northern Yǒnglè 永樂 imperial canon of 1410 (vol. 154, no. 1519) — one of the principal canonical witnesses to the work — and circulates also through the Manji Xuzangjing and SòngYuán print transmission.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language complete translation located.
- 阿部肇一, 《中國禪宗史の研究》 (Tokyo, 1963) — discusses both 宗永 and 清茂.
- Steven Heine, Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016) — covers the broader Sòng gōng-àn anthology tradition.
- 西尾賢隆, 《中世禪宗史叢説》 (Tokyo, 1995).
Other points of interest
The Zōngmén tǒngyào jí is one of the principal sources for the gōngàn / kōan tradition that crystallised in the late Northern Sòng: many of its case-presentations are the immediate parents of the standard Wúménguān 無門關 (1228) and Cóngrónglù 從容錄 (1224) cases. The continuity of the gōngàn tradition from 宗永’s late-Northern-Sòng compilation through 清茂’s Yuán continuation is a important documentation of the SòngYuán continuity of the gōngàn methodology, against the apparent rupture of the Mongol conquest.
Links
- CBETA / Yǒnglè canon: text not on standard CBETA URL pattern (Northern Yǒnglè canon volume 154, no. 1519).