Běishān lù 北山錄
Records of the Northern Mountain (i.e., the Cān-xuán Records of Bēi-shān)
written by 神清 (Shénqīng, ?–820, 撰); annotated by 慧寶 (Huìbǎo, fl. early 11th c., 注)
About the work
A 10-juan late-Tang Buddhist scholarly anthology — a sustained literary-philosophical-doctrinal compendium by the great Tang scholar-monk 神清 Shénqīng 神清 (?–820) of the Cízhōu Huìyìsì 慈州慧義寺 (Sìchuān). The work is also known as the 《參玄語錄》 Cānxuán yǔlù (“Records of Discussions of the Dark Mystery”). The autographic preface is dated to the Yuánhé 元和 era of Tang Xiànzōng 憲宗 (806–820); the dating bracket given here is that of Shénqīng’s mature scholarly career, 806 – 820. Transmitted in Taishō 52 as T2113, with extensive annotations (zhù 注) added by the early-Sòng commentator Huìbǎo 慧寶 (fl. early 11th c.).
Prefaces
The principal preface is by the Sòng commentator Shěn Liáo 沈遼 of Qiántáng 錢唐. He records that he came to learn of the work through the Nánpíng Fànzhēn fǎshī 南屏梵臻法師 — a Sòng Tiāntái master — who told him: “Long ago I heard from the Old Master that Dīng Mìjiān 丁祕監 (= the Sòng official Dīng Wèi 丁謂?) was passionately fond of this book, and on once seeing it as if not yet — by hand transmitted its text. The Old Master’s words can be relied on.”
Abstract
The work is one of the most theoretically ambitious Tang Buddhist scholarly compositions. Structured in 16 chapters across the 10 juan, it treats:
- The lineage and history of Chinese Buddhism, with extensive prosopographical-bibliographical material;
- The Tiāntái-school doctrinal apparatus, applied to apologetic-philosophical use;
- The Confucian-Buddhist comparative doctrine — Shénqīng was a major late-Tang advocate of the integration of Buddhist scholarship with the Confucian classical tradition;
- The major Tang Buddhist intellectual figures — the work preserves materials on Wúxiàng 無相 (the Jìngzhòngsì 淨眾寺 master, key figure in Sìchuān Chán), Biànzhì 辯智 (Shénqīng’s own ordination master), and many others;
- The principal Six Dynasties and Tang philosophical-theological debates.
The work is one of the principal late-Tang Buddhist scholarly compositions outside the doctrinal-school commentarial mainstream. Its Confucian-Buddhist syncretist orientation anticipates the Sòng Buddhist-Confucian apologetic synthesis (cf. KR6r0147 Hùfǎ lùn, KR6r0148 Tánjīn wénjí) by some two and a half centuries.
The early-Sòng Huìbǎo annotations are extensive and themselves of considerable scholarly value: they preserve much later-Tang and early-Sòng documentary material that would otherwise be lost. The annotated text became one of the standard Sòng Buddhist scholarly references and circulated widely.
Translations and research
- Stanley Weinstein, Buddhism under the T’ang (1987) — discusses Shén-qīng in the broader Tang scholarly context.
- 牧田諦亮, 中國佛教史研究 — 北山錄研究 — Japanese-language critical treatment.
- 釋恆清 and other Taiwanese-language Tang Buddhist scholarly studies.
Other points of interest
The work’s preservation in the canon is partly due to the Sòng Tiāntái establishment’s adoption of it as a key scholarly reference — itself an important documentary witness to the Sòng Tiāntái revival’s claim of continuity with the late-Tang scholarly tradition.
Links
- CBETA: T52n2113