Zhúxiān Héshàng yǔlù 竺僊和尚語録
Recorded Sayings of Reverend Jikusen by 竺僊梵僊 Zhúxiān Fànxiān / Jikusen Bonsen (語); compiled by 裔堯 Eigyō (等編)
About the work
A four-fascicle Recorded Sayings collection of 竺僊梵僊 Zhúxiān Fànxiān (Jp. Jikusen Bonsen, 1292–1348), Late-Yuán Chinese Línjì / Yángqípài Chán master who emigrated to Japan in 1329 with the senior master Míngjí Chǔjùn 明極楚俊 and remained for the rest of his life as a Zen master at the Japanese Gozan temples. Compiled by his disciple Eigyō 裔堯 and others.
Abstract
Zhúxiān (whose self-styled sobriquet was Láilái Chánzǐ 來來禪子 “Come-Again Zen Child” — a reference to his Yuán-Japanese journey) emigrated to Japan in Tiānlì 2 (1329) in his late thirties. He held abbacies at Jōmyō-ji 淨妙寺, Jōchi-ji 淨智寺, and Kenchō-ji 建長寺 in Kamakura, and at Nanzen-ji 南禪寺, Shinnyo-ji 真如寺 in Kyoto, plus founding Muryō-ji 無量寺 in 1335.
His yulu, in four fascicles, preserves an extensive collection — jōdō sermons from each of his abbacies; shōsan; hōgo dharma-talks; encounter-dialogues; and a substantial corpus of his Chinese-style verse (Zhúxiān is a recognized Gozan literature poet). Died at the Ryōga-in 楞伽院 of Jōmyō-ji on Shōhei 3 / Yuán Zhìzhèng 8 (1348), age 57.
His dharma-heirs Dainen Hōen 大年法延, Chintei Kaiju 椿庭海壽, and others carried his Gǔlínpài 古林派 / Méirinpài 梅林派 (“Plum-Grove Sub-school”) line, which is one of the 24 transmission-lines of medieval Japanese Zen.
Significance: a major Yuán-Japanese Chán transmission yulu, and a key documentary source for the developing Gozan literature tradition of the early Muromachi period. Zhúxiān’s Shūmon senjimon 宗門千字文 (a “Thousand-Character Essay on the School Tradition”) — not preserved in the Taishō but separately attested — testifies to his concern for the literary-Chinese education of Japanese Zen students.
Translations and research
- No complete English translation located.
- Pollack, David, The Fracture of Meaning (1986).
- Collcutt, Martin, Five Mountains (1981).
Links
- CBETA: T80n2554
- DILA Buddhist Person Authority: A000765 (竺僊梵僊)