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大燈國師語録

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Text ID
KR6t0272
Date
1326–1337
Dynasty
日本

Dàdēng Guóshī yǔlù 大燈國師語録

Recorded Sayings of the Great-Lamp National Master by 妙超 Shūhō Myōchō (語), 性智 Shōchi (編)

About the work

A three-fascicle Recorded Sayings collection of 妙超 Shūhō Myōchō (1282–1337), founder (開山) of Daitoku-ji 大徳寺 in north Kyoto and the source of the Ō-Tō-Kan 應燈關 Rinzai-Zen trunk-line through which all present-day Japanese Rinzai-Zen sub-schools descend. Posthumous title Daitō Kokushi 大燈國師 — hence the work’s title; the work’s full title in the Taishō recension is Ryūhō Kaizan Tokushi Kōzen Daitō Kōshō Shōtō Kokushi yǔlù 龍寶開山特賜興禪大燈高照正燈國師語録 (the temple-founder + four-character imperial title). Edited by his attendant Shōchi 性智.

Abstract

The collection opens with Shūhō’s inaugural sermon (開堂) at Daitoku-ji on Karyaku 1 / 12 / 8 (= 1326-12-31). The nenkō (拈香) sequence is structurally informative: the first incense for the reigning emperor (Go-Daigo), the second for the Retired Emperor (Hanazono), the third for the secular court patrons (the Kōmon jījū 黄門侍郞 + bureaucracy), the fourth for the inviting officials, and the fifth — the dharma-incense — for the dharma-master: not for Wúzhǔn Shīfàn or Musō (as for most Gozan abbots) but for “the Reverend 南浦紹明 Nanpo Jōmyō, Engaku Daiō Kokushi 圓通大應國師, formerly of Kenchō-ji at Kamakura-ken Kyofuku-zan” — fixing Shūhō’s transmission as the Xū-tang / Nanpo / Daitō line that bypasses the standard Wúzhǔn route.

The three fascicles are organised as follows:

  • Fasc. 1: opening jōdō sermons at Daitoku-ji, including the long kōan-dialogue sequence with the inquiring monks at the opening assembly (one famous exchange on the Páng Jūshì xuě 龐居士雪 “Pang the laymen’s snowflakes that don’t fall elsewhere” kōan), the Hosshin shōsan (法身小參), and subsequent abbatial jōdō.
  • Fasc. 2: fa-yǔ dharma-instructions to monks (including the famous exchanges with Tsūō Kyōen 通翁鏡圓), nenkō memorial-rites for fellow monks, sònggǔ on classical kōan (with Xuědòu Chóngxiǎn’s commentaries inserted as interlinear dual-track zhù 註), and jìsòng verses.
  • Fasc. 3: the famous Shūhō Sanshō yōketsu Sānshèng yàojué 三聖要決 (or comparable text), Shūhō’s death-poem (the famous “Here in my place is the patriarchal barrier — bone-marrow connected to the joint!” 我這裏祖師關。骨髓相連), the yīqì-toba 一氣塔婆 testament-and-pagoda-instruction, and the Shūhō Sanshō 受師號上堂 sermon for the imperial title-bestowal.

The work is the founding text of the Ō-Tō-Kan trunk and is studied as such in every Rinzai-Zen monastic curriculum. The dating bracket runs from the Daitoku-ji opening (1326) to Shūhō’s death (1337); the Taishō recension is from the Edo block-print edition preserved at Daitoku-ji.

Translations and research

The most extensive Western-language treatment is Kenneth Kraft, Eloquent Zen: Daitō and Early Japanese Zen (Univ. of Hawai’i Press, 1992) — a full intellectual biography of Daitō with extensive translation of the yǔlù. See also: Furuta Shōkin 古田紹欽, Daitō Kokushi-shū 大灯国師集 (Kōdansha, 1984); Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism: A History, vol. 2 Japan (Macmillan, 1990), ch. 5; Hirano Sōjō 平野宗淨, Daitō Kokushi goroku 大燈国師語録 (Chikuma shobō, 1978).

Other points of interest

The interlinear Xuědòu commentary in fasc. 2 is unusual: Shūhō’s sònggǔ on the patriarchal-staff kōan are presented in parallel with prior Sòng commentary by Xuědòu Chóngxiǎn 雪竇重顯 (980–1052) — Shūhō engaging in a kind of trans-generational dialogue with the canonical Bìyánlù author. This editorial arrangement is rare in Japanese yǔlù and reflects the depth of Shūhō’s reading in Sòng kōan literature; some commentators have read it as evidence that Shūhō self-consciously placed his line as a return to the Sòng original beyond the Yuán mediations of the Five-Mountain establishment.

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