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竹林鈔

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Text ID
KR6t0336
Date
1247–1500
Dynasty
日本

Zhúlín chāo 竹林鈔

Notes from the Bamboo Grove (anon., Seizan-Fukakusa-ha doctrinal compendium)

About the work

A two-fascicle doctrinal compendium of the Seizan-Fukakusa branch of Jōdoshū. The closing colophon — Shinshū Seizan Fukakusa massha Yūyo Kyūzō 眞宗西山深草末葉融譽九三 — identifies the manuscript-copyist as Yūyo Kyūzō 融譽九三, a massha (末葉, “branch-twig” — lay/junior disciple) of the Seizan-Fukakusa branch; the colophon states only that “the foregoing has been transcribed in the manner of the master’s original [scroll]” (丈御本如形書寫之者也), making Yūyo a copyist rather than the author. The original work is anonymous and likely medieval; the title Chiku-rin 竹林 (“bamboo grove”) is a Pure-Land tāra (poetic) topos drawing on the Bamboo Grove Monastery (Veluvana-vihāra) of the historical Buddha, here re-located as the bamboo-grove pure-land retreat of the medieval Seizan-Fukakusa school.

Abstract

The opening table-of-contents enumerates seventeen topics, all classic Seizan-line doctrinal-practical concerns:

  1. The doctrine of Hairyū gyōjō (廢立行成 — “discarding-and-establishing, [thereby] the practice is accomplished”) — the central Seizan-line hai-shū-ryū-shū (discard-and-establish) doctrinal scheme by which the Way of Sages is discarded and the Pure-Land Way established;
  2. The contrast of Buddha-contemplation and nenbutsu (觀佛念佛事) — whether visualization-contemplation (觀佛 kanbutsu, of the Guānjīng contemplations) and name-recitation nenbutsu (念佛 nenbutsu) are continuous or contrastive practices;
  3. Nenbutsu-king samādhi (念佛王三昧事) — the nenbutsu samādhi as the king of all samādhis;
  4. The doctrine of sok-ben tō-toku (即便當得) — the immediate-attainment doctrine drawn from the Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha; 5.–17. Further articles on Seizan-Fukakusa distinctive positions, including the anjin / kigyō distinction, the kihō ichinyo doctrine, the honji-suijaku identification of Amitābha with the practitioner’s true nature, and the deathbed protocols.

The text is a compact catechism-like primer for Seizan-Fukakusa novices, designed to cover the seventeen articles fundamental to the school’s kuden tradition. Within the Seizan-Fukakusa textual corpus, the Chikurin-shō sits alongside Jōdo shūyōshū KR6t0335 as a yōshū / shō pair — the Yōshū serving as the comprehensive doctrinal compendium and the Chikurin-shō as the topical question-and-answer primer.

Date. The text post-dates Shōkū (1247) and Ryūkū’s establishment of the Seizan-Fukakusa branch (mid-13th c.); a 13th–15th c. date is most likely. No internal precise date.

Translations and research

No Western-language translation has been located. The Seizan-Fukakusa branch is treated in: Fujimoto Kiyohiko 藤本淨彦, Seizan jōdokyō no kenkyū (Hōzōkan, 1988); critical text in Seizan zensho (1928–35) and Jōdo-shū zensho vol. 9.

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