Xiù 秀 (Zhīyán Xiù 芝巖秀 / Chāoxiù 超秀)
Late-seventeenth-century LínjìYángqí Chán master, dharma-heir of Èryǐn Xíngmì 二隱行謐 (1606–1665, cf. KR6q0430). Full-form Chāoxiù 超秀 (using the 超 generation-character of the 34th-generation Línjì tier); bare-form Xiù 秀 per the Jiāxīng catalog; hào Zhīyán 芝巖 (“Ganoderma-Cliff”). Lay surname Luó 羅, of XīShǔ Dázhōu Gǔméngxī Zhōngzǐshān 西蜀達州古蒙溪鍾子山 (east-Sichuan). Father Luó Wénhòu 羅文厚, mother Tángshì 湯氏. Nursery name Sēngbǎo 僧保. Birth and death dates not precisely documented; born c. 1620s, active through at least 1678–1685.
Childhood. Tonsured at age 8 under itinerant Cháng-méi lǎo-sēng 長眉老僧 from Qú-xiàn Lán-huá-sì 渠縣蘭華寺 (east-Sichuan). Three years as sūtra-attendant before a vision of an old monk commanded him to travel to Wǔ-tái-shān to see Mañjuśrī.
Consultation-tour (c. 1640s–1660s). Multi-stop pilgrimage from Sichuan through Shǎnxī → Wǔtái → Zhēndìng → Jiāngnán. Consulted Mùyún Tōngmén at Gǔnán (1 year); Jùdé 具德 at Yángzhōu Tiānníng; Xuědòu, Yúnmén, Tiāntóng. Extended 12-year training with Yùlín Tōngxiù 玉林通琇 (1614–1675, the Shùn-zhì-era imperial-audience master) at Bàoēnsì 報恩寺 — one of the longest mid-century Chán discipleships. Multi-dozen direct-exchange gōngàn sequences preserved in KR6q0431 juan 2 xíngshí.
Sealing by Xíngmì (1661). 辛丑春 辛丑 (= Shùnzhì 18 / 1661 spring): encountered Èryǐn Xíngmì at Yíxīng Qǐshān Bǎoānsì. Sharp exchange; Xíngmì detained him at 龍池, and on 辛丑 2.22 (= 22 March 1661) formally transmitted the fúbìngjì 拂并偈 lineage-transmission. Xiù then served for over a year at Xíngmì’s side rebuilding the Bǎoān Great Hall.
Abbacies (1660s–70s). Huáyánān 華嚴菴; then Húguǎng Jīngzhōu Jiānglíng Shuǐyuè Chányuàn 湖廣荊州江陵水月禪院 under the patronage of Qǐróng Wáng hùfǎ 啟融王 (Qīng yòubiāo zǒngróng garrison commander) at the ancient Míngyuèlóu 明月樓 + Míngyuèchí 明月池 site.
1678 patronage event. During the Three Feudatories Revolt, Xiù brought his master Xíngmì’s manuscript yǔlù to the Manchu Qīng prince Chání 察尼 stationed at Jīngnán and secured imperial-kin patronage for the cutting of KR6q0430 二隱謐禪師語錄 — engineered the textual monument to his own teacher.
Works:
- KR6q0430 《二隱謐禪師語錄》 — as 超秀 Chāoxiù, co-compiler (děng biān with 超巨 Chāojù) of his master’s yǔlù, cut 1678.
- KR6q0431 《芝巖秀禪師語錄》 — as 秀 Xiù, his own yǔlù (2 juan, Jiāxīng J28 B213), compiled by dharma-heir 明一 Míngyī; front-preface by Wáng Wénnán 王文南 (examination-laureate, likely Wáng-family of the local patron-network). Woodblocks stored at Jiāxīng Léngyánsì 嘉興楞嚴寺.
Sources: KR6q0431 juan 1 preface (Wáng Wénnán) + juan 2 xíngshí (self-authored); KR6q0430 1678 Chání preface (references Xiù as the manuscript-bearer); KR6q0430 juan-head co-compiler line.
name: 秀 pinyinName: Xiù alternateNames: [秀法師, Xiùfǎshī, Shūhōshi] dynasty: 平安 birthDate: deathDate: cbdbId: dilaAuthorityId:
A different Heian-period Japanese Buddhist logician known only as 秀法師 (“Master Xiù / Shūhōshi”), author of KR6m0024 Zhǎngzhēn liàng dào 掌珍量噵 (T65n2258, 1 fasc.), a single-fascicle hetuvidyā polemic against Bhāviveka’s Karatalaratna syllogism from a Dharmapāla-Xuán-zàng-Kuiji Hossō standpoint. Dates not securely documented. The work cites the Dàshèng Sānlùn dàyì chāo 大乘三論大義鈔 (T70n2296) of 玄叡 Gen’ei (d. c. 840) as its latest authority, placing its composition after c. 840; the absence of mid-Heian Sanron debate references suggests a window c. 840–1000. The use of Kūkai-era qǐngyì wén 請益文 (“petition for clarification” texts brought back by Japanese envoys to Tang) as evidence indicates a 9th-century setting is most likely.
To be distinguished from the late-Qīng Línjì Chán master Chāoxiù 超秀 / 芝巖秀 above.
Work: KR6m0024 《掌珍量噵》 (T65n2258, 1 fasc.).