Zhèngyìn 正印
Yuán Yángqí-branch Línjì Chán master, styled Yuèjiāng 月江 and, in retirement, Sōngyuèwēng 松月翁. Native of Liánjiāng 連江 (Fúzhōu), lay surname Liú 劉. Tonsured at thirteen under Yuèxī 月溪; received dharma-transmission from 淨伏 Hǔyán Jìngfú at Língyǐn after breaking through on the 狗子無佛性 huàtóu, and served his teacher first as shìxiāng 侍香 and then as zhǎngzàng 掌藏 before setting out on his own abbatial career. He is, via Jìngfú, dharma-grandson of Xūzhōu Pǔdù 虛舟普度 (KR6q0340), and — counted as the 23rd-generation descendant of Dàjiàn [Huìnéng] 大鑑下第二十三世 in Zēngjí Xùchuándēnglù juan 6.
His first installation, at Chángzhōulù Bìyún chánsì 碧雲禪寺, is dated to the 20th of the 11th month of Yuánzhēn 1 (1295). The yǔlù records a succession of seven further abbacies — Sōngjiāng Diànshān 澱山 (twice), Sōngjiāng Nánchán Xīngguó 南禪興國, Húzhōu Héshān Xuānhuà 何山宣化 (from Zhìzhì 2 / 1322), Húzhōu Dàochǎng 道場 (from Tiānlì 2 / 1329), and culminating in appointment as the 58th abbot of Míngzhōu Āyùwángshān Guǎnglì chánsì 四明阿育王山廣利禪寺 (from Yuántǒng 1 / 1333). At Āyùwáng, the imperial preceptor Dìshī 帝師 conferred on him the gold-brocade fǎyī and the honorific title Fóxīn Pǔjiàn 佛心普鑒; during the Zhìzhèng era (1341–1370) he was summoned by edict to officiate over a shuǐlù dàhuì 水陸大會 at Jīnshān 金山, for which the court dispatched incense and silks.
Late in life he retired to an ān named Sōngyuè 松月, whence his self-style Sōngyuèwēng; he died after calling for a bath, changing robes, and composing a parting jì. The cremation yielded abundant shèlì and his stupa was raised at Sōngjiāng Zhēnjìng 真淨. Chinese sources give no precise lifedates; Japanese reference works, extrapolating from dated autograph mòjì (an yìnkězhuàng 印可狀 of Tàidìng 5 / 1328 now in the Kagawa Prefectural History Museum, and a jìyǔ of Zhìzhèng 3 / 1343 in the Gotoh Museum), conventionally give 1267 – c. 1350; these dates are carried here as the best available approximation, not as firmly attested figures.
Named dharma-heirs include 文藻 Wénzǎo (of Nánzhōu 南洲), 良圭 Liángguī and 本真 Běnzhēn; a much larger body of twenty-one ménrén collaboratively compiled his yǔlù (KR6q0342). He is covered in Zēngjí Xùchuándēnglù 增集續傳燈錄 juan 6, Wǔdēng quánshū 五燈全書 juan 52, NánSòng YuánMíng chánlín sēngbǎo zhuàn 南宋元明禪林僧寶傳 juan 12, Bǔxù gāosēng zhuàn 補續高僧傳, Míngzhōu Āyùwángshān zhì 明州阿育王山志, and Jìngshān zhì 徑山志. His calligraphic traces (mòjì / bokuseki) were widely transmitted to Japan through the 入元僧 community at Āyùwáng during his abbacy, and several are designated Important Cultural Properties.
name: 正印 pinyinName: Zhèngyìn alternateNames: [法璽印, Fǎxǐyìn, 法璽, Fǎxǐ] dynasty: 清 birthDate: deathDate: cbdbId: dilaAuthorityId:
A different mid-late seventeenth-century Línjì Chán master with fǎhuì 正印: Fǎxǐyìn 法璽印 / Zhèngyìn 正印, the principal dharma-heir and textual-editorial executor of Zhuānyú Guānhéng 顓愚觀衡 (1579–1646, at KR6q0433). To be distinguished from the Yuán-era Yuèjiāng Zhèngyìn above.
Line. In the Hànshān Déqīng 憨山德清 sub-branch of the Línjì line (Xiàoyán 笑巖德寶 → Hànshān Déqīng → Guānhéng → Zhèngyìn / Fǎxǐyìn). A Sichuan-origin master (“蜀人”). After Guānhéng’s 1646 death, Zhèngyìn served at Yúnjūshān 雲居山 (Jiāngxī) and 同安 Tóngān (Fújiàn).
Designated transmission (1642). Per the Guān-héng tǎ-míng at KR6q0433 juan 20: 壬午癸未 (1642–43) Fǎ-xǐ-yìn was appointed as xī-táng 西堂 at Yún-jū-shān (his dharma-brother 方融璽 Fāng-róng-xǐ as dōng-táng). Guān-héng summoned Fǎ-xǐ-yìn to Míng-yuè-táng 明月堂 at midnight and formally transmitted the fǎ-yī 法衣, rú-yì 如意, Tripiṭaka, and cí-zhǐ wén-quàn 慈旨文券.
Editorial life’s work. Following Guānhéng’s 1646 death, Zhèngyìn spent three decades compiling and cutting his master’s yǔlù. The 1662 Yúnjū tomb-fire (Kāngxī 1 New Year’s Day) destroyed early editorial work and forced re-assembly. Zhèngyìn re-compiled at Tóngān and brought the final 20-juan yǔlù to Jiāxīng Léngyánsì for cutting, completed Kāngxī 14 / 1675 lunar 11.
Principal work: editing KR6q0433 《紫竹林顓愚衡和尚語錄》 (20 juan, Jiāxīng Canon J28 B219).
Native place, precise lay surname, and lifedates unrecovered; active c. 1630s–1680s.
Sources: KR6q0433 juan-head signature + juan 20 tǎmíng; Lǐ Xiāngēn 1673 preface; Shībó 1676 preface.