Yongming Yanshou’s Conception of Chan in the Zongjing Lu This page intentionally left blank Yongming Yanshou’s Conception of Chan in the Zongjing Lu A Special Transmission within the Scriptures ALBERT WELTER Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2011 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Welter, Albert, 1952– Yongming Yanshou’s conception of Chan in the Zongjing lu : a special transmission within the scriptures / Albert Welter. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-19-976031-2 (clothbound) 1. Yanshou, 904–975. Zong jing lu. 2. Zen Buddhism—China—History. 3. Zen Buddhism— Doctrines. I. Yanshou, 904-975. Zong jing lu. English. Selections. II. Title. BQ9262.9.C5W45 2011 294.3 ′ 85—dc22 2010013553 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Foreword The responses to the idea of a book on Yanshou have brought bemused reactions from some colleagues, such as “Didn’t you already write a book on Yanshou?”, in reference to my revised dissertation, The Meaning of Myriad Good Deeds: A Study of Yung-ming Yen-shou and the “Wan-shan t’ung-kuei chi” . In fact, I was somewhat surprised by my own renewed interest in the study of Yanshou. After completing my dissertation, I felt I had had enough of Yanshou for a while, except as a potential complement to my ongoing interest in the development of Chan Buddhism in the Five Dynasties and early Song. Through this interest, I quite unexpectedly stumbled back on to the importance that Yanshou had in this development in ways that I felt had not been suffi ciently explored. The much-vaunted Zongjing lu remained a largely un-mined treasure, and the nature of its contents, particularly as they related to contemporary Chan developments at that time, had not been exam- ined in a systematic manner free of biases imposed by Zen ortho- doxy. I was particularly drawn to the Chan fragments contained in the Zongjing lu , which are among the earliest, and in some cases, our only sources of knowledge of early Chan. I was also intrigued by what Yanshou had to say regarding the concept of zong , a defi ning notion of Chan identity, as part of an on-going debate over the nature of Chan’s past and the prospects for its future. In the process, it struck me that Yanshou’s conception of Chan and Buddhism had a larger and more signifi cant impact than has been acknowledged, and vi FOREWORD I set out to formulate a model to acknowledge the place of a principled Bud- dhist practice in the Song intellectual milieu. As such, the studies that com- prise this book are an initial foray into the reinsertion of Yanshou’s brand of Buddhism into the dynamics of contemporary Chan and Song intellectual debate. There are many people whose contributions, large and small, helped in the development of this work. Among the most signifi cant, Ishii Shūdō’s earlier work on Yanshou provided a great starting point for my investigations. His at- tention to Yanshou, as well as the scholarly work of his colleague Ikeda Rosan, is rare among Japanese scholars. Ishii’s interest in Yanshou, like my own, was an initial catalyst in the unraveling of the dynamics of Song Chan, and the work completed by Ishii early in his career documenting the sources cited in the Zongjing lu served as inspiration for much of the analysis undertaken here. I especially benefi tted from occasional participation over the years at Ishii’s on- going seminar on the Zongjing lu at Komazawa University, which promises to provide hitherto unparalleled access to its contents. As gargantuan as the Zongjing lu is, and given the pace with which such painstaking scholarship proceeds, it may require Ishii’s rebirth in his present incarnation to reach com- pletion. Jan Yün-hua fi rst introduced me to Yanshou as a graduate student. Little did he (or I) know the ways in which this interest would abide and reach fruition. Koichi Shinohara fostered my interest through his supervision and kind attention. I was one of the few non-Asians to successfully navigate McMaster’s Ph.D. programme in East Asian Buddhism in those days, and this was largely due to Koichi’s unwavering support. The Religious Studies depart- ment went through signifi cant upheaval at that time, when Koichi was also managing a transition from Sociologist of Religion with an interest in Chinese intellectual history to Buddhist Studies scholar. In particular, I am indebted to Koichi for his willingness to use personal and family connections to ease my life in Tokyo during those early years of my research, with the unintended but entirely pleasant consequence of having an abiding interest in modern Japan, in the novels of Natsume Sōseki, the fi lms of Ozu and Kurosawa, Japanese yakimono (pottery), the taste of things like udon , zaru-soba , and robata yaki , and scores of other delights that have nothing to do with the study of Buddhism. I am particularly indebted to him for helping to secure connections with profes- sors at Komazawa University. In addition to Ishii, Tanaka Ryōshō, through no apparent self-interest, fostered my dissertation work on Yanshou through weekly meetings to read passages from the Wanshan tonggui ji while Ishii was on study leave in Kyoto. Needless to say, though the events and connections described above date from long ago, they continue to have an abiding infl uence over the trajectory of FOREWORD vii my career. Suffi ce it to say, I would have been an entirely different scholar with- out them. More recently, I have enjoyed support from colleagues around the world, whose conviviality has been a constant source of inspiration. Their names are too numerous to mention here, but include Christoph Anderl, Ben Brose, Jinhua Chen, Shan Chun, Griff Foulk, Dan Getz, Steven Heine, Yi-hsun Huang, Miriam Levering, Hoyoung Lee, Reg Little, John McRae, Elizabeth Morrison, Charles Muller, Tord Olsson, Mario Poceski, James Robson, Morten Schlütter, Bob Sharf, Weirong Shen, Kirill Solonin, Buzzy Teiser, Christian Wit- tern, and Jiang Wu, many of whose comments contributed to the fi nal out- come. I have also benefi tted from conference presentations and invited lectures relating to the contents of this book, at venues such as the European Associa- tion of Chinese Studies, University of Bonn Sinologisches Seminar Interna- tional Confucius Conference, American Academy of Religion, Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, University of Oslo conference on Early Chan Manu- scripts among the Dunhuang Texts, International Association of Shin Bud- dhist Studies at Ry ūkoku University, Fo Guang University, University of Konstanz, and the Korean Association of Wang Yangming Studies. Finally, I must mention the fi ne professional editorial staff at Oxford Uni- versity Press, led by Cynthia Reed and including the services of Charlotte Stein- hardt and Jaimee Biggins. While errors that remain are mine alone, their painstaking attention to the detail of my work has avoided many poor phras- ings, unnecessary duplications, etc., that crept into the manuscript. I am espe- cially indebted to the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada, whose support made the research on which the current work is based possible. This page intentionally left blank Contents Introduction: Coming to Terms with Yongming Yanshou: The Signifi cance of Yanshou and the Zongjing Lu (Records of the Source-Mirror) , 3 1. Yongming Yanshou and the Complexities of Chan Identity , 11 2. Revealing the Implicit Truth: Yongming Yanshou’s Notion of Zong in the Zongjing Lu , 45 3. Establishing the Chan Zong : Yanshou’s Notion of Chan in the Zongjing Lu , 69 4. Yanshou and Chan Lineages: An Overview of Chan Sources and Chan Patriarchs in the Zongjing Lu , 97 5. The Teachings of the Patriarchs: A Study of Chan Lineage Fragments in the Zongjing Lu , 137 6. The Buddhist School of Principle and the Early Song Intellectual Terrain , 203 Translation of the Zongjing Lu, Fascicle 1 , 223 Abbreviations , 277 Notes , 279 Bibliography , 339 Index , 365 This page intentionally left blank Yongming Yanshou’s Conception of Chan in the Zongjing Lu This page intentionally left blank Introduction Coming to Terms with Yongming Yanshou: The Signifi cance of Yanshou and the Zongjing Lu (Records of the Source-Mirror) Yongming Yanshou ranks among the great fi gures of the Chinese and East Asian Buddhist tradition.1 While the number of studies on Yanshou steadily increases, 2 basic questions regarding his identity and the thrust of his thought remain. Owing to the broad scope of Yanshou’s Buddhist infl uences and to the transformations occurring within Chinese culture and society during the late Tang through early Song dynasties, it is easy to speak not of one but of many Yanshous. In addition to Yanshou the Chan master, there is Yanshou the Pure Land patriarch, as well as legitimate discussion regarding Yanshou’s Lotus sūtra devotionalism, his infl uence on Tiantai, his Huayan thought, his indebtedness to Weishi (Consciousness-Only) theory, and so on.