Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄
Creators: name: Liu, Yi
Publisher: name: Database of Religious History (DRH)
Year: 2023

description: The Jingde chuandenglu (Record of the Transmission of the Lamp [Compiled in] the Jingde era) was initially titled the Fozu tongcan ji 佛祖同参集 when the Buddhist monk Daoyuan 道原 (fl. ca. 1000) presented his compilation of Chan transmission records to the Song court in 1004. Daoyuan, known as a Fayanlineage 法眼宗 monk from the Chengtian Yong’an Monastery 承天永安院 in Suzhou 蘇州, was a disciple of Tiantai Deshao 天台德韶 (891-972) who served as preceptor of the state of the Wuyue regime. It is documented that Daoyuan’s compilation adopted a multilineal framework that arranged the name of 1701 figures (52 generations predicated on the master-disciple relationship) and delineated the transmission histories from the Seven Buddhas of the Past, Indian patriarchs, and eventually, to the Fayan lineage. // Under Emperor Zhenzong’s 真宗 (r. 997-1022) imperial edict, leading scholarly literati Yang Yi 楊億 (974- 1020), Li Wei 李維 and Wang Shu 王曙 (963-1034) supervised the editorial work of Daoyuan’s compilation. According to the Xu zizhi tongjian changbian 續資治通鑑長編, the thirty-fascicle Jingde chuandeng lu was accomplished and issued in 1009. In this current title, “Jingde” refers to the reign title of Emperor Zhenzong, and “chuangdeng lu” represents the way that dharma was transmitted from master to disciple similar to how one lamp lights up another. In Yang Yi’s accounts, this edited compilation included the names of 1760 figures and 1169 entries. However, extant woodblock-printed editions of the Jingde chuandeng lu went through later editing and did not preserve the full text of the original records. Among varied extant editions, two main editions are the Tōji 東寺 edition (printed in 1080 in the Dongchan Monastery 東禪寺 in Fuzhou 福州) and the Sibu congkan 四部叢刊 edition (issued in 1316 in the Daochang chanyou Temple 道場禪幽庵 in Huzhou 湖州). The standard text cited in modern scholarship came from the Taishō shinshu daizōkyō 大正新修大蔵経, which employed the Sibu congkan edition. Both the Tōji and Sibu congkan editions contain the name of 1709 people and 966 entries. // Entries of Chan masters in the Jingde chuandeng lu include their sermons, transmission verses, poems, and dialogues with disciples. According to recent scholarship, the compilation of this work drew on earlier Chan transmission records. The multilineal style first appeared as the arrangement format of the Zutang ji 祖堂集. The list of Indian patriarchs came from the Baolin zhuan 寶林傳. In addition to these two collections, other extant Chan genealogical histories prior to the Jingde chuandeng lu include the Chuan Fabao ji 傳法寶紀, the Lengqie shizi ji 楞伽師資記, and the Lidai Fabao ji 曆代法寶記. However, the Jingde chuandeng lu was distinct from previous Chan genealogical histories as it received imperial sanction from the Song court and had its influence transcending the regional boundaries. // In 1011, the Jingde chuandeng lu obtained Emperor Zhenzong’s permission to be incorporated into the Song Buddhist canon. Another version of this work, the fifteenfascicle abridged version compiled by scholarly bureaucrat Wang Sui 王隨 (973-1039) and titled Chuandeng yuying ji 傳燈玉英集, was submitted to Emperor Renzong 仁宗 (r. 1022-1063) in 1034 and granted to become an inclusion of the Buddhist canon as well. As the first work of the denglu (lamp records) genre, the Jingde chuandeng lu established a model for subsequent Chan genealogical histories sanctioned by the Song court, such as the Tiansheng guangdeng lu 天聖廣燈錄, the Jianzhong jingguo xudeng lu 建中靖國續燈錄, and the Jiatai pudeng lu 嘉泰普燈錄. // Besides its impact on later genealogical histories, the Jingde chuandeng lu was also involved with the development of other genres of Chan texts. Recent studies proved that cases of Chan masters compiled in later gong’an 公案 collections were initially documented in the Jingde chuandeng lu. Similarities in language styles between denglu and yulu 語錄 were also discerned.// Considering the historicity of Chan transmission records, scholars suggest that the Jingde chuandeng lu should be viewed as didactic work that served certain religious purposes. According to existing scholarship, Daoyuan’s compilation aimed at promoting the Fayan lineage. Meanwhile, Yang Yi’s editing portrayed Chan as “a separate practice outside the teaching” to help provide a literary model that distinguished Song culture. With the effort of Chan monks and scholarly literati, the compilation of this work was influential in defining the self-identity of Chan.