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Blue Cliff Record

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The Blue Cliff Record (Chinese: 碧巖錄; pinyin: Bìyán Lù; Japanese: 碧巌録; rōmaji: Hekiganroku; Korean: 벽암록; romaja: Byeokamrok; Vietnamese: Bích nham lục) is a collection of Chan Buddhist kōans originally compiled in Song China in 1125, during the reign of Emperor Huizong, and then expanded into its present form by Chan master Yuanwu Keqin (1063–1135; Japanese pronunciation: Engo).[1]

The book includes Yuanwu's annotations and commentary on 100 Verses on Old Cases (頌古百則), a compilation of 100 kōans collected by Xuedou Chongxian (980–1052; 雪竇重顯, Setcho).[1] Xuedou selected 82 of these from The Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, with the remainder selected from the Yunmen Guanglu (雲門廣録, Extensive Record of Yunmen Wenyan, 864–949).

History

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Name and origin

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The Blue Cliff Record derives its name from the temple where Yuanwu Keqin wrote most of his commentaries, the Blue Cliff Cloister (碧巖院, Bìyán Yuàn) in Hunan.[2] The work was originally called Xuedou's Juko (ju, verse; ko, old koans) before its Blue Cliff Record title was attributed.[1]

Yuanwu first presented it as a series of lectures to his students between 1111 and 1117. It appears these lectures occurred during the traditional 90-day summer retreats, as can be seen from his introduction to the 100th Case, where he writes: "All summer I've been verbosely making up complications... and tripping up all the monks in the land."[2] Written a hundred years before The Gateless Gate, the Blue Cliff Record contains appended verses to each koan, added by Xuedo to point out their hidden meaning. Yuanwu 's commentaries were added to tempt students trying to understand Zen conceptually and intellectually instead of by their own immediate experience.[1]

The composite work consisting of the one hundred cases, along with poetry added by Xuedou and prose commentary by Yuanwu, is collectively known as the Blue Cliff Record.[3]

Later developments

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Yuanwu's successor, Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163), wrote many letters to lay students teaching the practice of concentrating on koans during meditation, but Dahui did not explain and analyze koans. Oral tradition holds that Dahui noticed students engaged in too much intellectual discourse on koans, and then burned the wooden blocks used to print the Blue Cliff Record to "rescue disciples from delusion".[4]

The text was reconstituted only in the early 14th century by a layman, Zhang Mingyuan (張明遠, Chō Mei-en).[4][5] One of Zhang's sons became ill during this time, and others believed that it was an omen meaning that Zhang should not have re-released the book. However, an elder named Feng Zizhen (馮子振) comforted Zhang and encouraged him for his work.[6] Some of Yuanwu's capping phrases and possibly some of Xuedong's capping phrases were lost due to the incomplete source material available to Zhang.[7]

On its republication, the Blue Cliff Record again became one of the most influential works of Zen literature.[7]

Dogen and Japan

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Another key legend regards Dōgen (1200–1253), who brought the Caodong school of Chan to Japan as the Sōtō sect of Zen. After an extended visit to China for the purpose of studying Chan, on the night before his planned return to Japan, Dogen came across the Blue Cliff Record for the first time, and stayed up all night making a handwritten copy of the book. Given the size of the book, this story is most likely apocryphal; but Dogen is still credited with introducing the collection to Japan,[8] where it had a wide circulation.[9] The Blue Cliff Record became the central text in Japanese Zen by the Muromachi period of 1336 to 1573.[7]

Literary qualities

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The Blue Cliff Record was a subtle and literary text, with wide-ranging philosophical implications, in contrast to the more straightforward nature of The Gateless Barrier.[10] The Gateless Gate is normally studied before Blue Cliff Record because it is a shorter, simpler text, but all the cases in both texts are independent and could be studied in any sequence.[11]

List of chapters

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Below is a list of chapters from Thomas Cleary's 1998 English translation of the Blue Cliff Record.[12]

  1. The Emperor Wu Questions Bodhidharma
  2. The Ultimate Way Is without Difficulty
  3. Master Ma Is Unwell
  4. Deshan Carrying His Bundle
  5. Xuefeng's Grain of Rice
  6. Every Day Is a Good Day
  7. Huichao Asks about the Buddha
  8. Cuiyan's Eyebrows
  9. Zhaozhou's Four Gates
  10. The Phony Notice on Overcoming Demons
  11. Gobblers of Dregs
  12. Three Pounds of Flax
  13. The School of Kāṇadeva
  14. An Appropriate Statement
  15. An Upside-Down Statement
  16. The Man in the Weeds
  17. The Living Meaning of Chan
  18. The Seamless Monument
  19. One Finger Chan
  20. The Living Meaning of Chan
  21. Lotus Flower, Lotus Leaves
  22. The Turtle-Nosed Snake
  23. The Summit of the Peak of Wonder
  24. Guishan and Iron Grindstone Liu
  25. The Hermit's Staff
  26. Sitting Alone on the Mountain
  27. The Body Exposed in the Autumn Wind
  28. The Truth That's Never Been Spoken
  29. It Goes Along With It
  30. Big Radishes
  31. Magu Carrying His Ringed Staff
  32. Elder Ding Stands Motionless
  33. Zifu's Circle
  34. Where Do You Come From?
  35. The Dialogue of Mañjuśrī and Wuzhuo
  36. Roaming in the Mountains
  37. There's Nothing in the World
  38. The Workings of the Iron Ox
  39. The Flowering Hedge
  40. Like a Dream
  41. One Who Has Died the Great Death Contents
  42. Good Snowflakes
  43. No Cold or Heat
  44. Knowing How to Beat the Drum
  45. Zhaozhou's Shirt
  46. The Sound of Raindrops
  47. Six Do Not Take It In
  48. Overturning the Tea Kettle
  49. The Golden Fish That Has Passed through the Net
  50. Every Atom Samādhi
  51. What Is It?
  52. The Stone Bridge
  53. Wild Ducks
  54. Yunmen Extends Both Hands
  55. Daowu's Condolence Call
  56. One Arrow Smashes Three Barriers
  57. The Stupid Oaf
  58. Zhaozhou Can't Explain
  59. Why Not Quote It Fully?
  60. The Staff Changes into a Dragon
  61. One Atom
  62. Within There Is a Jewel
  63. Nanquan Kills a Cat
  64. Nanquan Questions Zhaozhou
  65. An Outsider Questions the Buddha
  66. Getting Huangchao's Sword
  67. Great Adept Fu Expounds a Scripture
  68. What's Your Name?
  69. Nanquan's Circle
  70. Guishan Attends Baizhang
  71. You Shut Up Too
  72. Baizhang Questions Yunyan
  73. The Permutations of Assertion and Denial
  74. Jinniu's Rice Pail
  75. Wujiu's Unjust Beating
  76. Have You Eaten?
  77. Yunmen's Cake
  78. Sixteen Bodhisattvas Bathe
  79. All Sounds
  80. A Newborn Baby
  81. Shooting the Elk of Elks
  82. The Stable Body of Reality
  83. The Ancient Buddhas and the Pillars
  84. Vimalakīrti's Door of Nonduality
  85. A Tiger's Roar
  86. The Kitchen Pantry and the Main Gate
  87. Medicine and Disease Subdue Each Other
  88. Three Invalids
  89. The Hands and Eyes of Great Compassion
  90. The Body of Wisdom
  91. Yanguan's Rhinoceros
  92. The Buddha Ascends the Seat
  93. Daguang Does a Dance
  94. Not Seeing
  95. Three Poisons
  96. Three Turning Words
  97. The Diamond Sutra's Scornful Revilement
  98. Tianping's Travels
  99. The Ten Body Controller
  100. Baling's Sword

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d K. Sekida, Two Zen Classics (1977) p. 18-20
  2. ^ a b Sullivan, Matthew Juksan (2021). The Garden of Flowers and Weeds: A New Translation and Commentary on the Blue Cliff Record. Rhinebeck, NY: Monkfish Book Publishing Company. pp. xxxvii–xxxviii. ISBN 978-1948626491.
  3. ^ Yuanwu (2021). The garden of flowers and weeds : a new translation and commentary on the Blue Cliff record. Matthew Juksan Sullivan. Rhinebeck, New York. pp. xxx–xxxi. ISBN 978-1-948626-50-7. OCLC 1246676424.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ a b Heine, Steven (2016). Chan Rhetoric of Uncertainty in the Blue Cliff Record. Oxford University Press. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-19-939777-8.
  5. ^ K. Sekida, Two Zen Classics (1977) p. 19
  6. ^ 藍, 吉富. "大慧宗杲焚燒《碧巖錄》事件的歷史評述" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2016-07-01. 張明遠聞說之後,詢之於海粟老人馮子振。馮氏除了安慰他之外,並以佛教口吻讚美他印書這一善行。
  7. ^ a b c Sullivan, Matthew Juksan (2021). The Garden of Flowers and Weeds: a New Commentary on the Blue Cliff Record. Monkfish Book Publishing Company. pp. xli. ISBN 9781948626491.
  8. ^ H. Tanabe, Philosophy as Metanoetics (1986) p. 126
  9. ^ M. Y Zeami, On the Art of the N_ Drama (1984) p. 121
  10. ^ Z. Shibayama, The Gateless Barrier (2000) p. xv
  11. ^ K. Sekida, Two Zen Classics (1977) p. 17
  12. ^ Cleary, Thomas (1998). The Blue Cliff Record. BDK English Tripiṭaka. Vol. 75. Berkeley, California: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. ISBN 0-9625618-8-6.

Further reading

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