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Similar The Gateless Gate, Book of Equanimity, Awakening of Faith in the Maha, Milinda Panha, Xinxin Ming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Chán (Zen) Buddhist koans originally compiled in China during the Song dynasty in 1125 (in the time of Emperor Huizong), and then expanded into its present form by the Chán master Yuanwu Keqin (1063–1135; Engo).
Contents
The book includes Yuanwu's annotations and commentary on 100 Verses on Old Cases (頌古百則), a compilation of 100 koans collected by Xuedou Zhongxian (980–1052; 雪竇重顯, Setcho). Xuedou selected 82 of these from the Transmission of the Lamp, with the remainder selected from the Yunmen Guanglu (雲門廣録, Extensive Record of Yunmen Wenyan, 864–949).
Later developments
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".
The text was only reconstituted in the early 14th century by a layman, Zhang Mingyuan (張明遠, Chō Mei-en). 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.
Dogen and Japan
Another key legend regards Dogen Zenji (1200–1253), who brought the Soto Zen sect to Japan. After an extended visit to China for the purpose of studying Zen, 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, where it had a wide circulation.
Literary qualities
The Blue Cliff Record was a subtle and literary text, with wide-ranging philosophical implications, as opposed for example to the more straightforward nature of The Gateless Gate.