The Youxi Wenji (幽溪文集) is one of Wujin Chuandeng’s works. Collected in the Quzhou Wenxian Jicheng (衢州文獻集成), it was published in 2015. This work was compiled by Chuandeng’s disciple Wenxin Shoujiao when Chuandeng was over 70 years old around 1623, or sometime after that. The current edition contains only 12 scrolls, which is at odds with the traditional accounts, which describe the work as containing 30 or 20 scrolls.
The Youxi Wenji text contained in the Quzhou Wenxian Jicheng was printed by the Tiantai mountain Zhenjue monastery in 1893. Some of the scrolls are out of order, some pages are missing, the typesetting is faulty, and instances of missing characters abound. I have consulted other versions of the text, including the Gaoming monastery printed version preserved by the Chinese Nankai university and a version preserved at the Kyoto University. By comparing the order of scrolls and the arrangement of pages, I have determined that the contents of scrolls 10 and 11 belong to a single scroll. In this preliminary research, I provide information about scroll and page number and sequence, which will hopefully facilitate future research regarding the thought and practice of master Chuandeng, as well as the development of the Tiantai monastic community and its connection with the wider societal context of its time.
Keywords:
Tiantai in the later Ming dynasty, Youxi Wenji, Wujin Chuandeng, Wenxin Shoujiao, Gaoming monastery