The Xuefeng Kong Heshang Waiji or Dongshan Waiji authored by Chan master Xuefeng Huikong (1096-1158) is one of the many Song Dynasty Chan texts circulated in the Gozan Japan. The text did not receive Buddhist and Chan scholars’ attention until it was included in the Chanmen Yishu. However, the Chanmen Yishu edition, which is a reprint of a “Gozan edition” preserved in the National Central Library, is but one of many “Gozan editions” produced or reproduced in the Gozan Japan. For this reason, this particular edition cannot be referred to as “the Gozan edition.” This author, after examining various editions, divides the different Gozan editions into “Gozan edition ,” “ Gozan edition ,” “ Gozan edition ,” etc., and discusses them along with other editions such as the “Azuchi-momoyama edition,” the “Edo edition,” the “Meiji transcript edition,” and the “Saga edition.”
Aside from the differences in fascicles, such as the differences between undivided fascicle, one fascicle, and two fascicles, the primary structural dissimilarities are in the numbers and groupings of prefaces and colophons, such as no preface, one preface, two prefaces, or three prefaces joined with either no colophon, one colophon, or two colophons. The author discusses all these variations in detail, hoping the further study of this text, which was transposed to Japan long time ago, can benefit from this article.
Xuefeng Huikong was a Chan monk of the Huanglong lineage and was active in the Northern and Southern Song transition. He was the dharma heir of Caotang Shanqing (1057-1142), grandson-in-dharma of Huitang Zuxin (1025-1100), and great grandson-in-dharma of Huanglong Huinan (1002-1069), thus belonging with the fourth generation of the Huanglong lineage, which was of great significance in the history of Song Chan and in the history of the interaction of Sino-Japanese Chan/Zen culture. In this light, he and this text of his cannot be taken lightly. Given that the continuation and development of the post-Northern Song Huanglong lineage has scarcely been heeded by Chan scholars and that the book, also known as Doshan waiji because Xuefeng Huikong was well-known for his epithet Kong Dongshan, is the work of a monk of the Huanglong lineage, it was circulated in the Northern and Southern Song transition, and was circulated in Japan with many editions for a long time. As the text is of an undeniably exceptional value, its many editions meritthis author’s critical study and discussion.
Keywords:
Xuefeng Huikong, Xuefeng Kong Heshang Waiji, Doshan Waiji, Gozan edition, Huanglong lineage