自強之路

report of ch4 bddhst testimonies, the confucian's progress, by pei-yi wu

a. some basic backgrounds about autobiography (preface)
 def of the conversion narrative: "a testimony of personal religious experience…spoken or read aloud to the entire congregation of a gathered church before admission as evidence of the applicant's visible sainthood" by patricia caldwell
 the dawning of modern western self-consciousness coincided the sunset of chinese golden age of atbgrphy: a lack of chinese critical tradition with regard to atbgrphy
 difficulties on understanding the def, selection, and evaluation of atbgrphy (current theories and anthologies without having taken into consideration of chinese atbgrphy)
 as an academic discipline is atbgrphy a product of modern west, traced back on post renaissance with st. augustine and cellini

b. buddhist testimonies
 chan masters' traits for model atbgrphy:
inhibitions overcome, boldness, ebullience, individual exaltation, disdain for worldly conventions, self contemplation, and what the most important is, the radical change of life, intimate bonds between individuals and communities in china to be loosen sufficiently enough when was atbgrphy in china therefore born and developed (p.71)
 gamut of disabilities - why few masters had atbgrphies?
- hagiography in the 6th cntry vs. modern interest of interior lives (p.72)
 great changes after huineng: copious expository languages for helping disciples reach illumination through cultivation, a uniting key term for buddhists and neo-confucians - tsung-kao (1089-1163) (p.75)

c. tsu-ch'in (1216-1287)
 the first ch'an atbgrpher, a lin-chi sect memeber:
1. metropolitan ch'an in song dynsty
2. close imperial and abbot interact
3. disciple of shih-fan (1178-1249), a leading abbot in capital area (p.76)
 as more reasoning and instructions as ts'ao-tung sect might exert, its contender tus-ch'in ascended: a sharpened sense of personal change as followed (p.77)
 characteristics of tsu-ch'in's atbgrphical confession:
1. willingness to report on his tortuous spiritual career, candid admission of the despair and agonies in such plain and direct language (p.81)
2. breakthroughs during the way to illumination (p.82)
3. obvious theatrical effect capturing popular claim and literary attention (p.84)
4. self awareness of his unprecedented atbgrphy in chinese buddhist history (p.86)

d. meng-shan i (te-i, 1231-?), tus-ch'in's atbgrphical successor
 how to overcome sleepiness while sitting-in-meditation (p.88)
 an atbgrphical lineage?
tsu-ch'in, meng-shan i, yuan-miao, t'ieh-shan ai, wu-wen, miao-lun, wu-pao
 from ssu-ma ch'ien (BC145?-86), tsu-ch'in, to yuan-miao (1238-1295)
 atbgrphy of tsu-ch'in: narrative spontaneity + colloquial exuberance
atbgrphy of yuan-miao: possibility of a written spiritual atbgrphy (p.92)

p.s. lineage of lin-chi sect:
菩提達摩 (約520來華) --> 二祖慧可 --> 三祖僧璨 --> 四祖道信 --> 五祖弘忍 --> 六祖曹溪惠能 (638-713) --> 南嶽懷讓 --> 馬祖道一 --> 百丈懷海--> 黃檗希運 -->

臨濟義玄 (?-867) → [唐代：618-907] → 興化存獎→南院慧顒→風穴延沼→首山省念→汾陽善昭→ 石霜楚圓 (986-1039) → 楊歧方會 (992-1049)
→ 白雲守端→五祖法演→ [北宋：960-1127] → 圜悟克勤 (1063-1135) [楊歧派分支：後傳至南宋大慧宗杲 (1089-1163)，倡話頭禪，為禪宗另一主流] →虎丘紹隆 (虎丘派) →應庵曇華→密庵咸傑→破庵祖先→[南宋：1127-1279；元：1279-1368] →無準師範 (1178-1249) → 雪岩祖欽 (1216-1287) → 高峰原妙 (1238-1295) → 中峰明本 (1263-1323)...

臨濟義玄 (?-867) --> 興化存獎 --> 南院慧顒 -->
風穴延沼 --> 首山省念 --> 汾陽善昭 --> 慈明楚圓 -->
楊岐方會 (992-1049) --> 白雲首端 --> 五祖法演 (晚年居於東山) -->
圜悟克勤 (1063-1135) --> 大慧宗杲 (1089-1163)...