The Emergence of the “Doubt Sensation” in the Chan School: A Translation and Study of the Recorded Sayings of Chan Master Foyan Qingyuan on Doubt=禪宗「疑情」的初現:佛眼清遠語錄中疑情之譯註與研究
This thesis proposes to examine a practical aspect of the gong’an 公案 method of Chan 禪 Buddhist meditation, namely the nature and function of the “doubt sensation” or yiqing 疑情, as described in the yulu 語錄, or recorded sayings, of Foyan Qingyuan 佛眼清遠 (1067-1120), one of the earliest known exponents of this method. The thesis is divided into two main parts. After providing an overview of the related literature and of the way in which this topic has been dealt with previously, I analyse the subject of doubt in the recorded sayings of Foyan in Part I. An annotated translation of the key passages on the subject from the set of recorded sayings attributed to this Chan master is included in Part II. Auxiliary questions such as the transformation of doubt in the Chan school, the relation between faith and doubt in practice, and the interpretations of various scholars will also be considered with reference to this set of primary texts.
ABSTRACT II 摘要 II PART I 1 CHAPTER 1. CONTEXT: EXAMINING THE CHAN LITERATURE 1 Review of the Literature and Approaches 2 Methodology 2 Scope of the Thesis 3 FOYAN QINGYUAN (1067-1120) 4 Background 4 Brief Overview 4 Treatment of Foyan Qingyuan in the Scholarly Literature 5 Foyan Qingyuan and Doubt 6 Biography 7 Written Works & Recorded Sayings 7 The Legacy of Foyan Qingyuan 7 Literature Review 9 Further Remarks 13 Literature on Foyan Qingyuan 13 CHAPTER 3. TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS 14 On the Gong’an or Koan 14 Definitions of Kanhua Chan, Gong’an and Huatou 17 Terminology of Doubt 18 Yí 疑 and Yíqíng 疑情 Qíng 情 20 The Indian Antecedents to Doubt 22 CHAPTER 4. THE CENTRALITY OF DOUBT 26 Treatments of Doubt 26 Background 27 The Relation between Faith and Doubt Defining Chan Doubt 28 The Psychology of Doubt 30 Illness, Chan Illness & Death 31 The Practice of Doubt 33 Meditative Function & Typology 33 Ordinary Doubt and the Cultivation of the Doubt Sensation 35 Degrees of Doubt 36 THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOUBT AS A SOTERIOLOGICAL DEVICE 37 The Transformation of Doubt: A Shift in Practice Based on Patronage? 38 PART II. CHAPTER 7. ON THIS TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY 40 Justification for Text Selection 40 Analysis of the Citations on Doubt in the Recorded Sayings of Foyan Qingyuan 41 Related and Derived Terms 41 Observations 42 The Great Doubt of Chan 42 The Signification of yiqing in the Recorded Sayings of Foyan Qingyuan 47 The Role of Ambiguity 47 Foyan Qingyuan and Faith 47 Degrees of Doubt and Stages of Practice 48 From Personal Experience to Pedagogical Expedient 49 Audience and Disciples 49 Doubt and Chan Illness 50 CONCLUSIONS 51 TEXT, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY 55 A Note on the Translation 55 Cases of Chan Doubt 56 Private Instruction – Excerpts from the Shuzhou Longmen Foyan Heshang Xiaocan Yulu 69 Cases of Ambiguous Doubt Cases of Ordinary Doubt 78 BIBLIOGRAPHY 85 Primary Sources Secondary Sources Online Resources 108
