The Identity of the Pŏpchip pyŏrhaeng nok [Dharma collection and special practice record]

Chinul's magnum opus, the fundamental text of the Korean Sŏn (Ch'an) tradition, draws upon excerpts from a work by Tsung-mi unknown as titled in China, the Dharma Collection and Special Practice Record, which is parallel in content and structure with Tsung-mi's Ch'an Chart. After outlining the conclusions reached concerning the Record and its title by Yi dynasty commentators and modern buddhologists, the author discusses letters by the Sung-dynasty T'ien-t'ai master Chih-li that suggest that both the Record and Tsung-mi's massive Ch'an Collection (Ch'an-yiian chi; not extant) favored the Ho-tse school. These quotations also confirm the authenticity of Tsung-mi's Ch'an-yiian chi, the existence of which has been disputed. Chih-li's remarks indicate that the proto-Record was intended to summarize the arguments favoring the Ho-tse school in the Ch'an Collection. The author concludes that the phrase "dharma collection" refers to the Ch 'an Collection, abridged in the Record to cover only the four most representative schools of Chinese Ch'an; "special practice" refers to the Ho-tse school —in particular, the sudden awakening/gradual cultivation approach it followed —favored by both Tsung-mi and Chinul. The earliest recension of both the Record and the Ch'an Chart, which probably circulated untitled, included sections on the doctrine and practices of the four Ch'an schools. Later, a historical section on Ch'an lineage was added to what became known as the Ch'an Chart, producing a comprehensive summation of the superiority of the Ho-tse school as regards lineage, understanding, and realization. Hence the Record apparently represents an earlier recension of this parallel text done before the historical sections were added which continued to circulate in Korea, but was supplanted in China by the more complete Ch 'an Chart.