Five Lamps Merged in the Source (五燈會元)

About 五燈會元

Song · by 普濟集

572,981 · about 1910 min

The *Compendium of Five Lamps* was compiled by the eminent monk Puji of the Song Dynasty and completed during the Chunyou era of the Southern Song. It is one of the essential texts of Chinese Chan Buddhism. This work assembles the lineage records and discourse collections of the five schools and seven branches of Chan, including the dialogues of awakening and the causes and conditions of enlightenment of the patriarchs from the Fayan, Yunmen, Caodong, Linji, and Guiyang schools. It systematically organizes the developmental lineage of Chan from the First Patriarch Bodhidharma through the Tang and Song periods. Comprising twenty volumes in total, it employs the metaphor of lamps passing light from one to another, illustrating the historical transmission of the Chan mind-seal. As a core text for studying Tang and Song Chan thought, the *Compendium of Five Lamps* is not only a vital resource for Buddhist historiography but also an authoritative guide for Chan practitioners investigating the nature of mind. It holds an irreplaceable position in the history of Chinese Buddhism.