五灯会元

五燈會元

Wǔdēng huìyuán

proper noun

Meanings

1 Compendium of the Five Lamps, a Song-dynasty digest of five earlier records of Chan masters

Characters

essence; origin

Examples

HSK 6

《五灯会元》是从五部灯录里选编的。

《 Wǔdēng huìyuán 》 shì cóng wǔ bù dēnglù lǐ xuǎnbiān de.

The Compendium of the Five Lamps was selected and edited from five lamp records.

HSK 7-9

《五灯会元》是宋代的一部禅宗史书。

《 Wǔdēng huìyuán 》 shì Sòngdài de yí bù Chánzōng shǐshū.

The Compendium of the Five Lamps is a Song-dynasty history of Chan Buddhism.

Tips

history

Compiled around 1252 by the monk 普济 of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. It condenses five earlier lamp records, beginning with 景德传灯录, into 20 scrolls, and became the most widely read of them. 五灯 are the five records, and 会元 means 'gathering the essentials'.

culture

Expressions first recorded in it include 顶天立地 'to stand up between heaven and earth', said of a person of integrity, and 街头巷尾 'every street and alley', a monk's answer to where awakening is found.

Stroke Order

五 wǔ

灯 dēng

会 huì

元 yuán