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Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄 "The transmission of the lamp, [compiled] during the Jingde [reign-period]", or Chuandenglu 傳燈錄 for short, is a book on Chen (Zen) Buddhism (Chanzong 禪宗) compiled during the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126) by Daoyuan 道原 (1004).
The metaphor of the "lamp" (deng 燈) represents illumination that clears darkness. In the Chan tradition, the Dharma (the Buddha's teachings) is passed down from patriarch to patriarch, from master to disciple, like handing over a lamp. "Lamp records" (denglu 燈錄) are a literary genre (dengluti 燈錄體) that sits between monastic biographies and recorded sayings (yulu 語錄). Compared with typical biographies, they focus less on detailing deeds and more on capturing sayings. However, in contrast to "recorded sayings" (yulu), they select the essential teachings and arrange them according to lines of transmission and succession, much like genealogical records in historical writing. Essentially, they form a history of Chan Buddhist thought.
Earlier precedents of this type of Chan history include Huiju's 慧炬 (also called Zhiju 智炬) Baolinzhuan 寶林傳 (大藏經補編 B0081) from 801, compiled together with the Indian Tripiṭaka master "Shengchi 勝持". It is a collection of biographies, verses, prophetic sayings, and dialogues of Chan patriarchs. In 899, Xuanwei 玄偉 compiled accounts of Chan masters and their recorded sayings, titled Xuanmen shengzhou ji 玄門聖胄集. Building upon these earlier works, Daoyuan continued the records of Chan masters' encounter dialogues from the Later Liang 後梁 (907-923) onward, and compiled his book of 30 juan. After completing the work, he presented it to the imperial court, and Emperor Zhenzong 宋真宗 (r. 997-1022) ordered the Hanlin Academician (Hanlin xueshi 翰林學士) Yang Yi 楊億 (974-1020) to edit and finalise it.
The book details the genealogical lineage of the Chan school, starting with the Seven Buddhas of antiquity and ending with Fayan Wenyi's 法眼文益 (885-958) disciple Changshou Faqi 長壽法齊. It covers 52 generations and includes 1,701 individuals. Among them, 951 figures have recorded sayings or dialogue encounters, while the others are listed solely by name without textual records. Although the work lacks a general table of contents, each scroll features its own index, clearly showing which figures are "recorded" with sayings, jianlu 見錄) and which are "not recorded" concerning any scholarly statements (bulu 不錄).
The version of the Jingde chuanxin lu included in the Taishō Canon 新脩大正大藏經 is based on a reprint from 1316, and it differs slightly from the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) edition, which contains fewer para-texts than the Yuan-period 元 (1279-1368) edition.
The Jingde chuandeng lu has had a broad influence both within and outside the Buddhist community. It not only inspired a series of Chan "lamp records", such as the Tiansheng guang denglu 天聖廣燈錄 (X1553), Jianzhong jingguo xu denglu 建中靖國續燈錄 (X1555), Liandeng huiyao 聯燈會要 (X1557), Jingdai pu denglu 嘉泰普燈錄 (X1558), and Xu chuangdeng lu 續傳燈錄 (T2077), which offer valuable resources for studying the history of Chan Buddhist thought.
Xu chuandeng lu 續傳燈錄 (T2077) is a biographical work on Chan (Zen) monks compiled during the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) by Juding 居頂 as a continuation of the Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄 by Daoyuan 道原 (fl. 1004). In 36 juan, the collection gathers sources from texts such as Wudeng huiyuan 五燈會元 (X1565), Fozu huiming 佛祖慧命, Sengbaozhuan 僧寶傳 (X1560), Fendenglu 分燈錄 (X1607) and Chanmen zongpai tu 禪門宗派圖. It lists no fewer than 3,118 individuals and presents essential "sayings" (yulu 語錄) of 1,203 figures.
A further continuation is Zengji xu chuangdeng lu 增集續傳燈錄 (X1574) by Wenxiu 文琇, in 6 juan, from 1417.