Xià Shùfāng 夏樹芳
A late-Míng jǔrén lay-Buddhist scholar and prolific author. Zì Màoqīng 茂卿; hào Bīnglián Dàorén 冰蓮道人 (“Ice-Lotus Daoist”). Native of Jiāngyīn 江陰 (the Yánlíng / Jǐnlíng region of Chángzhōu, Jiāngsū). Lifedates approximately 1551–1635; passed the jǔrén (provincial) examination in Wànlì 萬曆 13 = 1585 but never advanced to the jìnshì level, instead devoting his life to lay-Buddhist scholarship and literary composition. Known to his contemporaries as a model 儒釋兼修 (“Confucian-Buddhist dual cultivation”) layman who maintained Confucian moral commitments alongside intensive Chán study.
His major Buddhist work is the 《名公法喜志》 Mínggōng fǎxǐ zhì KR6r0169 (X1649, 4 juǎn), a chronologically-organised biographical compendium of literati-officials who took joy in the Buddhist Dharma (fǎxǐ 法喜) from the JìnWèi through the end of the SòngYuán. The work was compiled under the direct influence of Xià’s friendship with the late-Míng monastic reformers — including Yúnqī Zhūhóng 雲棲袾宏 and Hānshān Déqīng 憨山德清 — and circulated widely in late-Míng / early-Qīng Buddhist publishing.
Xià’s other works include the 《茅園集》 Máoyuán jí (his collected literary works), the 《棲真志》 Qīzhēn zhì (a Daoist-tinged geographical-biographical compendium), and various local-history and miscellaneous compilations of Jiāngyīn and Chángzhōu materials.