Late-Míng Buddhist monk-commentator from the Wúmén 吳門 (Sūzhōu) area, also designated Liàngxūhuì gōng 量虛慧公 (“Master Liàngxūhuì”) and Běichán Dàhuì 北禪大慧 (“Dàhuì of the Northern Chan”). Lifedates and biographical details largely unknown; the floruit given here (1610–1645) reflects his attested late-Wànlì / Chóngzhēn-era career and the timing of his Heart Sūtra commentary’s publication.
According to the laudatory preface (No. 552-A) by Xú Bō 徐波 of Wú dated Chóngzhēn 14 (1641), Dàhuì had practised meditation diligently for thirty years (i.e. from c. 1611 onward), characterised as one whose “ear has no mixed listening, mouth no mixed speech, food and drink like clouds-and-water, those who arrive [as guests] are received as if returning home.” Earlier disciples included Zǐyě 子野 (Huái Sūn Xīyuǎn 懷孫熈遠) — both reckoned among the eminent Buddhist guides of Wúzhōng (Sūzhōu region). Late in his career he met Sānfēng 三峰 (Hànyuè Fǎzàng 漢月法藏, 1573–1635), the founding patriarch of the controversial Sānfēng faction within the late-Wànlì Línjì revival; Dàhuì and Sānfēng “got along very well”, and Dàhuì became loosely associated with Sānfēng’s circle.
His Heart Sūtra commentary Bōrě jìjué 般若際決 (X552 = KR6c0171), prefaced in 1641 by Xú Bō and additionally by Zhèngxìng 正性 of Tóngxī 桐溪, represents his most extensively studied work. He also produced the Ēmítuó jīng yǐjué 阿彌陀經已決 KR6p0024 (X22n0429, Already-Resolved [Doubts] on the Smaller Amitābhasūtra), a late-Míng Pure Land commentary in one juǎn, which the author’s preface dates to a period after his “former teacher Sānfēng” had already passed (Sānfēng / Hànyuè Fǎzàng died in 1635), placing the Yǐjué in the late 1630s. The Yǐjué preface signs him as 北禪老尊宿 (“the venerable elder of the Northern Chan [temple]”), consistent with his Sūzhōu Běichán identification. Both works circulated in late-Míng Línjì-related Sūzhōu circles. He is distinct from the Sòng Mahā-Línjì master Dàhuì Zōnggǎo 大慧宗杲 (1089–1163), with whom the name should not be confused.
The DILA Buddhist Studies Person Authority does not have a dedicated entry for this figure; identifications under the name 大慧 in DILA all refer to other persons (notably the Yuán-period 大慧 = A008270, disciple of 大同 [1290–1371]).