Mid-Qīng Buddhist monk and Lotus Sūtra exegete; lifedates unrecorded. DILA Authority A000064. Productive period spans the late-Kāngxī 康熙 through high-Qiánlóng 乾隆 era (c. 1714–1736). Affiliated with the Jīnlíng (Nánjīng) and Jīntái (Beijing) Buddhist establishment.
According to his own Biān-jí shǐ-mò 編輯始末 (compilation history) preserved in the front matter of his major work, his career began with ordination at Jīn-líng in Kāngxī jiǎ-wǔ 康熙甲午 (1714); he then travelled to study with various Chán masters of the Wú-Yuè region (modern Jiāngsū-Zhèjiāng). In Yōngzhèng bǐng-wǔ 雍正丙午 (1726), at Cí-bēi-shān 慈悲山 in Liángzhōu (the Northern Qīng-liáng), he entered the chamber of his teacher (referred to only as xiān-zǐ 先子, “the deceased master”) and undertook the systematic study of the Avataṃsaka lecture-tradition; “investigating the Xuán-tán and examining the ten-gates and five-doctrines, [I] began to know that great indeed are the holy texts, vast and unfathomable.”
His subsequent productive period covers the years 1728–1736, during which he completed the various juan of his major work in successive stages: 2 juan in wùshēn 戊申 (1728); 1 juan in jǐyǒu 己酉 (1729) at Chángchūnsì 長椿寺; 1 juan in gēngxū 庚戌 (1730) while traveling at Pánshān 盤山; the final 3 juan completed in yǐmǎo 乙卯 (1735) while residing at the Yánshòusì 延壽寺 in Zhuōlù 涿鹿. In Qiánlóng bǐngchén 乾隆丙辰 (1736) he travelled again to JiāngZhè to consult senior masters, who unanimously called the work “the great consummation of the Lotus.”
Major work: the Fǎhuá jīng dàchéng 法華經大成 (KR6d0085, X32n0619, 10 juan) — the most ambitious mid-Qīng synthetic Lotus Sūtra commentary, drawing on the Tiāntái and Cí’ēn commentarial traditions and the late-Míng critical-evaluative apparatus.
Source: Fǎhuá jīng dàchéng biānjí shǐmò 法華經大成編輯始末; DILA A000064.