Rúkōng 如空 (28 November 1491 – 24 September 1580 = Hóngzhì 4.10.18 – Wànlì 8.8.6), styled Wúqù lǎorén 無趣老人 (“Old Man of No Interest”) as a monk and Jìngzhāi 靜齋 as a layman; also Wúqù Rúkōng 無趣如空. A late-Míng Chán master of the Línjì Yángqí 臨濟楊岐 lineage through the Tiānmùshān / Gāofēng branch, ordained exceptionally late in life (là 臘 = 10 years at death). Native of Jiāxìng Xiùshuǐ 嘉興秀水 (modern Jiāxìng, Zhèjiāng), lay surname Shī 施.
Rúkōng’s path to ordination was unusual. As a layman he was known as Jìngzhāi, married, and had one son and one daughter. Of naturally compassionate disposition and inclined toward inner-canon reading (nèidiǎn 內典), he first investigated Chán for eight years in travelling companionship with the monk Jì Fǎzhōu 濟法舟 before returning home to intensify his practice alone. He then met Yěwēng Zhēnxiǎo 野翁曉 (DILA A020555, fourteenth-generation descendant of Hǔqiū Shàolóng 虎丘紹隆 and dharma-son of Bǎofāng Jìn 寶芳進) at Dōngtǎsì 東塔寺. Yěwēng repeatedly “swept clear” (sǎo què 掃却) each of his volunteered insights; on the direct instruction to investigate the yī guī hé chù 一歸何處 huàtóu, Rúkōng attained awakening after three years, triggered by the cock’s crow at dawn. Yěwēng transmitted robe-and-bowl together with the verse fēi fǎ fēi fēi fǎ, fēi xìng fēi fēi xìng, fēi xīn fēi fēi xīn, fù rǔ xīn fǎ 非法非非法非性非非性非心非非心付汝心法, and added the prophecy “you will have two sons, one in white and one in black” (zǐ yǒu èr zǐ, yī qīng yī zī 一青一緇).
Rúkōng took the tonsure and was invited by lay patrons to reside at Jìngwèiān 敬畏庵, where he spent his long teaching period in strict bìguān 閉關 seclusion, wearing a Guānyīn-image on his head (dǐngdài Guānyīn 頂戴觀音) and practising fūzuò 趺坐 day and night. His own opening piece in the yǔlù declares “thirty-odd years of sealed-gate teaching to the community” (rùguān shìzhòng sānshí yú nián 入關示眾三十餘年). In mid-winter of Wànlì 7 (1579) he transmitted dharma to his disciple Wúhuàn Xìngchōng, foretelling his own death the following autumn. On Wànlì 8.8.6 (24 September 1580) he announced a slight illness, uttered his parting verse, and died, nominally aged 90. The verse runs: “生來死去空華／死去生來一夢／皮囊付與丙丁公／白骨斷橋隨眾呵呵／明月清風吟弄” — “Coming-to-life and going-to-death are empty flowers / death and life are a single dream / this skin-bag I entrust to the Bǐngdīng Lord [= fire] / the white bones may clatter alongside the rest at the Broken Bridge / clear moon and pure wind — a chant for the playing.” Tomb at Jìngwèiān.
Dharma-heirs: Wúhuàn Xìngchōng 無幻性沖 (1540–1612; DILA A007841), Gǔzhuō Xìnshǔ 古卓信曙, and Lǎnwēng Luòxiāng 嬾翁駱驤.
Works in the Kanripo corpus: KR6q0394 Wúqù lǎorén yǔlù 無趣老人語錄 (1 juan, JB155), compiled by Xìngchōng with a preface by Zhànrán Yuánchéng 湛然圓澄 (1561–1626) and the xíngzhuàng 行狀 by the disciple Xìngxū 性虛.
Sources: 《無趣老人語錄》卷1〈無趣老人行狀〉 (JB155); 《徑石滴乳集》卷1; 《續燈正統目錄》卷1; 《五燈會元續略》卷1; DILA A010706.