Southern Sòng Huáyán-school master, sobriquet Kětáng 可堂, designated 玉峯沙門 (“śramaṇa of the Jade Peak”). Lifedates unknown; the floruit given here (1145–1180) reflects his attested compositional career. According to the Bǔxù gāosēng zhuàn 補續高僧傳 (entry 慧定傳) and his own colophons, he devoted himself to Huáyán-school doctrinal scholarship from childhood, “almost forgetting sleep and food”. Resident at 慧因寺 in 1165 (乾道元年), where he completed his Bōrě xīnjīng lüèshū liánzhū jì 般若心經略疏連珠記 (T1713 = KR6c0140); in 1171 (乾道七年) he completed his Huáyán rónghuì yīchéng yìzhāng míngzōng jì 華嚴融會一乘義章明宗記 (X985). At age 65, while composing his magnum opus Huáyán yīchéng jiàoyì fēnqí zhāng fùgǔ jì 華嚴一乘教義分齊章復古記 (X998), he died before completing the section on the Removal of Delusions (斷惑分齊), the work being finished by his disciple Shànxǐ 善憙.
His complete attested output is concentrated on three Huáyán-school doctrinal lines: (i) Fǎzàng’s Wǔjiào zhāng tradition, with multiple sub-commentaries (X996 Fénxīn 焚薪, X997 Kē 科, X998 Fùgǔ jì 復古記); (ii) the Yīchéng (One Vehicle) doctrinal disputes, with X985 Míngzōng jì and X1016 / X1017 (the Tóngjiào yīchéng cè 同教一乘策 and Tóngjiào wèndá 同教問答 sub-commentaries co-edited with Xīdí 希迪 and Shànxǐ 善憙); and (iii) the present Heart Sūtra commentary, T1713 — itself a sub-commentary on Fǎzàng’s T1712 Lüèshū (KR6c0139). All survive in the modern canons (大正 T33; 卍續 X58 / X77).
His work marks the late-Sòng renaissance of Huáyán scholasticism at southern monastic centres after the dispersal of the school’s Tang and Northern-Sòng heartland in Cháng’ān and Kāifēng.