Yǒngmíng Yánshòu 永明延壽 (904–975; also commonly 904–976 by Gregorian converting from his Kāibǎo 8.12.26 death-date to early February 976), shì Zhìjué chánshī 智覺禪師 (conferred posthumously; a later-Sòng imperial re-conferment gave Yuánmiào zhèngxiū Zhìjué chánshī 圓妙正修智覺禪師), one of the key doctrinal synthesists of Chinese Buddhist tradition and, for later tradition, simultaneously the Third Patriarch of the Fǎyǎn Chán school 法眼宗 and the Sixth Patriarch of the Pure Land school. Zì Zhòngxuán 仲玄; hào Bàoyīzǐ 抱一子. Native of Yúháng 餘杭 (Hángzhōu region), lay surname Wáng 王.
Yánshòu’s initial career was secular: a minor shǔxián 署縣 official, holding the post of Huátíng zhènjiàng 華亭鎮將 (“garrison-commander of Huátíng”) in the Wúyuè state. The turning point, per the Chánlín sēngbǎo zhuàn 禪林僧寶傳, was an episode during his twenty-eighth year: travelling by boat, he saw fishermen’s nets filled with tens of thousands of fish packed together, and — feeling profound compassion — traded his official salary to have them released back into the Yangzi. Shortly thereafter he took tonsure under Cuìyán Yǒngmíng Lìngshān 翠巖永明令參岑公 at the Lóngcè sì 龍冊寺; received full precepts; and completed his formative training under Tiāntái Déshào 天台德韶 (891–972, DILA A008355), the fǎsì of Fǎyǎn Wényì 文益 法眼文益 — establishing Yánshòu as a third-generation descendant of the Fǎyǎn school and a direct heir of its founder.
After a period of meditation-training at Xuědòu shān 雪竇山 (where he first taught publicly), Yánshòu was relocated by the Wúyuè ruler Qián Hóngchù 錢弘俶 to the Língyǐn sì 靈隱寺 at Jiànlóng 1 (960), and then to the Yǒngmíng sì 永明寺 at Jiànlóng 2 (961), where he held the abbacy as dìèr shì 第二世 until his death — with an assembly reportedly of 2000 monks. Styled during his lifetime as Císhì xiàshēng 慈氏下生 (“Maitreya-manifesting-below”), a title of extraordinary honour.
Doctrinally Yánshòu is the principal integrative figure of the post-Táng Chinese Buddhist tradition: his project was to demonstrate the unity of Chán and doctrinal Buddhism (Huáyán and others), and the compatibility of Chán with Pure Land devotional practice (the chánjìng shuāngxiū 禪淨雙修 “dual cultivation of Chán and Pure Land” that later becomes normative Chinese Buddhist practice). The integrative program is set out at encyclopedic length in the Zōngjìng lù 宗鏡錄 (KR6q0092, 100 juan) and in shorter form in the Wànshàn tóngguī jí 萬善同歸集 (KR6q0093), the Yǒngmíng Zhìjué chánshī Wéi xīn jué 永明智覺禪師唯心訣 (KR6q0094), and the Shén qī ān yǎng fù 神棲安養賦.
The Koryŏ court, on hearing of Yánshòu’s fame, dispatched gold-thread kāṣāya robes, amethyst prayer-beads, and gold ablution-vessels as gifts — and thirty-six Koryŏ monks came to study under him. Yánshòu’s writings entered Koryŏ Sŏn practice through this early-transmission route and subsequently structured the later Chinul 知訥 integrative synthesis (KR6q0095, KR6q0096, KR6q0097).
Died at Yǒngmíng on Kāibǎo 8.12.26 (3 February 976), aged 72, sēnglà 42. Enshrined at Dàcí shān 大慈山. Recorded dharma-heirs include Cháomíng Jīn 朝明津 and Zǐméng 子蒙; the broader lineage-thinking of the Fǎyǎn school ran largely through Yánshòu and his students.
Works in the Kanripo corpus: KR6q0092 Zōngjìng lù 宗鏡錄 (100 juan, T48 n2016); KR6q0093 Wànshàn tóngguī jí 萬善同歸集 (3 juan, T48 n2017); KR6q0094 Yǒngmíng Zhìjué chánshī Wéi xīn jué 永明智覺禪師唯心訣 (1 juan, T48 n2018).
Per DILA A000282: birth 905 (sui reckoning; some sources 904); death Kāibǎo 8.12.26 (3 February 976 Gregorian); native of Yúháng. Fǎyǎn-school lineage; dual Chán-Pure Land patriarch-status.