Hóngrěn 弘忍 (602–675), the Fifth Chinese Chán Patriarch (Wǔzǔ 五祖), in the canonical Chán lineage — dharma-heir of Dàoxìn 道信 (the Fourth Patriarch) and teacher of Huìnéng 惠能 (the Sixth Patriarch) and Shénxiù 神秀, from whom the Southern and Northern schools respectively derive. Commonly styled Wǔzǔ Huángméi 五祖黃梅 or simply Huángméi 黃梅 after his abbacy-seat. Posthumous title Dàmǎn chánshī 大滿禪師. Native of Xúnyáng 潯陽 (per DILA A000237); other accounts give Qízhōu 蘄州 Huángméi 黃梅 directly.
Entered the monastic life as a child at the Huángméi Shuāngfēng shān Dōngshān sì 黃梅雙峰山東山寺 under Dàoxìn at the age of seven. Succeeded Dàoxìn as abbot in Yǒnghuī 2 (651). During his twenty-four-year tenure the Dōngshān sì became the most prominent monastic training institution in the Chinese Buddhist world, reportedly housing between five-hundred and one-thousand monks — an order of magnitude larger than any previous Chán-affiliated monastery. Hóngrěn’s expansion of the Chán curriculum from the Lèngjiā jīng 楞伽經 base (received from Bodhidharma through the earlier patriarchs) to include the Jīn’gāng jīng 金剛經 — the Vajracchedikā prajñāpāramitā sūtra — is a pivotal doctrinal development: the Jīn’gāng jīng subsequently becomes the scriptural centre of Southern-School Chán (per the opening Huìnéng-awakening narrative in the Tánjīng KR6q0082), while the Lèngjiā jīng retains its role in Northern-School doctrinal contexts. Hóngrěn’s teaching is accordingly described as the Dōngshān fǎmén 東山法門 (“East Mountain Dharma-Gate”) and is the unified doctrinal source from which the subsequent Chán bifurcation emerges.
Died Shàngyuán 2.10.23 (18 November 675) at the Dōngshān sì, aged 74.
Principal dharma-heirs: Shénxiù 神秀 (606–706, founder of the Northern School); Huìnéng 惠能 (638–713, founder of the Southern School); also recorded Huìān 慧安 (also called Lǎo’ān 老安, c. 582–709), Zhìxiān 智詵 (c. 610–702), and others (traditional accounts give ten principal fǎsì or variants). The bifurcation of the lineage into Northern and Southern schools after Hóngrěn’s death is the defining event of early-Táng Chán history.
Works attributed in the Kanripo corpus: KR6q0086 Zuìshàng chéng lùn 最上乘論 / Xiūxīn yào lùn 修心要論 (T48 n2011). The attribution to Hóngrěn personally is traditional but contested; modern scholarship favours compilation by his senior disciples in the 675–725 window, building on his recorded oral teaching. No work is securely autographed in his lifetime.
Per DILA A000237: birth 602 (sui reckoning from 74-year lifespan ending in 675); death 675.10.23 = 18 November 675; native of Xúnyáng 潯陽.