Great mid-late Táng Chán master, zhēnjì dàshī 真際大師 (posthumous title). Lifedates 778 – 2/XI/Qiánníng 4 = 3 December 897, shìshòu 120 (the traditional reckoning followed in the yǔlù’s closing biography). Native of Línzī 臨淄 (Qīngzhōu, Shāndōng). Entered monastic life at Hùtōngyuàn 扈通院 in Cáozhōu; went to Chíyáng 池陽 to study under Nánquán Pǔyuàn 普願 (748–835), under whom he attained awakening; received full ordination at Sōngyuè Liúlítán 嵩嶽琉璃壇. Invited to reside at Guānyīnyuàn 觀音院 (later Zhēnjì chányuàn 真際禪院, Dòujiāyuán 竇家園) in Zhàozhōu 趙州 (Zhao xian, Héběi), where the long abbacy of his final forty years established him as one of the most widely-quoted Chán masters of all time.
Known in Chán literature under the epithets Zhàozhōu gǔfó 趙州古佛 (“Zhàozhōu the Old Buddha”) and Zhàozhōu chá 趙州茶 (“Zhàozhōu’s tea” — from the chīchá qù 喫茶去 anecdote). His best-known gōngàn include “does a dog have Buddha-nature?” — “wú 無” (the canonical Wúménguān case 1), “zhènzhōu luó-bo 鎮州蘿蔔” and “qīngzhōu bùshān 青州布衫” motto-dialogues, and “zhìdào wúnán 至道無難” sermons.
Principal work: Zhàozhōu héshàng yǔlù 趙州和尚語錄 (KR6q0391) in 3 juan, as recorded by his disciple Wényuǎn 文遠 with a closing biographical narrative added in 953 by Huìtōng chánshī of Dōngyuàn. Dharma-heirs include Huìjué 慧覺, Xīnjiàn 新建, Cónglǎng 從朗 — though his teaching is principally transmitted through his preserved yǔlù rather than through a branch-lineage.