Yǎngshān Huìjì 仰山慧寂 (807–883), Táng dynasty Chán master, dharma-heir of Wéishān Língyòu 溈山靈祐 (771–853) and co-namesake of the Wéiyǎngzōng 溈仰宗 — the first of the Five Houses (五家) of classical Chán. Shì Zhìtōng chánshī 智通禪師 (DILA also lists Tōngzhì dàshī 通智大師); stupa Miàoguāng 妙光. Native of Zhēnchāng 湞昌 (per DILA) in what the yǔlù records as Huáihuà 懷化, Sháozhōu 韶州; lay surname Yè 葉. Born Yuánhé 2.6.21 (2 August 807), died Zhōnghé 3.2.13 (29 March 883), aged 77.
Ordained at nine at the Guǎngzhōu Hé’ān sì 廣州和安寺 under Bùyǔ Tōng 不語通 (“Silent Tōng”). At fourteen, recalled home for a marriage alliance, Huìjì cut off two of his own fingers before his parents as a vow and was permitted to return to the monastery. Before full ordination he studied under Dānyuán Yìngzhēn 耽源應真 (DILA A008874), a yícháng bùquē chief disciple of the National Master Nányáng Huìzhōng 南陽慧忠; from Dānyuán he received the ninety-seven yuán xiāng 圓相 (round-image) symbols that had been transmitted through six patriarchal generations. He then entered the ménxià 門下 of Wéishān Língyòu, attending him for fifteen years and receiving the dharma-seal. Subsequently travelled to Jiānglíng 江陵 for full precepts and study of the Vinaya; later studied with Yántóu Quánhuō 巖頭全奯; returned to Wéishān; then in the Xīzōng 僖宗 years (874–888) independently held the abbacy at Dàyǎng 大仰 in Yuánzhōu 袁州, and later at Dōngpíng 東平 (hence the alternate names 大仰, 東平). Died aged 77 at Dōngpíng on a valedictory gatha (“at high noon, with both hands I clasp the knees that bend”), clasping his knees in a final seated posture. His successor Nántǎ Guāngyǒng 南塔光涌 (DILA A010713) transferred the relics back to Yǎngshān the following year.
The yuán xiāng 圓相 teaching system — inherited from Dānyuán and elaborated in the Yǎngshān / Wéishān teacher-student exchanges — is the Wéiyǎng school’s doctrinal signature and is the continuing ancestor of the Japanese Sōtō school’s ensō 圓相 meditation-painting tradition. Yǎngshān’s epithets include Yǎngshān XiǎoShìjiā 仰山小釋迦 (“Little Śākyamuni of Yǎngshān”) and Bǒjiǎo qū wū 跛脚驅烏 (“the lame crow-chaser”), both attested in early Chán hagiography.
Works in the Kanripo corpus: KR6q0076 Yuánzhōu Yǎngshān Huìjì chánshī yǔlù 袁州仰山慧寂禪師語錄 (1 juan, T47 n1990) — the Míng Wǔjiā yǔlù recension compiled by 圓信 Yǔfēng Yuánxìn and 郭凝之 Guō Níngzhī.
Per DILA A009491: native place Zhēnchāng 湞昌; birth date 807.6.21 = 2 August 807; death 883.2.13 = 29 March 883; both dates from the Quán Tángwén 全唐文 stupa inscription.