Huìguǎng 慧廣 (13 November 1576 – 20 December 1620 = Wànlì 4.10.13 – Tàichāng 1.11.27), styled Nánmíng 南明; also Nánmíng Huìguǎng 南明慧廣 / Xīngshàn Huìguǎng 興善慧廣 (from his tonsure-temple) / 惠廣 (variant). Late-Míng Chán master of the Línjì Yángqí 臨濟楊岐 lineage, direct dharma-heir of Wúhuàn Gǔzhàn Xìngchōng 無幻古湛性沖 (1540–1612) at Chēxī 車溪 and Jìngshān 徑山. Native of Hǎiníng 海寧 (modern Hǎiníng, Zhèjiāng; DILA place PL000000012853), lay surname Hán 韓.
From childhood (tiáochèn 齠齔, age ca. 7–8) Huìguǎng set his resolve on leaving the household. He took the tonsure at Xīngshànsì 興善寺 in Zuìlǐ 檇李 (the Jiāxìng area) under Qínquán 芹泉. For full precepts he travelled to receive them from Gǔxīn Rúxīn 古心如馨 (1541–1615, the great Míng Vinaya-revivalist at Bǎohuáshān 寶華山). He then entered the Shuāngjìng Báiyúnshān 雙徑白雲山 for three years of door-closed practice (bù chū mén sān zǎi 不出門三載).
His awakening came indirectly. When the chief of the Guānyīndiàn 觀音殿, Jìfēng 繼峰, sought a teacher for a chán-period retreat, Huìguǎng and Jìfēng together petitioned Chēxī lǎorén 車溪老人 (Xìngchōng) to preside (1611). One day Huìguǎng picked up a scrap of paper from the ground bearing the verse “guān fāng zhī bǐ qù, qù zhě bù zhì fāng 觀方知彼去，去者不至方” (“observing direction we know the other is departing; but the departing one does not arrive at any direction”) and attained a glimpse. He presented this to Xìngchōng, who yìnkě’d him and appointed him shǒuzhòng 首眾 (chief of the assembly). Huìguǎng thereafter served Xìngchōng at Chēxī and Jìngshān for eight years until his master’s death in 1612, and received from him robe-dharma and the transmission-verse.
After Xìngchōng’s death, Huìguǎng sealed himself into a four-year sǐguān 死關 (“death-gate”) retreat at Gāotíng Yǒngqìngsì 皋亭永慶寺. He was known for three lifelong vows: (1) never to accept a public abbacy (bù chū shì 不出世); (2) never to involve himself in external affairs (bù zuò yuánshì 不作緣事); (3) never to accept his own disciples (bù nà túzhòng 不納徒眾). Died Tàichāng 1.11.27 (20 December 1620), seated and composed; aged 45, monastic tenure 23.
Dharma-heir: Yuānhú Miàoyòng 鴛湖妙用 — acquired in spite of his third vow.
Works in the Kanripo corpus: KR6q0395 Wúhuàn chánshī yǔlù 無幻禪師語錄 (2 juan, JB156) — biānjí 編集 (compiled his master Xìngchōng’s recorded sayings; signed the xíngzhuàng at juan 2 end).
His own yǔlù: KR6q0461 《興善南明廣禪師語錄》 1 juan, Jiāxīng Canon J32 B275 — the principal source for his biography. Original jí 集 collection by his heir 妙用 Yuānhú Miàoyòng; chóngjí bìng bá 重輯並跋 (re-edited with postscript) by Miàoyòng’s heir 悟進 Jièān Wùjìn in c. 1641, with two front-prefaces: (i) by 明方 Shíyǔ Míngfāng (Cáodòng, personally trained briefly under Huìguǎng at the Lóngjū 龍居 chánxí in the 1610s) dated 崇禎辛巳仲冬 = 1641/11, and (ii) by lay-official 黃承昊 Huáng Chénghào (Fújiàn àncháshǐ, Jiāxīng native).
Sources: 《興善南明廣禪師語錄》卷1〈南明禪師行狀〉; 《石滴乳集》卷 4 (= 《徑石滴乳集》); 《五燈會元續略》卷1; DILA A010707.