Dàzhū Huìhǎi 大珠慧海 (lifedates unrecorded; active late 8th century to early 9th), Táng-dynasty Chán master and principal dharma-heir of Mǎzǔ Dàoyī 馬祖道一 (709–788, DILA A003623). Lay surname Zhū 朱. The style-name Dàzhū 大珠 (“Great Pearl”) was bestowed on him by Mǎzǔ himself after the master had reviewed Huìhǎi’s composed treatise Dùn wù rù dào yào mén lùn (KR6q0117) and pronounced: “Dàzhū yuánmíng 大珠圓明!” (“the Great Pearl is perfectly bright!”). The epithet has followed Huìhǎi throughout subsequent Chán tradition.
Initially received monastic training at the Yuèzhōu Dàyún sì 越州大雲寺 under the Vinaya master Dàozhì 道智 in traditional doctrinal-scholastic mode. Subsequently travelled to Jiāngxī to study under Mǎzǔ Dàoyī, remaining six years before attaining great awakening. Returned to Yuèzhōu to teach independently.
Doctrinally Huìhǎi is one of the most systematic articulators of the mature Mǎzǔ-lineage Southern-School position: dùn wù 頓悟 (“sudden awakening”), zhí zhǐ rén xīn 直指人心 (“direct pointing at the human mind”), and the rejection of any external attainment outside the self-nature. His treatises are among the earliest Chán doctrinal texts to attain systematic-expositional confidence, in contrast to the more aphoristic idiom of the earlier Dūnhuáng Chán corpus.
Works in the Kanripo corpus: KR6q0117 Dùn wù rù dào yào mén lùn 頓悟入道要門論 (1 juan, X63 n1223); KR6q0118 Zhū fāng mén rén cān wèn yǔlù 諸方門人參問語錄 (1 juan, X63 n1224).
Per DILA A019007. Distinct from Shuǐjiàn Huìhǎi 水鑑慧海 (1626–1687, DILA A001716), the Ming-Qing LínjìYángqí master of the same dharma-name — entry for that master immediately below.
name: 慧海 pinyinName: Huìhǎi alternateNames: [水鑑慧海, Shuǐjiàn Huìhǎi, 水鑑, Shuǐjiàn, 沙翁海, Shāwēng Hǎi, 敬太海, Jìngtài Hǎi, 天王水鑑, Tiānwáng Shuǐjiàn] dynasty: 清 birthDate: 1626 deathDate: 1687 cbdbId: dilaAuthorityId: A001716
A different mid-Qīng Línjì Chán master with fǎhuì 慧海: Shuǐjiàn Huìhǎi 水鑑慧海 (1626–1687, DILA A001716), restorer of Jīngzhōu Tiānwáng Chánsì (ancestral seat of Táng-era Tiānwáng Dàowù 天王道悟). 33rd-generation Línjì in the Mìyún Yuánwù → Dúguàn Jìng 獨冠敬 → Huìhǎi sub-line. Hào Shuǐjiàn 水鑑 (“Water-Mirror”), late-life hào Jìngtài 敬太 (per KR6q0439) / Shāwēng 沙翁. To be distinguished from 大珠慧海 Dàzhū Huìhǎi (Táng master, Mǎzǔ heir) above.
Six abbacies (1658–c. 1687). (1) Tiěfósì 鐵佛寺 — 1658 first public teaching. (2) Jīngzhōu Tiānwáng Chánsì 荊州天王禪寺 — primary restoration-abbacy. (3) Huánglóngsì 黃龍寺. (4) Dìzàngsì 地藏寺. (5) Hǎiyán Jīnsù Guǎnghuìsì 金粟廣慧寺 — Mìyún-ancestral-seat restoration from 丙辰 1676 on Zhèjiāng fāntái Lǐ Shìzhēn 李士楨 administrative patronage. (6) Qīxián Chánsì 棲賢禪寺.
1676 Jiāxīng Canon submission. Zhèjiāng fāntái Lǐ Shìzhēn issued a directive through Jiāhé magistrate Lú Chóngxìng 盧崇興 to submit Huìhǎi’s 10-juan yǔlù to the Léngyán Canon — the original KR6q0440 cutting, re-integrated with supplementary material in 1690.
Work: KR6q0440 《天王水鑑海和尚六會錄》 (10 juan, Jiāxīng Canon J29 B230). Compiled by dharma-heir Fǎlán Yuánchéng (whose own yǔlù is the paired KR6q0439). Prefaces: Gǔfēng Xíngrán 古風行然 (1690-07-22); Yè Nánshēng 葉南生 (1659-02-06).
Sources: KR6q0440 juan 1 prefaces; KR6q0439 cross-references; DILA A001716 (lifedates 1626–1687).