Dài Kuí 戴逵 (c. 331–396), zì Āndào 安道, was an Eastern-Jìn 東晉 recluse, classical scholar, qín 琴 master, painter, and one of the first major Han-Chinese practitioners of Buddhist sculpture. Native of Qiáo-jùn 譙郡 Zhì-xiàn 銍縣 (modern Sùxiàn 宿縣 in Ānhuī); he lived chiefly in Kuàijī 會稽 Shàn-xiàn 剡縣 (modern Shèngzhōu in Zhèjiāng), declining repeated court summons. Pupil of Fàn Xuān 范宣 (his wife’s paternal uncle). His standard biography is Jìnshū 晉書 卷94 隱逸傳; he features in Shìshuō xīnyǔ 世說新語 Pǐnzǎo, Yǎliàng, and Qīyì chapters; CBDB id 10806.
He is best remembered today on two distinct tracks.
(1) Art. Dài Kuí carved the Wúliàngshòu 無量壽 Buddha image at Wǎguān-sì 瓦官寺 in Jiànkāng — one of the foundational works of Han Buddhist sculpture — and was a celebrated qín player. The Shìshuō xīnyǔ records the famous incident in which, summoned by Wáng Sī 王嗣 of the Wǔlíng 武陵 commandery to play for him, Dài Kuí broke his instrument in front of the messenger rather than perform on demand.
(2) Classical scholarship. He wrote a Wǔjīng dàyì 五經大義 (KR1g0037) in 3 juàn, taking the Mǎ Róng 馬融 side against Zhèng Xuán 鄭玄 on contested mourning-garment cases in the Yílǐ Sāngfú chapter. He carried on an epistolary classical correspondence with Fàn Níng 范甯 (范甯). Other lost classical works attributed to him include a 《雜義》, fragments of which survive in the encyclopaedias.
He died in 396 at the age of about 65. CBDB id 10806 (lifedates not populated in the database; the c. 331–396 bracket follows the standard reference works including 李學勤/呂文鬱 ed. 四庫大辭典).