Fānghuì 方會
Línjì-school Chán master of the Northern Sòng, founder of the Yángqí 楊岐 branch (Yángqí pài 楊岐派) of the Línjì line, styled after his long residence at Yángqí shān Pǔtōng chányuàn 楊岐山普通禪院 in Yuánzhōu 袁州 (Jiāngxī). Native of Yíchūn 宜春 (Jiāngxī). Lifedates per DILA A004146 and the Jiātài pǔdēng lù: 992 – Huángyòu 1 (1049), shì 58; the Fóguāng dictionary notes a variant tradition placing his death in Qìnglì 6 or Huángyòu 2 at the same age, or in Huángyòu 1 at shì 54 — Chán biographical sources are unsettled on the point.
Dharma-heir of 楚圓 Shíshuāng Chǔyuán (986–1039), co-disciple with Huánglóng Huìnán (慧南). After Chǔyuán’s successive abbacies Fānghuì held the stick at Yángqí and subsequently at Yúngài shān 雲蓋山; he drew large assemblies and his direct, often abrupt instructional style made his teaching house one of the most productive in the mid-eleventh century. His recorded sayings, compiled by his disciple 仁勇 Bǎoníng Rényǒng, survive in one juan as the Yángqí Fānghuì héshàng yǔlù (KR6q0056), with further supplementary recorded-sayings compilations and a hòulù 後錄 ascribed to him in the canon.
Principal dharma-heirs include Bǎiyún Shǒuduān 白雲守端 (1025–1072) — through whom the Yángqí line passed to Wǔzǔ Fǎyǎn 五祖法演 and then to the illustrious Fǎyǎn sānjié 法演三傑 (Yuánwù Kèqín 圓悟克勤, Fóyǎn Qīngyuǎn 佛眼清遠, Fójiàn Huìqín 佛鑑慧懃) — and Bǎoníng Rényǒng 保寧仁勇 himself. Through the Yuánwù Kèqín → Dàhuì Zōnggǎo 大慧宗杲 line the Yángqí branch came to dominate Southern Sòng Chán, effectively subsuming the other Línjì sub-lines; in the Southern Sòng and afterwards “Línjì” for most practical purposes is the Yángqí line.