Míngxuě 明雪 (Rùjiù Míngxuě 入就明雪 / Ruìbái chánshī 瑞白禪師)
Late-Wàn-lì / Chóng-zhēn-era Cáodòng 曹洞 Chán master, 32nd-generation Cáodòng descendant from Dòngshān Liángjiè 洞山良价 in the sub-line Cízhōu Fāngniàn 慈舟方念 → Huànxiū Chángrùn 幻休常潤 → Zhànrán Yuánchéng 湛然圓澄 (1561–1626) → Míngxuě. Fǎhuì 法諱 Míngxuě 明雪, zì Ruìbái 瑞白, biéhào 別號 Rùjiù 入就. Lay surname Yáng 楊, native of Tóngchéng 桐城 / Zōngyáng 樅陽 (Ānhuī). Father Yáng Yījǔ 楊一舉; orphaned of his father in childhood. Lifedates Wànlì 12.11.26 戌時 – Chóngzhēn 14.3.19 午時 = ~5 January 1585 – 29 April 1641, age 58 suì / 38 sēnglà per both xíngzhuàng in KR6q0410 juan 18.
Tonsured at Jiǔhuáshān Jùlóngān 九華山聚龍庵 by Huìgōng 慧公. Early instruction from Zǐbó Zhēnkě 紫柏真可 disciples (the Píshèfú Fó jì 毘舍浮佛偈 practice). Full precepts (c. 1610) from Yúnqī Zhūhóng 雲棲袾宏 — placing Míngxuě in the late-Wàn-lì Yúnqī ordination-line shared with Fúshí Tōngxián 通賢 at KR6q0407. First Chán training at Yúnmén Xiǎnshèngsì 雲門顯聖寺 under Zhànrán Yuánchéng (from Gēngxū 庚戌 = 1610); sealed by Zhàn-ran on the quatrain “méng shī ráoshé shí yú nián … jīnwū yèbàn lì zhōngtiān 蒙師饒舌十餘年 … 金烏夜半麗中天” in Bǐngyín 丙寅 = 1626, just before Zhàn-ran’s death.
Historically significant 1625 refusal of Mìyún Línjì-line sealing. At Jīnsù 金粟 in Yǐchǒu 乙丑 winter 1625, Mìyún Yuánwù attempted to seal Míngxuě as a Línjì-line dharma-heir; Míngxuě refused on principled Cáo-dòng-boundary grounds (“sì sù zé gū Yúnmén yě 嗣粟則孤雲門也” — “to succeed Jīnsù would betray Yúnmén”). This is a rare documented cross-lineage transmission-refusal and is one of the key boundary-maintenance events in the late-Wàn-lì Cáodòng–Línjì negotiation. See KR6q0410 tǎmíng and Jiang Wu 2008: 104–06.
Nine abbacies (“jiǔ zuò dàochǎng 九坐道場”) between 1628 and 1641: Yuèzhōu Xiǎnshèng 越州顯聖 (first, 1628, succeeding Zhàn-ran); Yuèzhōu Yánqìng 延慶; Shàoxīng Jièzhū 戒珠 (1633); Húzhōu Biànshān Lónghuásì 湖州弁山龍華寺 (central abbacy, 1630 onwards, built up from hermitage to dàchà); Húzhōu Báiquè 白雀; Tiāntāi Hùguósì 天台護國寺 (1635, passed to Xiàoyún Jìyùn in 1635 autumn); Gànzhōu Kōngdòng 贛州崆峒 (1636–39); Kōngdòng Huìdēng 慧燈; Nánchāng Bǎizhàngshān 南昌百丈山 (final seat, 1640, petitioned by the Prince of Jiànān 建安王 Qīn 欽). Died at Bǎizhàng 1641; body transferred to Biànshān Lónghuá per pre-death instruction; hair-relic stupa (fǎtǎ 髮塔) built at Bǎizhàng.
Over thirty dharma-heirs in the Cáodòng 寂-generation (圓 → 明 → 寂). Principal heirs: Jiǔmò Jìyīn 久默寂音 (died shortly after the master), Xiàoyún Jìyùn 寂蘊 嘯雲寂蘊 (head heir, compiler of the yǔlù), Gūyá Jìcōng 孤崖寂聰, Líyán Jìyì 離言寂義, Lìrán Jìxiāng 歷然寂相.
Works: KR6q0410 《入就瑞白禪師語錄》 (18 juan, Jiāxīng J26 B188, compiled by Xiàoyún Jìyùn 1649). Independent polemical works Pìpàn 闢判 and Shī-zi hǒu 獅子吼 are mentioned in the xíngzhuàng but were omitted by Xiàoyún from the 1649 integrated cutting on ecumenical-reconciliation grounds; the Dámó zhèngzōng shuō 達磨正宗說 reportedly survives separately in the Jiāxīng Canon J31 / J32.
Lay-patron network: Chén Hánhuī 陳函煇 (小寒山, the 1646 martyr); Huáng Duānbó 黃端伯 (1585?–1646, Jiāngyīn martyr); Zhāng Shíhuà 張時化; Wú Yìngfāng 吳應芳; Yú Dàchéng 余大成 (Ming-Qing 雙官 official, wrote the tǎmíng); Táng Shìjì 唐世濟 (1575–1646, wrote the zhuàn); the Prince of Jiànān 建安王 Qīn 欽 (imperial-grade Bǎizhàng patron).
Sources: KR6q0410 juan 17 tǎmíng (by 余大成) + juan 17 zhuàn (by 唐世濟) + juan 18 xíngzhuàng I (by 大音) + juan 18 xíngzhuàng II (by 寂蘊, dated 1641-11-16); Wǔdēng quánshū 五燈全書 juan 63; NánSòng yuánMíng Chánlín sēngbǎo zhuàn 南宋元明禪林僧寶傳 relevant juan.