Lín Yáoyú, zì Zībó 咨伯, hào Yōngzhāi 慵齋, was a native of Pútián 莆田 in Fújiàn. He took the jìnshì in Wànlì 17 (1589) and rose through the Hànlín Academy and the Ministry of Rites, eventually serving as Minister of Rites and as Hànlín Reader-in-Waiting. As Minister of Rites in the closing year of Wànlì and the brief Tàichāng reign, he was the official compiler-of-record (纂修) for the Lǐbù zhìgǎo 禮部志稿 (KR2l0010), the standing institutional history of the Ministry of Rites, completed in Tàichāng 1 (1620). After his retirement during the Tiānqǐ era he died at home; posthumous title 文簡. His birth year (1558) is given by various Míng biographical compilations and is the conventional figure adopted here. CBDB has him as id 128629 (Ming, no birthdate given).