Early- and mid-Qīng Huáyán-school revivalist, the principal Huáyán-school commentator and lineage-systematiser of the Kāngxī era. Sobriquet Bótíng 伯亭 (“Cypress Pavilion”); honorific Guàndǐng héshàng 灌頂和尚 (“Master of Consecration”). Native of Rénhé 仁和 (in modern Hángzhōu). Born Chóngzhēn 14 (13 November 1641); died Yōngzhèng 6 (between 10 February 1728 and 28 January 1729). DILA A001959.
His magnum opus is the Hùgāng 護綱 (?: Bótíng dàshī zhuànjì zǒngzhì 伯亭大師傳記總帙) — a large biographical-bibliographical compilation that documents his life and works in detail. He produced a substantial commentarial output covering virtually every major Huáyán-school doctrinal text and many other Mahāyāna sūtras, including the present Bōrě xīnjīng shìguānjiě 般若心經事觀解 (X559 = KR6c0178), companion lǐguān 般若心經理觀解 (X560 = KR6c0179), and the substantial Huáyán xuányì 華嚴玄義 lineage-history project that re-established the Huáyán-school’s doctrinal genealogy for the Qīng period.
He was the leading figure of the early-Qīng Huáyán revival, comparable in significance to 元賢 Yuánxián for the Cáodòng-school revival and to 智旭 Ǒuyì Zhìxù for the late-Míng synthesist tradition. His Hángzhōu / Rénhé regional base placed him at the centre of the early-Qīng Buddhist scholarly revival in the Yangtze-delta region.