Xínggāng 行剛 (Qíyuán Xínggāng 祇園行剛 / 伏獅祇園)
Nun 尼 and major female LínjìYángqí Chán master of the mid-seventeenth century, founding abbess of Fúshī Chányuàn 伏獅禪院 (“Subdued-Lion Chán-monastery”) at Xúnxī Méixī 潯溪梅溪 in Húzhōu 湖州. Fǎhuì 法諱 Xínggāng 行剛 (“Action-Steel”, using the 行 generation-character shared with male 33rd-generation Línjì masters — a full equal-rank generation-marker for her cross-gender transmission-status), hào Qíyuán 祇園 (from the Jetavana-grove). Lay surname Hú 胡, of Jiāxīngfǔ Jiāxīngxiàn 嘉興府嘉興縣 (Zhèjiāng). Father Hú Yǎngsù 胡養素; mother Táoshì 陶氏 (biological, second-wife); Xínggāng was only child. Lifedates 1597 – 順治 11 甲午 9.27 寅時 = 1597 – 6 November 1654 (pre-dawn), aged 58 suì / fǎlà 23 per the Chāochēn 1655 xíngzhuàng at KR6q0428 juan 2.
Pre-tonsure life (1597–1631). Early widowhood: age 18 formally married to Cháng Zhèn 常振, a yìxiángshēng 邑庠生 prefectural student; within the first year Cháng died, leaving Xínggāng a childless widow. Remained in the husband’s household serving parents-in-law filially. Age 26 (c. 1622): began Chán-practice under Tiāncí lǎoshī 天慈老師. Age 33 (c. 1629): visited Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟 at Jīnsù pre-tonsure; Mi-yun recognized her as “Zhèng shísān niáng 鄭十三娘” (a Táng-era nun-precedent identification). Age 35 (c. 1631): after both parents had died and her husband’s household no longer held her, disposed of all possessions and formally tonsured. Received full precepts from Mìyún at Jīnsù.
Sealing by Shíchē Tōngchéng (c. 1632–38). Trained under Èrgōng Cíān 二宮慈菴 at Yánguān, then sent to Shíchē Tōngchéng 石車通乘 (1591–1638, Mi-yun heir). Multi-year rùshì exchanges with Shíchē. Age 38 (c. 1634): decisive awakening during morning hair-shaving. 崇禎戊寅 2.4 (= 16 March 1638): received the zǔyī 祖衣 formal-transmission robe from Shíchē on his deathbed — the foundational transmission-event.
Nine-year Húān hermitage (1638–47). Retreated to parents’ tomb-side Húān 胡菴 for 9 years of severe ascetic retreat before accepting an abbacy.
Fúshī abbacy (1647–1654). 順治 4 丁亥 (= 1647): accepted petition from Xúnxī Wéirú Dǒng jūshì 潯溪惟儒董居士 and Méixī lay-elite after triple-refusal; first visited fǎshū Mùyún Tōngmén 通門 at Gǔnánsì 古南寺 for lineage-sanction. Formal opening shàngtáng at Fúshī (renamed from Dǒngān 董菴 on her entry) 丁亥 3.15 = 19 April 1647. 8-year abbacy establishing Fúshī as one of the most influential female-Chán institutions of mid-seventeenth-century Jiāngnán, with austere Fú-róng-Kǎi-inspired self-sufficient monastic economy.
Death (1654). 甲午春 intimated departure; 8.8 showed illness; 9.2 designated Yìgōng Chāokē 義公超珂 as second-generation abbess; 9.27 寅時 died cross-legged with final verse. Fǎshū Mùyún Tōngmén attended the deathbed as witness. Buried in whole-body pagoda at the right of Fúshīyuàn.
Seven named female dharma-heirs in the 超-generation: Pǔwén Shòuyuǎn 授遠, Yírán Chāosù 超宿, Yìchuān Chāolǎng, Yìgōng Chāokē (second Fúshī abbess), Yīyīn Chāojiàn, Gǔdǐng Chāozhèn, and Yīkuí Chāochēn (author of the xíngzhuàng). Additional influential disciples include Bǎochí Jìzǒng 寶持繼總 (the famous 17th-century nun-poet documented by Beata Grant).
Work: KR6q0428 《伏獅祇園禪師語錄》 (2 juan, Jiāxīng Canon J28 B210). Xíngzhuàng by Chāochēn 超琛 dated Shùnzhì 12.7.7 = 8 August 1655; tǎmíng by Wú Zhù 吳鑄 (Qīng jìnshì civil official).
Documentary significance. KR6q0428 is one of the most complete surviving Chinese female Chán yǔlù volumes. Together with Beata Grant’s Eminent Nuns: Women Chan Masters of Seventeenth-Century China (University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2009, ch. 4) it constitutes the principal documentary base for the seventeenth-century female Línjì tradition.
Sources: KR6q0428 juan 2 xíngzhuàng by Chāochēn (1655-08-08) + tǎmíng by Wú Zhù; Beata Grant, Eminent Nuns (2009), ch. 4 and Daughters of Emptiness (2003); Dīng Mǐn 丁敏, 《中國佛教比丘尼傳》 (Taipei: Dōngdà, 1997).