Guānhéng 觀衡 (Zhuānyú Guānhéng 顓愚觀衡)
Late-Míng / early-Qīng Chán master, the principal dharma-heir of Hànshān Déqīng 憨山德清 (1546–1623). Represents a senior non-Mìyún-line Línjì revivalist parallel to the better-known Mìyún Yuánwù tradition — both ultimately descending from Xiàoyán Débǎo 笑巖德寶 (1512–1581) through alternative sub-branches (Xiàoyán → Huànyǒu Zhèngchuán 幻有正傳 → Mìyún → Mi-yun heirs; and Xiàoyán → Hànshān Déqīng → Guānhéng). Fǎhuì 法諱 Guānhéng 觀衡, zì Zhuānyú 顓愚, biéhào Sǎnjū 傘居, seat-hào Zǐzhúlín 紫竹林 (Jīnlíng). 30th-generation Línjì per his own 1643 Jīnlíng Niúshǒu lineage-positioning.
Lay surname Zhào 趙, of Běizhílì Shùntiānfǔ Bàzhōu 北直隸順天府霸州 (Héběi Bàzhōu, near Běijīng). Lifedates 萬曆 7 己卯 8.18 亥時 – 順治 3 丙戌 5.6 午時 = 28 September 1579 – 19 June 1646, age 68 suì / fǎlà 54 per the Xióng Wénjǔ tǎmíng at KR6q0433 juan 20.
Early career. Age 14 (1592): tonsured at Wǔtái Yuánzhàosì 五臺圓照寺 by Huìrén dàshī 惠仁. Age 18 (1596): full precepts from Kōngyìn dàshī 空印大師 who gave him the zì Zhuānyú. 1600: at Běijīng met Zǐbó Zhēnkě 紫柏真可 who placed his hand on Guānhéng’s crown with the famous prophecy “zǐ dǐnggǔ rú liánhuā, zhì wǔshí dāng míng zhèn hǎinèi 子頂骨如蓮花至五十當名振海內”. Same year: pilgrimage south, visited Yúnqī Zhūhóng 雲棲袾宏 and Xuělàng 雪浪. 1603: bìguān at Kuāngshān Gàngānglǐng 匡山乾崗嶺 with decisive awakening.
Hànshān transmission (1608–16). 1608: first met Hànshān Déqīng at Cáoxī 曹溪. Multi-year training. 1616: formally sealed by Hànshān at Héngyáng Húdōngsì 衡陽湖東寺 with the yuánliú 源流 transmission-verse “fǎyì yánqián cǎo … 法意簷前艸 …“.
Middle-career abbacies. Wǔtáiān 五臺庵 at Shuāngqīngjī 雙清磯 (Húnán, 1616 onwards) with 1624 retreat-community founding; Yúnjūshān Wèibáisì 雲居味白寺 (Jiāngxī, 1637 invitation from Xióng Wénjǔ 熊文舉); multiple intermediate stops; Qīng-yuán祖庭 青原祖庭 (1641, Liú Diànyuán petition).
Final years (1643–46). 1643 end: accepted Jīnlíng Běishān abbacy, renamed Zǐzhúlín 紫竹林. 1645: declined three audience-requests from Manchu prince Dodo 多鐸 during the Qīng conquest of Nánjīng. Late 1645: gave Hóngjiè 弘戒 large-precepts ceremony at Tiānjièsì 天界寺 to thousands of attendees. Died 1646.5.6 at Zǐzhúlín, aged 68.
20+ named dharma-heirs include Fǎxǐyìn 正印 / Zhèngyìn (principal editor of the yǔlù), Yuánbái Kě 元白可, Wànbái Hào 萬白灝, Xīyì Yuán 西意源, Xīshēng Mí 西生彌, Fāngróngxǐ 方融璽, Chāozōng Yì 超宗翼, Shēngyǐn 聲隱, Yōngcǎotáng 顒草堂, Zànfó 讚佛, and others.
Work: KR6q0433 《紫竹林顓愚衡和尚語錄》 (20 juan, Jiāxīng Canon J28 B219 + Wànxù Zàngjīng). Compiled and re-edited by Fǎxǐyìn / Zhèngyìn 法璽印 / 正印 across decades with a 1662 manuscript-loss at the Yúnjū tomb-fire requiring re-assembly. Cut at Jiāhé Léngyánsì 嘉禾楞嚴寺 Kāngxī 14 / 1675 lunar 11. Two dated front-prefaces: Lǐ Xiāngēn 李僊根 (1673-9) and Shībó 施博 (1676-7). Xíngzhuàng by Sùhuá fǎshī 素華法師; tǎmíng by Xióng Wénjǔ 熊文舉.
Historical significance. Guānhéng is the principal documented Hànshān Déqīng dharma-heir — maintaining a non-Mìyún-line Línjì transmission that ran parallel to but independently of the Mi-yun → third-generation-heirs main line that dominates the J26–J28 Jiāxīng cluster. His 1645 refusal of Manchu prince Dodo’s audience-requests and his 1646 death at Jīnlíng make him a significant Míng-loyalist (yímín) Chán figure.
Sources: KR6q0433 juan 20 xíngzhuàng (by Sùhuá) + tǎmíng (by Xióng Wénjǔ); juan 1 prefaces by Lǐ Xiāngēn and Shībó; Chén Yuán 陳垣, 《釋氏疑年錄》; Sung-peng Hsu, A Buddhist Leader in Ming China (1979); Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute (2008).