Dàodiàn 道殿
Liáo-dynasty (Khitan) Buddhist scholar-monk; the principal Liáo-period exponent of integrated Esoteric–Manifest (xiǎnmì yuántōng 顯密圓通) doctrinal synthesis. Lifedates not preserved; floruit middle Liáo (eleventh century).
His fǎhào / biéhào in the original sources is written with an unusual character — rendered in different print editions as 道䂹, 道㲀, 道殷, or in the catalog meta with a Private Use Area variant (道) — the standard modern reconstruction in Chinese Buddhist scholarship is 道殿 (Dàodiàn); the Japanese tradition reads this as Dōkai, suggesting a homophonic relationship with 慧/海. The catalog meta name in the Kanripo corpus uses the PUA variant.
His sole surviving major work is the Xiǎnmì yuántōng chéngfó xīnyào jí 顯密圓通成佛心要集 (KR6j0741, T46 no. 1955) — a two-fascicle integrated handbook of xiǎn (manifest, exoteric) and mì (esoteric) Buddhist practice for the achievement of buddhahood. The preface to the work, by the Liáo official Chén Jué 陳覺 (titled Xuānzhèngdiàn xuéshì jīnzǐ Rónglù dàfū xíng gěishìzhōng zhī Wǔdìngjūn jiēdùshǐ shì shàng hùjūn Yǐngchuānjùn kāiguógōng shíyì sānqiān hù tóngxiū guóshǐ 宣政殿學士金紫榮祿大夫行給事中知武定軍節度使事上護軍頴川郡開國公食邑三千戶同修國史), positively confirms the Liáo dating of both work and author — though the catalog meta wrongly assigns the work to the Yuán dynasty. Per DILA A002218.
The Xīnyào jí was widely circulated in Liáo and Jīn–Yuán Buddhist scholarship; its inclusion in the Sòng Qìshā canon and subsequent Yuán and Míng canons reflects its enduring importance as the standard Chinese exposition of integrated exoteric-and-esoteric practice.