Northern-Sòng Daoist scholar and master, styled Tàichū 太初 or Tàixū 太虛, and hào Bìxūzǐ 碧虛子 (“Master of Jasper Emptiness”). Born 1024, died in the first year of Shàoshèng 紹聖 (1094) under Sòng Zhézōng 哲宗. A central figure of the Northern-Sòng Daoist scholarly revival, Chén was active simultaneously as a textual scholar of the Daoist classics (Dàodé jīng, Zhuāngzǐ, Língbǎo dùrén jīng), as a philological critic of the Daoist canon, and as an editor of the classical Daoist commentarial literature. His most consequential work is the Sìjiā zhù 四家註 recension of the Yuánshǐ wúliàng dùrén shàngpǐn miàojīng sìzhù 元始無量度人上品妙經四註 (DZ 87, 1067), which compiles the four classical commentaries (Yán Dōng, Xuē Yōuqī, Lǐ Shàowēi, Chéng Xuányīng) on the Dùrén jīng 度人經 into a single critical edition with his own preface — the text that establishes the canonical “Four Commentators” (Sìjiā) tradition.
Chén is also the author of the Shàngqīng dàdòng zhēnjīng yùjué yīnyì 上清大洞真經玉訣音義 (DZ 104), a philological study that systematically compares recensions of the Dàdòng zhēnjīng — including the “Máoshān version” (Máoshān běn 茅山本) and the “Zhū Zìyīng / Guānmiào xiānshēng version” (Guānmiào xiānshēng běn 觀妙先生本, i.e. DZ 6) — and is one of the earliest Daoist critical-textual works within the canon itself. He composed commentaries on the Dàodé jīng (three separate works) and on the Zhuāngzǐ, and a [[KR5a0109|Huángdì yīnfú jīng commentary]]. The SòngYuán commentarial tradition frequently cites “Mr. Chén” or Bìxūzǐ as a major authority. Chén has no CBDB record in the searched tables but is extensively documented in the Daoist biographical tradition.