Xiānyǎn 鮮演 (1049–1118), styled Yuántōng wùlǐ 圓通悟理 and Cíhuì 慈惠, the senior Buddhist scholar-monk of the Liáo 遼 dynasty (the Khitan empire that controlled northern China during the Northern-Sòng period). Per the Xiānyǎn dàshī mù bēi wén 鮮演大師墓碑文 (“Tomb-Stele Inscription of the Great Master Xiānyǎn”) dated Tiānqìng 天慶 8 (1118) — recording his death at age 70 — he was the most consequential Liáo Buddhist scholar of his generation. His most substantial work is the [[KR6e0119|Huáyán jīng tán xuán jué zé 華嚴經談玄抉擇]] (X235, 5 fascicles), a study of 澄觀 Chéngguān’s [[KR6e0011|Shū]] composed within the Liáo Buddhist establishment.
The Liáo Buddhist tradition was theologically conservative and strongly committed to the Tang Huáyán-school doctrinal heritage. Xiānyǎn’s work belongs to this Liáo Huáyán-revival project, paralleling the Northern-Sòng Huìyīnsì project of 淨源 Jìngyuán but conducted from a different (Liáo / Khitan-controlled northern Chinese) institutional base.