Yuánxián 元賢
Sobriquet Yǒngjué 永覺 (“Eternal Awakening”). Late-Míng / early-Qīng Chán master of the Cáodòng 曹洞 line, abbot of the Gǔshān Yǒngqiānsì 鼓山湧泉寺 in Fújiàn. Dharma heir of Wúmíng Huìjīng 無明慧經 (1548–1618). Lifedates 1578–1657.
One of the two most important seventeenth-century Cáodòng masters (alongside Wúyì Yuánlái 無異元來, 1575–1630). Compiler of the Jìdēng lù 繼燈錄 (KR6q0038), a six-juan Cáodòng-side lamp-record continuation; the Chánlín shū yǔ kǎo zhèng 禪林疏語考證 (KR6q0143, 4 juan) — his accumulated ritual-petition compositions; and of a substantial independent yǔlù corpus preserved in the Jiāxīng canon (Yǒngjué Yuánxián chánshī guǎnglù 永覺元賢禪師廣錄, 30 juan). He was also the principal editor (chóngbiān 重編) of his master 慧經’s yǔlù (KR6q0362; X72 n1432) — the received recension bears his mid-17th-century editorial stamp. Also compiled monastic gazetteers: the Wēnlíng Kāiyuán sì zhì 溫陵開元寺志 and Gǔshān zhì 鼓山志. Central figure in Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute (OUP, 2008), and in Chinese-language scholarship on seventeenth-century Cáodòng Chán.
Entered monastic life late (at 40, in 1617); lay surname Cài 蔡 with given-names Ànxiū 闇修 (early) and Màoqīng 懋清 (later), a fourteenth-generation descendant of the Sòng Neo-Confucian scholar Cài Yuándìng 蔡元定. Native of Jiànyáng 建陽 (Fújiàn). Received precepts at Bóshān 博山 in 1618; full awakening at Jiànyáng in Tiānqǐ 3 (1623). Held successive abbacies at the Ōuníng Jīnxiān ān 甌寧金仙庵, Bǎoshàn ān 寶善庵, Fúzhōu Gǔshān Yǒngquán chánsì 鼓山湧泉寺 (his principal seat — hence Gǔshān Yuánxián 鼓山元賢), Jìngcí ān 淨慈庵, and Quánzhōu Kāiyuán sì 泉州開元寺. Died on Shùnzhì 14.10.7 (12 November 1657), aged 80. Per DILA A000135.