Kèqín 克勤
The pivotal Yángqí-branch Línjì Chán master of the transition from Northern to Southern Sòng; compiler of the Bìyán lù 碧巖錄 (KR6q0078) and in a direct line the teacher of Dàhuì Zōnggǎo 大慧宗杲. Lay surname Luò 駱; native of Chóngníng 崇寧 county in Péngzhōu 彭州 (present-day Sìchuān). Lifedates per DILA A001411 and the Fózǔ lìdài tōngzǎi: 1063 – Shàoxīng 5.8.5 (21 September 1135), shì 73. Honorific titles during life included Fóguǒ 佛果 and Yuánwù / Huánwù 圓悟 / 圜悟; posthumous title Zhēnjué chánshī 真覺禪師. A secondary style Wúzhuó 無著 also circulates.
Tonsured at Miàojì yuàn 妙寂院; ordained young. Studied first with Yuánmíng Mǐnxíng 圓明敏行 in Sìchuān, then with Zhāojué Shèng 昭覺勝 (hence the alternate Zhāojué Kèqín 昭覺克勤), Dōnglín Zhàojué 東林照覺, and finally 法演 Wǔzǔ Fǎyǎn, in whose house he attained transmission as senior of the “three buddhas” (Fǎyǎn sānfó 法演三佛). His first major abbacy was back at Zhāojué sì in Chéngdū, then Língquán 靈泉 and Dàolín 道林. Summoned by imperial decree to Jiāngshān (Jiànkāng 建康), then Tiānníng 天寧, Qiánmíng 乾明, and Jīnshān 金山; late abbacies at Yúnjū 雲居 and finally again at Zhāojué sì.
During his northern residence at the Jiǎshān Línglù yuàn 夾山靈泉院 in Lǐzhōu 澧州 between 1111 and 1117 (the so-called Jiǎshān period), Kèqín delivered the lectures on the Xuědòu sònggǔ 雪竇頌古 of Xuědòu Chóngxiǎn 雪竇重顯 (980–1052) that his disciple Pǔzhào 普照 compiled, from Kèqín’s own records, as the Bìyán lù 碧巖錄 (KR6q0078) — the most influential gōng’àn-commentary text in the tradition. His own recorded sayings in twenty juan, compiled by 紹隆 Hǔqiū Shàolóng and Xūrán 虗然 and fronted by the preface of 耿延禧 Gěng Yánxǐ dated Shàoxīng 3 (1133), are the Yuánwù Fóguǒ chánshī yǔlù (KR6q0059); a second late compilation of letters, Yuánwù xīnyào 圓悟心要 (KR6q0018), was transmitted separately.
Principal dharma-heirs: Dàhuì Zōnggǎo 大慧宗杲 (1089–1163), through whom the kànhuà chán 看話禪 method came to dominate Southern Sòng Chán and subsequently Koryŏ Sŏn and Kamakura Rinzai; Hǔqiū Shàolóng 虎丘紹隆 (紹隆, 1077–1136), ancestor of the line through which later Japanese Rinzai mainly flowed (via Xūtáng Zhìyú 虛堂智愚 → Nānpo Jōmyō 南浦紹明); and Fózhì Duānyù 佛智端裕, Tàipíng Huìqín 太平慧懃 (listed in some accounts as a co-disciple rather than heir).
name: 克勤 pinyinName: Kèqín alternateNames: [] dynasty: 明 birthDate: deathDate: cbdbId: dilaAuthorityId: A000453
Kèqín 克勤 (Míng / Wǎguānsì)
A different Kèqín: Míng-period Tiāntái monk, abbot of the Wǎguān jiàosì 瓦官教寺 in Jiànkāng (Nánjīng). DILA Authority A000453. Lifedates unrecorded; productive period in the late Míng. Author of the Shū 書 (KR6d0247, X57n0971, 1 juan) — a single-letter correspondence with the Japanese Tendai abbot at Hieizan (the Yánlìsì 延曆寺 / Enryaku-ji), discussing the institutional fortunes of the Tiāntái-Tendai tradition through the SòngYuánMíng transition. The letter is one of the principal late-Míng documents of Sino-Japanese Tiāntái-Tendai correspondence.