Yuánmiào 原妙
Late-Southern-Sòng / Yuán Yángqí-branch Línjì Chán master, hào Gāofēng 高峰 (“High-Peak”); posthumously styled Pǔmíng Guǎngjì chánshī 普明廣濟禪師. Native of Wújiāng 吳江 (Sūzhōu). Per DILA and his xíngzhuàng: Jiāxī 2.3.23 (16 April 1238) – Yuánzhēn 1.12.1 (13 January 1296).
Dharma-heir of 祖欽 Xuěyán Zǔqīn; teacher of Zhōngfēng Míngběn 中峰明本 (1263–1323). The Xuěyán → Gāofēng → Zhōngfēng line is the axis of dominant Yuán–Míng Línjì Chán. Yuánmiào’s defining biographical feature is the self-imposed eighteen-year seclusion at Shīguān 死關 (“Death-Barrier”) on Xīfēng 西峰 of Tiānmùshān 天目山 from 1279 until his death, during which he refused all callers and taught only through letters and occasional hermitage shìzhòng. His pedagogy centres on kànhuà 看話 “critical-phrase investigation” — specifically the wànfǎ guī yī, yī guī hé chù 萬法歸一一歸何處 gōngàn — focused through the sānyào 三要 / “three-essentials” formula (大信根, 大疑情, 大憤志) that became the standard Línjì training schema.
Recorded sayings: Gāofēng Yuánmiào chánshī yǔlù (KR6q0333), 2 juan; and the Chányào (KR6q0334), 1 juan — both foundational for later Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Chán/Sŏn/Zen practice.