Táng Lín 唐臨 (字 Běndé 本德, ca. 600 – ca. 660), early-Táng senior official and Buddhist lay scholar; native of Cháng’ānxiàn 長安縣. Grandson of the Northern-Zhōu 內史 Táng Jǐn 唐瑾.
He held the offices of 御史大夫 (from Yǒnghuī 永徽 1 = 650) and ultimately 吏部尚書 (Minister of Personnel). The Jiù Tángshū and Xīn Tángshū preserve his official biography (j. 85 and j. 86 respectively), recording his integrity in office and his standing as a senior member of the Yǒnghuī court establishment. He fell from imperial favour in late 655 and was demoted from the Vice Censorship to the prefecture of Pǔzhōu 潛州 — the editorial closure of the period during which the Míngbào jì was composed.
His sole substantial Kanripo work is the 《冥報記》 Míngbào jì (KR6r0116, T2082, 3 juan, ca. 650–655) — the foundational early-Táng compilation of Buddhist karmic-retribution stories, drawing on documentary witnesses and named informants in the contemporary Táng official corps. The work is one of the most influential single texts in shaping the Chinese popular religious imagination of the bureaucratic Buddhist underworld. Per DILA Buddhist Person Authority A006259.
Works in the Kanripo corpus: KR6r0116 Míngbào jì.