Yuánwù 圓悟 (Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟)
Late-Míng LínjìYángqí Chán master. Zì Juéchū 覺初; hào Mìyún 密雲 (“Dense Clouds”); also Tiāntóng 天童 (for Tiāntóngsì 天童寺 in Míngzhōu 明州, where he was abbot), Jīnsù 金粟 (for Jīnsùsì 金粟寺 in Hǎiyán 海鹽). Imperial title Huìdìng chánshī 慧定禪師. Lay surname Jiǎng 蔣. Lifedates 1567/1/5 (Jiājìng 45 / 11/16) – 1642/8/2 (Chóngzhēn 15 / 7/7), age 76 (per the Mìyún chánshī yǔlù 密雲禪師語錄 juan 12 annalistic chart). Native of Yíxīng 宜興 (Jiāngsū).
The dominant mid-Míng LínjìYángqí Chán master, whose lineage-line came to constitute the most prolific branch of late-Míng / early-Qīng Chán. Dharma-heir of Huànyǒu Zhèngchuán 幻有正傳 of Lóngchí 龍池. Received fù fǎ 付法 in 1611; abbacies at Lóngchí 龍池, Tiāntóng 天童, Yùwáng 育王, Jīnsù 金粟, and Tōngxuánsì 通玄寺 (also in Jiāngsū). His dharma-heirs formed one of the most important teaching networks of seventeenth-century Chinese Buddhism, including Hànyuè Fǎzàng 漢月法藏 (of the controversial Sānfēng sub-lineage), Fèiyǐn Tōngróng 費隱通容, Mùchén Dàomín 木陳道忞 (spiritual advisor to the Shùnzhì emperor), Pòshān Hǎimíng 破山海明 (the Sichuan Chán reviver), and many others.
Major works:
- Mìyún chánshī yǔlù 密雲禪師語錄 (12 juan, J10 B150) — his collected Chán sermons and annals.
- Pì wàng jiù lüè shuō 闢妄救略說 KR6q0168 — his 1638 polemical rebuttal of Fǎzàng’s Wǔ zōng yuán, central to the major seventeenth-century Chán controversy.
- Several shorter treatises and sermon collections.
Historical significance: the master-lineage of nearly every prominent early-Qīng Chán master traces back to Yuánwù; his polemic against Fǎzàng’s Wǔ zōng yuán constituted the “official” pro-direct-transmission position that the Yōngzhèng emperor’s 1733 Jiǎn mó biàn yì lù would codify as imperial orthodoxy.
name: 圓悟 pinyinName: Yuánwù alternateNames: [枯崖, 枯崖圓悟, 枯崖和尚] dynasty: 南宋 birthDate: deathDate: cbdbId: dilaAuthorityId: A008261 created: 2026-05-06 updated: 2026-05-06
Yuánwù 圓悟 (Kūyá Yuánwù 枯崖圓悟)
Late-Southern-Sòng Línjì Chán master; hào Kūyá 枯崖 (“Dry Cliff”). Native of Fúqīng 福清 in Fúzhōu 福州 (modern Fujian). According to the prefatory matter of his work, he returned to Jìngshān Méngtáng 徑山蒙堂 in Jǐngdìng 景定 4 (1263), where he assembled the materials he had collected over years of monastic travel — accounts of awakening-experiences (rùdào jīyuán 入道機緣) of senior monks, sermon-transcripts (shìzhòng fǎyǔ 示眾法語), and fragmentary inscriptions of figures whose names had not yet been registered in the dēnglù 燈錄 lineage-records — into a 2-juan compendium titled 《枯崖漫錄》 Kūyá mànlù (KR6r0096, X87 no. 1613). In Xiánchún 咸淳 8 (1272) he was installed as abbot of Quánnán Xīngfúsì 泉南興福寺 in his home prefecture.
Per DILA Buddhist Person Authority A008261. Distinct from the late-Míng Línjì master Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟 (1567–1642, DILA A003688) above; also distinct from Yuánwù Kèqín 圓悟克勤 (1063–1135, DILA A003687), the great Northern-Sòng Línjì master and author of the Bìyán lù 碧巖錄.
Works in the Kanripo corpus: KR6r0096 Kūyá mànlù.