Miàoyòng 妙用 (Yuānhú Miàoyòng 鴛湖妙用)
Late-Wàn-lì / Chóng-zhēn-era Cáodòng 曹洞 Chán master in the Wúqù Rúkōng 無趣如空 → Wúhuàn Hǎichōng 車溪無幻海沖 → Nánmíng Zōngguǎng 南明宗廣 → Yuānhú Miàoyòng sub-lineage — a Cáodòng sub-line distinct from the better-known Zhànrán Yuánchéng line. Fǎhuì 法諱 Miàoyòng 妙用, zì Xuánwēi 玄微 (hence late-life biéhào Xuánwēi lǎorén 玄微老人), hào Yuānhú 鴛湖 (after Yuānshuǐ Tóngyuèān 鴛水桐月庵 in Jiāxīng, Miàoyòng’s middle-years hermitage which was subsequently occupied by Wànrú Tōngwēi 萬如通微 as Rúrúān 如如庵 — cf. KR6q0404). Lay surname Zhèng 鄭 of Hǎiyán 海鹽 (Zhèjiāng), father Zhèng Qǐrú 鄭啟儒, mother Lùshì 陸氏. Lifedates 萬曆 15 丁亥 10.7 酉時 – 崇禎 15 壬午 10.11 辰時 = 5 December 1587 – 23 November 1642, age 56 suì / 44 fǎlà per the Tán Zhēnmò tǎmíng at KR6q0416 juan 2.
Early life. Vegetarian from childhood; age 12 entered Jiāhé Xīngshànsì 嘉禾興善寺 as a tóngxíng under Jìzhōu 濟舟. Age 17 (1603) formal tonsure. Met Nánmíng Zōngguǎng 南明宗廣 (another Xīngshàn alumnus who had received transmission from Chēxī Wúhuàn Hǎichōng) at Xīngshànsì. Received full precepts from Yúnqī Zhūhóng 雲棲袾宏 (1535–1615), placing him in the cross-lineage Yúnqī ordination-line together with Fúshí Tōngxián 通賢, Ruìbái Míngxuě 明雪, and Sānyí Míngyú 明盂. Trained under Wúhuàn Hǎichōng at Chēxī and under Nánmíng at Jìngshān.
Transmission event (庚申秋 1620). Sealed by Nánmíng on his deathbed at Jiāhé Zhītuóān 祗陀庵 after three years of nursing his terminally-ill teacher. The transmission occurred via the “Xiāngyán jì 香嚴偈” exchange, with Miàoyòng’s twice-attempted verbal response cut off by Nánmíng’s sharp shouts; on the second shout, Miàoyòng “nodded and wept” (diǎntóu xiàlèi 點頭下淚). Transmission-verse: “wú chuán wú shòu fǎ, wú chuán wú shòu xīn, fù yǔ wú shǒu zhě, chè duàn xūkōng jīn 無傳無受法無傳無受心付與無手者掣斷虛空筋”.
Hermit phase (1620–1635). After Nánmíng’s death declined public succession; lived in multiple solitary hermitages including Xiámùshān 霞幕山, Lǔān 魯庵 (Chángshuǐ, two years of seven-Buddha-mendicant discipline with daily alms-round and strict austerity), Yuānshuǐ Tóngyuèān (Jiāxīng, from which the hào Yuānhú originates), and a brief shǒuzhòng at Jīnsù under Mìyún Yuánwù c. 1624 (cross-lineage observer-relationship only).
Three abbacies (1635–1642). (1) Jiāxīng Báizhù Pǔmíngsì 嘉興白苧普明寺 (1635, one-year tenure, petitioned by 𨍏轢 嚴大參 嚴大參); (2) three-year retreat at Fújiàn Jíyángshān 吉陽山 (1636–40); (3) Fújiàn Jiànníng Zǐyúnshān Pǔmíngsì 建寧紫雲山普明寺 — final abbacy, 1640 spring to 1642. Formal kāifǎ ascension delayed to 辛巳冬 (1641 winter) on the petition of Shíyǔ Míngfāng 石雨明方 (Miàoyòng’s true 同參 dharma-brother in the Nánmíng Zōngguǎng sub-line).
Three dharma-heirs: Yúnfēng Jūn 雲峰鈞, Jièān Wùjìn 悟進 介菴悟進, and Yīchū Wùyuán 悟元 一初悟元.
Work: KR6q0416 《鴛湖用禪師語錄》 (2 juan, Jiāxīng Canon J27 B196, compiled by Wùjìn and Wùyuán, with xíngzhuàng by Wùjìn and tǎmíng by Tán Zhēnmò 譚貞默 dated 1654-12-25).
Stylistic datum: the “no-more-gāthās” vow. Early in his training, after Nánmíng scolded him for showing off first-awakening sòng verses, Miàoyòng vowed never again to compose Chán-verses. His yǔlù accordingly has an unusually small jìsòng 偈頌 section — a stylistic feature distinguishing his corpus from most contemporary Chán yǔlù.
Sources: KR6q0416 juan 2 xíngzhuàng (by Wùjìn) and tǎmíng (by Tán Zhēnmò, dated 1654-12-25); Wǔdēng quánshū 五燈全書 juan 63; Liào Zhàohēng, 《忠義菩提》 (2013) ch. 4.