YuánMíng transition Chán monk, native of Wú xiàn 吳縣 (Sūzhōu, Jiāngsū). Personal name Miàoshēng 妙聲; zì / sobriquet Jiǔgāo 九臯 (also Jiǔgāo shēng 九臯聲); his secular Dōnggāo 東臯 (“East-Mound”) title comes from his retreat. Dharma-disciple of Gǔtíng Shànxué 古庭善學 (DILA A015571), in the lineage of the late-Yuán Sūzhōu Chán community. Studied the Zhǐguān 止觀 and was broadly versed in the Buddhist canonical literature; also distinguished in poetry. In the late Yuán resided at the Jǐngdé sì 景德寺 in Sūzhōu; later moved to the Chángshú Huìrì sì 常熟慧日寺; in the early Hóngwǔ era presided as abbot of the Píngjiāng Běichán sì 平江北禪寺. In Hóngwǔ 3 (1370) summoned to court together with the monk Wànjīn 萬金 to take part in the Hóngwǔ regulation of Buddhist affairs. On friendly terms with the major YuánMíng transition literati 袁桷, 張翥, 危素, and others; his verse exchanges with them form a substantial part of his collected work Dōnggāo lù 東皋錄 KR4e0017. His disciple Déhuán 德瓛 cut the blocks for the collection in Hóngwǔ 17 (1384), suggesting Miàoshēng may have died around that time, in his mid-sixties.
Lifedates unrecorded; the Sìkù tíyào of KR4e0017 states he was “over sixty” entering the Míng (1368–70), implying a birth date in the 1300s. DILA Buddhist Studies Person Authority: A018657.