Yáo Guǎngxiào 姚廣孝 (Dàoyǎn 道衍)
Pivotal early-Míng Buddhist monk and imperial strategist. Lay name Yáo Guǎngxiào 姚廣孝 (by which he is most commonly referred to in Chinese history); monastic name Dàoyǎn 道衍 (“Propagator of the Way”); zì Sīdào 斯道; hào Dúān 獨庵 (“Solitary Hermitage”). Literary pseudonyms Táoxūzǐ 逃虛子, Táoxū lǎorén 逃虛老人. Post-humous title Gōngjìng 恭靖 (“Respectful and Settled”); imperial honorifics Róngguó gōng 榮國公 (Duke of Róng), Yáo shàoshī 姚少師 (Junior Preceptor Yáo); most famously known in later tradition as the Hēiyī zǎixiàng 黑衣宰相 (“Black-Robed Chancellor”). Native of Chánshú 長熟 (Chángshú 常熟, Sūzhōu region). Lay surname Yáo 姚. Lifedates 1335–1418.
Tonsured young at Miàozhìān 妙智庵 in Sūzhōu; Chán training under Yúānjí héshàng 愚庵及和尚 at Jìngshān 徑山 during the late-Yuán dynastic collapse. Widely read in Confucian, Daoist, and military-strategic literature as well as Buddhist doctrine. The defining role of his career was as political-military strategist for Zhū Dì 朱棣 (later the Yǒnglè 永樂 emperor) during the Jìngnán zhī biàn 靖難之變 civil war (1399–1402), which overthrew the Jiànwén 建文 emperor and installed Zhū Dì as Yǒnglè. After the Yǒnglè accession Yáo continued as imperial confidant: chief editor of the monumental Yǒnglè dà diǎn 永樂大典 encyclopedia (begun 1403); designer of key Beijing religious-architectural projects; senior advisor on cultural matters. Died 1418; buried with imperial honours.
Major Buddhist-doctrinal work: the Dào yú lù 道餘錄 KR6q0182, a 1412 systematic rebuttal of 49 anti-Buddhist passages from the Two Chéng brothers and Zhū Xī — published by the most politically-influential Buddhist monk of the Míng from within the imperial inner circle, and a striking ideological counter-move against the examination-curriculum orthodoxy of Neo-Confucian anti-Buddhism. Later reviewed by Lǐ Zhì 李贄 in the late Míng.
Yáo’s dual position as Chán monk and imperial political strategist is unique in Chinese history. Extensive historiographical and popular literature has grown around him, including modern novels and television dramas.
Sources: Ming shi 明史 biography; Ming shi lu 明實錄; Dictionary of Ming Biography (Goodrich & Fang, 1976); multiple modern scholarly biographies.