Zǐchéng 子成
A late-Yuán Buddhist monk-scholar of Buddhist-Confucian-Daoist syncretist tendency. Native of Bàlíng 霸陵 in Jīngzhào 京兆 (modern Xī’ān region). Style Yànměi 彥美; hào Miàomíng 妙明 (also self-referenced as Miàomíngzǐ 妙明子). Lifedates not transmitted with precision; the colophonic preface to his 《折疑論》 KR6r0151 reports that he received the imperial title chuándàshèngjiè cìzǐ rúnguóshī 傳大乘戒賜紫閏國師 (Master-of-State, transmitter of the Mahāyāna precepts, robed in purple) during the Zhìzhèng 至正 reign of Yuán Shùndì (1341–1368), and that he composed the work after fleeing to a mountain stone-chamber during military disturbances. He is therefore datable to the mid-to-late 14th century.
According to the framing preface by Qū Pán 屈蟠 of Bái-shuǐ (a xiāng-gòng jìn-shì 鄉貢進士), Zǐ-chéng was originally trained in the Confucian classics and turned to Buddhism in middle age; he was an accomplished poet, calligrapher, and cí-composer who circulated his verse among scholar-officials, and was known for his exegetical prowess in commentaries on the Heart Sūtra and his ritual-textual collections. After taking ordination at Hóng-fú-sì 洪福寺 in Wèi-nán 渭南, he became a disciple of Yú-yán Lǎo-rén Xiáng-gōng 魚巖老人祥公, who transmitted to him the dharma; he subsequently lectured on the Mahāyāna sūtra / vinaya / śāstra corpus.
His one transmitted work in the Buddhist canon is the 《折疑論》 Zhéyí lùn (T2118, 5 juǎn), a syncretist apologetic dialogue between the author and a doubting visitor.