Zōngběn 宗本
Northern-Sòng Yúnménzōng 雲門宗 Chán master, zì Wúzhé 無喆; imperial title Yuánzhào chánshī 圓照禪師 (from Zhézōng in 1082); posthumous shìhào Fǎkōng chánshī 法空禪師. 1020 – 15 February 1100 (lunar 元符 2.12.28), shìshòu 80, xià 52. Native of Wúxī 無錫 (Chángzhōu), lay surname Guǎn 管. Dharma-heir of Tiānyī Yìhuái 天衣義懷 (993–1064). The first appointed abbot of the new imperial-court Chán centre Huìlín chányuàn 慧林禪院 at the Dàxiàngguósì 大相國寺 in the Sòng capital, from Yuánfēng 5 (1082) — installed at Shénzōng’s personal request, making him the most prominent Buddhist public figure of the Northern-Sòng capital in the late 11th century.
Entered religion at nineteen at Sūzhōu Chéngtiān Yǒngānsì 承天永安寺 under Dàoshēng 道昇; served as jīnshì 巾侍 for ten years before taking the precepts; a further three years of service, then wandering; attained awakening under Tiānyī Yìhuái at Chízhōu. Opened public teaching at Ruìguāng 瑞光; moved to Jìngcí 淨慈; summoned in 1082 to Huìlín as its inaugural abbot; retired to Sūzhōu Língyánshān 靈巖山 in his late years. Died seated without illness in 1100. “His dharma-transmitters and dharma-spreaders are uncountable” (DILA).
His main three-seat yǔlù (Ruìguāng / Jìngcí / Huìlín) circulated widely in the Northern Sòng; a supplementary biélù 別錄 preserving previously-unprinted shàngtáng and Língyán jìsòng material — including the extraordinary 1085 shàngtáng preached before the spirit-throne of the late Emperor Shénzōng at the imperial Fúníngdiàn 福寧殿 — was compiled by his dharma-heir 慧辯 Wújì Huìbiàn 無際慧辯 of Língyán Xiùfēngsì: surviving as KR6q0380 (X73 n1450). Principal named dharma-heirs: Shànběn Dàtōng 善本大通, Jīnshān Shànníng 金山善寧, Shǒuyī Fǎzhēn 守一法真, Xiūyóng Zhēnwù 修顒真悟, and several others.
Not to be confused with the Míng-dynasty Yīyuán Zōngběn 一元宗本, author of the Guīyuán zhízhǐ jí 歸元直指集 KR6p0061 — a separate person, separate entry below.
name: 宗本 pinyinName: Yīyuán Zōngběn alternateNames: [一元宗本, Yīyuán Zōngběn, 一元, Yīyuán, 智文宗本] dynasty: 明 birthDate: deathDate: cbdbId: dilaAuthorityId: created: 2026-05-06 updated: 2026-05-06
Yīyuán Zōngběn 一元宗本 (fl. late 15th c.)
Míng-dynasty Pure Land / Chán monk, sobriquet Yīyuán 一元 (“One Origin”). Dates not preserved with precision; he was active in the Hóngzhì 弘治 reign (1488–1505), and the preface to his major work — the 《歸元直指集》 Guīyuán zhízhǐ jí KR6p0061, 2 juǎn — is dated 弘治 7 (1494). The work is a synthetic Chán-Pure Land doctrinal anthology in the Jìngtǔ huòwèn / Xīfāng hélùn tradition, organised around the central thesis that return to the origin (guīyuán 歸元) is at once Chán mind-cultivation and Pure Land devotion. Beyond this work no substantial biographical record survives; he is mentioned in a handful of late-Míng Buddhist biographical compendia as a Pure-Land-leaning Chán monk of the Hóngzhì period.