A Táng-period Buddhist monk and disciple of 法琳 (Fǎlín, 572–640), the great early-Táng Buddhist apologist. The author of the Táng hùfǎ shāmén Fǎlín biézhuàn 唐護法沙門法琳別傳 (KR6r0041), composed in the years following 法琳’s death in 640. No precise dates are preserved; fl. mid-7th century is the safe bracket.
There is a homonymous Suí-period monk 彥琮 (Yàncóng, 557–610), born in Zhàozhōu 趙州, who was one of the chief Buddhist translation-bureau scholars under Suí Wéndì 文帝 and Yángdì 煬帝. He directed translation projects at Cháng’ān, edited the Zhòngjīng mùlù 眾經目錄 (a major Suí Buddhist scriptural catalog), and wrote the Biàn zhèng lùn 辨正論 (a different work from 法琳’s) and a famous treatise on Buddhist translation theory, the Biàn jiào lùn 辯教論 / Bā bèi shí tiáo 八備十條 (“Eight Requirements and Ten Specifications”) — the earliest extant systematic statement of Chinese Buddhist translation theory. He died in 610.
The two 彥琮 are sharply different in date and concern: the Suí 彥琮 is a translation-theorist working under imperial patronage; the Táng 彥琮 is a hagiographer and the disciple of the polemicist 法琳. They are not to be confused.