Déqīng 德清
Sobriquet Hānshān 憨山 (“Foolish Mountain”). Late-Míng Chán-Huáyán-Pure-Land master, native of Quánjiāo 全椒 (Ānhuī). Lifedates 1546–1623. One of the WǎnMíng sì dàshī 晚明四大師 (“Four Great Masters of the Late Míng”), alongside Yúnqī Zhūhóng 雲棲袾宏, Zǐbǎi Zhēnkě 紫柏真可, and Ǒuyì Zhìxù 蕅益智旭.
Restored Bǎolínsì 寶林寺 at Cáoxī 曹溪 — the site of the Sixth Patriarch Huìnéng’s seat — and made it again a major Chán practice centre. Politically embattled: in 1595 he was prosecuted for unauthorised construction at Lǎoshān 嶗山 (his earlier base in Shāndōng), defrocked, and exiled to Léizhōu 雷州 in Guǎngdōng. Continued his teaching and writing throughout exile; partially rehabilitated in 1606.
Author of an immense corpus including the Bāshíbā zǔ dàoyǐng zhuàn zàn 八十八祖道影傳贊 (KR6q0045), commentaries on the Lǎozǐ, Zhuāngzǐ, Lúnyǔ, and Zhōngyōng, and Buddhist commentaries on the Lèngyán jīng, Yuánjué jīng, Léngqié jīng, and Zhàolùn. The standard English study is Sung-peng Hsu, A Buddhist Leader in Ming China: The Life and Thought of Han-shan Te-ch’ing (Pennsylvania State UP, 1979).