Dérán 德然 (d. 18 May 1388 = Hóngwǔ 21.4.14), style Wéi’ān 唯菴, also known from his hermitage as Sōngyǐn Rán 松隱然 / Sōngyǐn Dérán 松隱德然. A Chán master of the Zhōngfēng Míngběn 中峰明本 → Qiānyán Yuáncháng 千巖元長 branch of the Línjì Yángqí 臨濟楊岐 lineage, active across the Yuán–Míng dynastic transition in Zhèjiāng and the southern metropolitan region. Birth date not recorded; DILA (A010704) classifies him as 元–明 on the basis of his dated death. Native of Huátíng 華亭 (modern Sōngjiāng 松江, in the vicinity of Shanghai; DILA place PL000000008489), lay surname Zhāng 張.
At age seven he chanted the Lotus Sutra at Tiānlóngsì 天龍寺 in Hángzhōu. Tonsured young under Wúyòng Shǒuguì 無用貴, a fellow dharma-heir of Qiānyán Yuáncháng. First studied Chán under Shíwū Qīnggǒng 石屋清珙 (1272–1352, the Línjì master famed for the Shānjū shī 山居詩), who inscribed for him the two characters Sōngyǐn 松隱 (“pine-seclusion”) and pronounced that his karmic connection lay in Wú 吳 and Sōng 松 (i.e. the Sōngjiāng region). On this injunction Dérán returned to Huátíng and built a hermitage on the north bank of Guōhuì 郭滙, inscribing Shíwū’s two-character calligraphy as its plaque — thus Sōngyǐnān 松隱菴. He remained in seclusion there for three years, during which he produced a blood-written copy of the Huáyán jīng 華嚴經 later enshrined in a seven-storeyed stūpa at Sōngyǐn.
His decisive awakening came under Qiānyán Yuáncháng (1284–1357; DILA A004551) at Fúlóngshān 伏龍山 Shèngshòusì 聖壽寺. Dérán heard Qiānyán’s hall-teaching and attained a clear opening; in Sòng Lián’s 1376 preface-phrase, “the sun, moon, stars, wind, thunder, rain, and dew, the flying, the swimming, the moving, the hibernating — all expounded the Tathāgata’s great vehicle wondrous Dharma” (jiē yǎn Rúlái dàshèng miàofǎ 皆演如來大乘妙法). When Qiānyán died at Zhìzhèng 17.6.14 (14 July 1357), the Shèngshòusì community called Dérán to succeed him. He occupied the Shèngshòusì abbacy briefly (yú nián 逾年, “more than a year”), then retired to Sōngyǐnān, where he spent the rest of his life. Early in the Hóngwǔ era he was summoned by imperial edict for his reputation as a man of the Way but returned home on grounds of illness. He composed ten Chuánjū shī 船居詩 (“verses on living on a boat”), praised by Sòng Lián as “qīngjué kě sòng 清絕可誦” — “utterly clear, fit to be chanted.” Died 1388, entombed at Sōngyǐnān.
Dharma-heirs: Dàoān 道安 (DILA A015639) and Dàchuān Shùn 大川順 (A026138). His teaching was compiled by his disciple 慧省 Huìxǐng (DILA A037261).
Works in the Kanripo corpus: KR6q0393 Sōngyǐn Wéi’ān Rán héshàng yǔlù 松隱唯菴然和尚語錄 (3 juan, JB154), compiled by Huìxǐng with a 1371 postface by Huáiwèi 懷渭 (A015593) and a 1376 preface by Sòng Lián 宋濂.
Sources: 《補續高僧傳》卷 25 (X77 n1524, 德然傳); 《五燈全書》卷 58; 《續燈正統目錄》卷 1; Dérán’s Sōngyǐnān jì 松隱菴記 (attrib. Sòng Lián; referenced in the 1376 preface but extant only indirectly); DILA A010704.