Juéfàn Huìhóng 覺範慧洪 (1071–1128), also transmitted as 惠洪 or 德洪 (the latter his re-ordination name from 1107 under the Chief Councillor Zhāng Shāngyīng’s intervention); zì Juéfàn 覺範, self-styled Jìyīn zūnzhě 寂音尊者 (“Silent-Sound Venerable”), imperial title Bǎojué Yuánmíng 寶覺圓明 (“Treasure-Awakening Perfectly-Bright”) from the tàiwèi Guō Tiānmín. Northern-Sòng / Southern-Sòng transition Chán monk of the Línjì 臨濟 Huánglóng-school 黃龍派 lineage, dharma-heir of Zhēnjìng Kèwén 真淨克文 (1025–1102). Native of Xīnchāng 新昌 in Jūnzhōu 筠州 (Jiāngxī), lay surname Yù 喻 (alternately recorded as Péng 彭 or Yú 俞).
Orphaned at 14 when both parents died in the same month; ordained at 19 at the Dōngjīng Tiānwáng sì 東京天王寺 through the examination-ordination system; studied the Chéng wéishí lùn 成唯識論 under the Xuānmì dàshī Shēn Gōng 宣秘大師深公 for four years. Returned south to study Chán under Zhēnjìng Kèwén, first at the Guīzōng sì 歸宗寺 and then at Lèngtán 泐潭, attaining realisation over seven years. Subsequently held major appointments: at the Línchuān Běichán 臨川北禪 (invited by Zhū Shìyīng 朱世英), then at the Jīnlíng Qīngliáng sì 金陵清涼寺 (invited by the cáoshǐ Wú Zhèngzhòng 吳正仲).
Huìhóng’s career was punctuated by three separate imprisonments on charges of heretical preaching, irregular ordination, and political association with dismissed officials. The first imprisonment was resolved through Zhāng Shāngyīng’s special re-ordination-authorisation under the new dharma-name Déhóng 德洪. Subsequent imprisonments followed various political reversals. Huìhóng’s eventual retreat was the Míngbáiān 明白庵 (“Clearly-Understood Hermitage”) in Línchuān 臨川, established from Dàguān 1 (1107) and serving as his principal residence thereafter. Died Jiànyán 2.5 (summer 1128), aged 58.
Huìhóng is the principal ideologue of wénzì chán 文字禪 (“literary Chán”) — the position that textual-philological engagement with Chán materials is itself a legitimate and necessary form of Chán practice. His enormous authorial corpus includes:
- Línjiān lù 林間錄 (2 juan) — a collection of Chán anecdotes and biographical notes;
- Chánlín sēngbǎo zhuàn 禪林僧寶傳 (30 juan) — the major Northern-Sòng collection of Chán-master biographical sketches;
- Shímén wénzì chán 石門文字禪 (30 juan) — his collected poetry and prose, the foundational text of the “literary Chán” position;
- Lěngzhāi yè huà 冷齋夜話 (10 juan) — a major Northern-Sòng shīhuà 詩話 (poetry-talk) collection, widely cited in later Chinese literary criticism;
- Fǎhuā hé lùn 法華合論, Lèngyán zūn dǐng yì 楞嚴尊頂義, and other doctrinal commentaries;
- Línjì zōng zhǐ 臨濟宗旨 (KR6q0126), Zhì zhèng zhuàn 智證傳 (KR6q0127) — his two principal Chán doctrinal-polemical works.
Works in the Kanripo corpus: KR6q0126 Línjì zōng zhǐ (1 juan); KR6q0127 Zhì zhèng zhuàn (1 juan).
Huìhóng’s hybrid monastic-literatus identity — simultaneously a Chán master, a major literary author, and a close friend of major Northern-Sòng literati (Sū Shì 蘇軾, Huáng Tíngjiān 黃庭堅, Zhāng Shāngyīng 張商英, Chén Guàn 陳瓘, etc.) — is characteristic of the late Northern Sòng monastic-secular literary interface and marks the period as the high point of literate-Buddhist integration.
Per DILA A001673: birth 1071; death Jiànyán 2.5 (1128.5, Gregorian mid-June); native of Xīnchāng in Jiāngxī; lay surname Yù 喻 (or Péng). LínjìHuánglóng lineage.