Míngfāng 明方 (Shíyǔ Míngfāng 石雨明方)
Late-Míng / MíngQīng transitional Cáodòng-lineage Chán master. Zì Shíyǔ 石雨 (“Stone-Rain”), Duànfú 斷拂 (“Broken Whisk”). Lay surname Chén 陳. Native of Jiāshàn 嘉善 in Hé 禾 (modern Jiāxīng 嘉興 region, Zhèjiāng). Lifedates 1593/3/1–1648/2/1 (Wànlì 21/1/29 – Shùnzhì 5/1/8, age 56, sēnglà 35).
Ordained at 22 in Wànlì 42 = 1614 at Xīzhú Zōng chánshī 西築宗禪師’. Chán-training under Zhànrán Yuánchéng 湛然圓澄 at Yúnménsì 雲門寺 (1615); also visited Bóshān 博山 and Hānshān Déqīng 憨山德清. Received dharma-transmission from Yuánchéng, receiving as transmission-symbol a duàn fú 斷拂 (“broken whisk”) — whence his secondary zì Duànfú.
Held nine major abbacies in Zhèjiāng from 1631 to 1648: Xiàngtián 象田, Tiānhuā 天華 (twice), Xiǎnshèngyuàn 顯聖院, Bǎoshòu 寶壽 (at Yúháng), Lóngmén 龍門, Xīchán 西禪, Xuěfēng 雪峰, Dōngtǎ 東塔, and Fórì 佛日. His extended productive career across these nine abbacies places him among the central figures of late-Míng and early-Qīng Cáodòng revival.
Dharma-heirs included Yuǎnmén Jìngzhù 遠門淨柱 (compiler of his yǔlù KR6q0201), Dàdǐng Jìngxīn 大鼎淨新, Jíniàn Jìngxiàn 即念淨現, Tiānyú Jìngbǎo 天愚淨寶, and more than ten other named masters — a substantial continuation of the Cáodòng lineage into the Qīng.
Sources: Shíyǔ chánshī fǎ tán KR6q0201 juan 20 (行狀 biography by Jìngzhù); Xù dēng zhèng tǒng mù lù 續燈正統目錄 juan 1; Wǔ dēng quán shū 五燈全書 juans 109, 110, 115; Zǔ dēng 祖燈 juan 95.