Myōsen 明詮 (789–868) — Early-Heian Japanese Hossō 法相 (Yogācāra / Faxiang) scholar-monk of Kōfuku-ji 興福寺 in Nara, also associated with Yakushi-ji 藥師寺; lay name 南池 Nanchi. He represents the second generation of Japanese Hossō scholarship after 善珠 (Zenju, 724–797) and is, with Zenju, the principal early-Heian transmitter and systematiser of the Chinese yīnmíng (Hetuvidyā) tradition into Japan.
His two surviving canonical works are both lemmatic glosses on KR6o0008 Yīnmíng rù zhèng lǐ lùn shū 因明入正理論疏 (T44n1840) by 窺基 (Kuījī):
- Yīnmíng dàshū dào 因明大疏噵 (KR6o0012, T69n2273) — a koto-by-koto topical sub-commentary, three fascicles.
- Yīnmíng dàshū lǐshū 因明大疏裏書 (KR6o0013, T69n2274) — interleaved-page glosses, six fascicles, transmitted in a parallel manuscript line.
The character 噵 in his first title is a Buddhist-scholastic technical orthography for 導 (“to lead, to expound”); the Kanripo catalog metadata renders it placeholder-style as “ṭ”. Both works were transmitted in private Kōfuku-ji manuscripts down to the Edo period and were edited and printed at the Buzan Shingi-Shingon establishment by 快道林常 Kaidō Rinjō in Kansei 4 (1792).
DILA Buddhist Person Authority A000667.
Source: DILA A000667; Nihon Bukke jinmei jisho; kotobank entry s.v. 明詮.