Late-Ming through early-Qīng Tiāntái 天台 master and exegete. DILA Authority A001289. Sobriquet Nèihéng 內衡. Lay surname Yáng 楊; native of Wúxīng 吳興 in Húzhōufǔ 湖州府 (modern Zhèjiāng). Born Wànlì 萬曆 37 (1609); died during the Kāngxī 康熙 era (conventionally 1669), aged 61, with 43 years of monastic seniority.
At twenty he took Xīnyī Dàfǎshī 新伊大法師 (1580–1650) of Tǔqiáo 土橋 as his teacher; the master at first sight regarded him as a vessel and entrusted him with the central principles of the Buddhadharma, instructing him to read widely in the Tiāntái sāndàbù 天台三大部 (the three great Tiāntái treatises). After several years he had penetrated all three without obstruction.
Of his many writings, only the Fǎhuá jīng xuánqiān zhèngshì 法華經玄籤證釋 (KR6d0013, X28n0592, 10 juan — a critical exegetical study of Zhànrán’s Fǎhuá xuányì shìqiān) survives in the Buddhist canon. He also collated and emended Yújiā yánkǒu zhùjí zuǎnyào yíguǐ 瑜伽燄口註集纂要儀軌 (the yánkǒu fire-mouth ritual manual) and corrected the Yújiā yánkǒu yíguǐ liùzé 瑜伽燄口儀軌六則.
Five direct dharma-disciples: Ěrruò Pǔchéng 爾若溥成, Lǎngrán Chénghuì 朗然成慧, Wéiyuán Chéngfāng 唯圓成方, Yìmào Chéngmíng 益懋成明, and Wénguāng Chéngyuè 文光成月.
Source: Chèngshān Chèngxīnsì zhì 偁山偁心寺志 juan 3; DILA A001289.