Lín Yìzhī 林亦之 (1136–1185)
Zì Xuékě 學可. Hào Yuèyú 月漁 (“Moon-Fishing”) and Wǎngshān shānrén 網山山人. Posthumous (privately bestowed) shì Wénjiè 文介. Native of Lóngjiāng in Fúqīng 福清 (Fújiàn). Lifedates 1136–1185 per Lín Xīyì’s 林希逸 preface to his collection. (The catalog meta gives the same dates.)
The orthodox transmission-recipient (díchuán) of Lín Guāngcháo 林光朝 (Master Àixuān, KR4d0225) at the Hóngquán 紅泉 lecture hall in Pútián. After Lín Guāngcháo’s death (1178), the disciples requested Lín Yìzhī to take the seat. Zhào Rǔyú 趙汝愚, then shuài Mǐn (Pacification Commissioner of Fújiàn), submitted Lín’s accomplishments to court — but Lín died (1185) at age 50 before any appointment could be made. He was a poor-commoner who never held office. In the Jǐngdìng era (1260–1264) the court posthumously granted Dígōngláng; his disciples privately bestowed the shì “Wénjiè xiānshēng”.
His son Lín Jiǎn 簡 zì Qǐbó 綺伯 died abroad; his orthodox Àixuān line ended with him. Liú Kèzhuāng — who served Lín Jiǎn as a child — provides the principal commemorative preface to his collection (1231).
In the Lóngxīng (1163–1164) reckoning of the Àixuān school’s gāodì (high disciples), Lín Yìzhī was already universally acknowledged as Lín Guāngcháo’s principal heir; this evaluation was reaffirmed sixty years after Lín Guāngcháo’s death when scholars again ranked the master’s díchuán — “they still said Wǎngshān.”
Surviving in Kanripo:
- KR4d0231 Wǎngshān jí (8 juǎn, WYG; carved 1231 with prefaces by Liú Kèzhuāng and Lín Xīyì).