Southern-Sòng Tiāntái master and dharma-heir of Běifēng Zōngyìn 北峰宗印 (1148–1213). DILA Authority A000731. Zì Huìyán 晦岩 (also referenced as Huìyán Fǎzhào 晦巖法照). Honorific titles Fóguāng fǎshī 佛光法師 (conferred by Lǐzōng 理宗) and Pǔtōng fǎshī 普通法師 (posthumous, conferred by Dùzōng 度宗 in 1274). Lay surname Tóng 童; native of Dàào 大墺 in Tāizhōu Huángyán 台州黃岩 (modern Zhèjiāng). Born Chúnxī 淳熙 12, 7th month, 28th day (= 1 September 1185); died Xiánchún 咸淳 9, 8th month, 15th day (= 4 October 1273), aged 89, with 74 years of monastic seniority.
At thirteen took ordination at the Shèngshuǐsì 聖水寺 under Xuāngōng 宣公. After his early formation he travelled widely: first to Běichán 北禪 to study under Běifēng Zōngyìn; then to Jiǎngshān 蔣山 to consult Yǎn Xīwēng 琰淅翁. Subsequently returned to Xiàzhúsì 下竺寺 with Běifēng. At thirty-three he became abbot of Yángdàn 陽淡; transferred successively to Tiāntái Dàcí 天台大慈, Shèngshuǐsì 聖水寺, Yúnjiān Yánqìng 雲間延慶, Fèngshān Bǎoqīn 鳳山褒親, and Sìmíng 四明; finally summoned by Lǐzōng to the Xiàtiānzhú 下天竺 and then Shàngtiānzhú 上天竺 in Hángzhōu, where he served as abbot for twenty-four years until his death.
Imperial honours: appointed Yòujiē jiànyì 右街鑑義 (right-street critical-meaning officer); promoted Zuǒjiē 左街; granted the golden-thread kasaya; received the imperial calligraphy of “Huìyán” 晦岩 in two large characters from Lǐzōng. After his death, the posthumous title Pǔtōng fǎshī was conferred in the year following.
Major work: the Fǎhuá jīng sāndàbù dújiào jì 法華經三大部讀教記 (KR6d0062, X28n0585, 20 juan) — a comprehensive Southern-Sòng study guide to the Tiāntái sāndàbù (Zhìyǐ’s Xuányì KR6d0006 + Wénjù KR6d0014 + Móhē zhǐguān) and Zhànrán’s three subcommentaries. The work was sufficiently celebrated that the Japanese monk En-kèi 延慶 and Kǎishùn 海順 came to China specifically to study it; they had Fǎzhào’s portrait painted and brought it back to Japan, and the work was substantially studied in the Japanese Tendai 天台 tradition. The Korean prime minister Cuī chéngxiàng 崔丞相 also wrote requesting Buddhist instruction.
Sources: Xù Fózǔ tǒngjì 續佛祖統紀 juan 1; Sòngsēng zhù 宋僧著 (548); DILA A000731.
Not to be confused with the Táng-dynasty Pure Land master Fǎzhào 法照 (c. 747–821) — founder of the 五會念佛 wǔhuì niànfó (“five-melody nianfo”) tradition and author of the Jìngtǔ wǔhuì niànfó lüè fǎshì yízàn KR6p0078 — a separate person, separate entry below.
name: 法照 pinyinName: Fǎzhào alternateNames: [五會法師, Wǔhuì fǎshī, “Master of the Five Melodies”] dynasty: 唐 birthDate: 747 deathDate: 821 cbdbId: dilaAuthorityId: A000730 created: 2026-05-06 updated: 2026-05-06
Fǎzhào 法照 (c. 747–821)
The Táng-dynasty Pure Land master who founded the 五會念佛 wǔhuì niànfó (“five-melody nianfo”) devotional practice — a system of singing the Nāmó ēmítuó fó invocation in five successive melodic patterns of increasing intensity, designed to bring the practitioner through stages of ordinary chanting up to ecstatic devotional absorption. He is the principal innovator of musically-elaborate Pure Land devotional practice in Chinese Buddhism, and his system remained influential through the late-imperial period and into Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. Conventionally counted as the Fourth Patriarch of the orthodox Chinese Pure Land lineage descending through Tánluán 曇鸞 – Dàochuò – Shàndǎo 善導 – Fǎzhào – Shǎokāng.
His exact birth and death dates are uncertain; the conventional reconstruction places him as c. 747 – 821, with floruit in the second half of the eighth century. He was active at Wǔ-tái-shān 五台山, the principal Buddhist sacred mountain of north-central China, and is associated with the famous Zhú-lín-sì 竹林寺 (Bamboo-Grove Monastery) on Wǔ-tái where he is said to have received Mañjuśrī’s direct authorisation for the wǔ-huì niàn-fó practice in a vision. He served briefly at the Táng court under Dài-zōng 代宗 (r. 762–779), where he was honoured with the title Wǔ-huì fǎ-shī 五會法師 (“Master of the Five Melodies”). His major surviving works are the 《淨土五會念佛略法事儀讚》 Jìng-tǔ wǔ-huì niàn-fó lüè fǎ-shì yí-zàn KR6p0078 (T1983, 2 juǎn) and the 《淨土五會念佛誦經觀行儀》 Jìng-tǔ wǔ-huì niàn-fó sòng-jīng guān-xíng yí (Dūnhuáng manuscript, partly preserved). DILA Authority A000730.