Early- and mid-Míng imperial-court Buddhist scholar-monk; one of the most prominent monastic editors of the Yǒnglè–Xuāndé–Zhèngtǒng decades (c. 1410s–1450s). Zì Dú-fāng 獨芳; lay surname Wú 吳; native of Tài-yuán 太原 (Shān-xī). Ordained at the Ráo-yì-sì 饒益寺, formally received full precepts at twenty. Recognized by the master Xiū-yún 休雲 with the bestowal of the dharma-robe; meditated at Tiān-lóng-dòng 天龍洞 and at Míng-xiān-dòng 名仙洞, where he set up a maṇḍala seat and conducted yàn-kǒu (flaming-mouth) hungry-ghost feeding rites for three years; thereupon noticed by the King of Jìn 晉王, who installed him as abbot of Hóng-yòu-sì 鴻祐寺.
Brought into the Yǒnglè-court editorial machine, he was commissioned by imperial order to annotate the Dà-míng sān-zàng fǎ-shù 大明三藏法數 and to collate the Tripiṭaka. Summoned to the xiāng-diàn 香殿 to dispute Śūraṅgama doctrine with Jìn-fǎ-zhǔ 進法主; commissioned to oversee the collation and copying of the Tripiṭaka at Hǎi-yìn-sì 海印寺. Successively favored under the Rén-zōng (Hóng-xī) and Xuān-zōng (Xuān-dé) reigns; appointed Yòu jiǎng-jīng 右講經 of the Sēng-lù-sī 僧錄司 (Buddhist Affairs Bureau), promoted to Zuǒ jiǎng-jīng 左講經 in Zhèng-tǒng 7 (1442). Permitted in old age to forgo court audience while retaining office. Died seated upright after composing a final verse on Jǐng-tài 7 / 7 / 4 (1456-08-13), age 91, monastic age 71. Posthumously honored by the Dài-zōng emperor with the title Jìng-fàn Yì-jiào Chán-shī 淨梵翊教禪師 (“Chán Master Pure-Brahma Augmenting-the-Teaching”); funeral by imperial Rites Ministry. Principal Tripiṭaka work: the imperially-commissioned KR6c0056 Jīn-gāng jīng zhù-jiě (X24 no. 468), a four-juan recension of the 17-house Sòng-period collected commentary on the Vajracchedikā, finalized in 1423 (Yǒnglè 21).
Source: Bǔxù gāosēng zhuàn 補續高僧傳 j. 5; DILA A000857.