Báiyún Qīngjué 白雲清覺 (1043–1121), zì Běnrán 本然 (“Fundamentally-Such”), hào Báiyún 白雲 (“White Cloud”). Founder of the Báiyúnzōng 白雲宗, a heterodox Sòng-dynasty lay-Buddhist sectarian movement with integrated Buddhist-Confucian doctrinal syncretism. Native of Luòjīng Dēngfēng 洛京登封 (modern Hénán), lay surname Kǒng 孔 — recorded in the Bǔxù gāosēng zhuàn 補續高僧傳 as a 52nd-generation descendant of Confucius (zhì shèng Wénxuān wáng wǔ shí èr shì sūn 至聖文宣王五十二世孫).
Inspired to enter monastic life in Xīníng 2 (1069) on reading the Lotus Sūtra; ordained under Hǎihuì dàshī 海慧大師 at the Lóngmén 龍門 in Rǔzhōu 汝州. Travelled widely; studied under Qiānsuì héshàng 千歲和尚 at Éméi 峨眉. Practised twenty years of meditation at the Tàishǒu yán 太守巖 at Fúshān 浮山 in Shūzhōu 舒州 before relocating to Hángzhōu in Yuányòu 8 (1093) and residing at the Língyǐn sì 靈隱寺 and later at the Báiyúnān 白雲庵 (“White-Cloud Hermitage”) behind the Língyǐn sì — from which hermitage and its naming his school takes its name.
Qīngjué established the Báiyúnzōng 白雲宗 as an independent lay-Buddhist movement with distinctive doctrinal positions; major works include the Zhèng zōng lùn 證宗論, Sān jiāo biān 三教編 (“Treatise on the Three Teachings”), and Shí dì gē 十地歌 (“Song of the Ten Stages”), together with the two short pedagogical texts preserved in the Xù zàng jīng:
- Chū xué jì 初學記 (KR6q0144, X63 n1253, 1 juan) — with Yuán-dynasty commentary by 道安 Dàoān;
- Zhèng xíng jí 正行集 (KR6q0145, X63 n1254, 1 juan).
The Báiyúnzōng’s signature features included: (a) a syncretic integration of Buddhist doctrine with Confucian ethical-genealogical vocabulary (jūnzǐ 君子, dé xíng 德行, xiào jìng 孝敬); (b) a strong anti-Chán polemical stance; (c) lay-householder practice outside strict monastic organisation; and (d) substantial institutional reach through the 1110s and into the Yuán.
Qīngjué’s anti-Chán polemic provoked the Chán master Juéhǎi Yú 覺海愚 to petition against him as heterodox; Qīngjué was convicted and exiled to Ēnzhōu 恩州 around the late 1110s. His disciple Zhèngbù 政布 and others petitioned the court and in Xuānhé 2 (1120) Qīngjué was pardoned and returned. Died on Xuānhé 3.9.26 (12 November 1121), aged 79, sēnglà 52.
The Báiyúnzōng continued to exist through the Southern Sòng and Yuán, intermittently re-banned, and has historical connections with the later White Lotus 白蓮 tradition, though the two movements are distinct.
Works in the Kanripo corpus: KR6q0144 Chū xué jì (with Yuán commentary by Dàoān); KR6q0145 Zhèng xíng jí.
Per DILA A001096: birth 1043 (sui reckoning from the 79-year lifespan ending 1121); death Xuānhé 3.9.26 (12 November 1121); lay surname Kǒng, native of Dēngfēng.