Zhū 珠 (Dàxiū Zhū 大休珠)
Early-Qīng Cáodòng 曹洞 Chán master, dharma-heir in the Zhànrán Yuánchéng 湛然圓澄 (1561–1626) sub-line. Fǎhuì 法諱 Zhū 珠 (“Pearl”), hào Dàxiū 大休 / Dàxiū dàorén 大休道人. Lay surname Zhōu 周, native of Yángzhōufǔ Tàizhōu Huájiāzhuāng 楊州府泰州華家莊, relocated after a house-fire to Kējiābǎo 柯家堡. Father Zhōu Nánjīn 周南津公; mother Jìshì 紀氏 (widowed, raised him alone 30+ years). Lifedates 1615 – c. November 1656, age ~42 suì (“nián wèi jí ài 年未及艾” — “not yet 50”) per the Tán Zhēnmò zǒngxù to KR6q0413.
Life. At 15 formally married but celibate. At 22 (1636), wife’s suicide prompted his flight to seek tonsure at Xīfāngān; negotiated formal release from his mother; tonsured Chóngzhēn 9.12.8 (= 2 February 1637) at Ānfēngchǎng Qīngjìngān 安豐場清淨菴 by Yuèmén héshàng 越門和尚 (a Yún-mén-line Cáodòng master). Transferred after Yuèmén’s death to dharma-brother Běnyuán 本源; received full precepts from Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟 at Tiāntóngsì 1637 and trained there three years in strict asceticism. Wandering practice-tour 1638–43 among multiple Cáodòng and Línjì masters: Ěrmì héshàng 爾密 at Xiǎnshèng (1638, 1640); Liùrú 六如 and Jùdé 具德 (1639); Huìróng fǎshī 慧融 at Zhūshāān for scripture-lectures (1641); Xiàngtián Píngdì xiānshī 象田平地先師 at Xiàngtiánsì (1641–42, near-sealing interrupted by Píngdì’s death); Xiàoyún Jìyùn 寂蘊 at Tiāntāi Hùguósì (Cáodòng wǔwèi sealing, c. 1642); Shíqí Tōngyún 通雲 at Língjiùsì (1642 spring, sealing refused on doctrinal grounds); Zhànmíng lǜshī 湛明律師 at Yúnfēngsì (two-year zàng 藏-reading, 1642–43); Gǔlíng 古靈 at Xiàngtián (1643, delivery of the Xiàngtián fǎyī 法衣 bequeathed by Píngdì); Shíyǔ Míngfāng 石雨明方 (Yǔ lǎorén 雨老人) at Bǎoshòusì → Lóngmén (1643–44, formal fùfǎ 付法 on Shíyǔ’s jiǎshēn 正月 = January–February 1644 birthday shàngtáng). Chose to preserve the Xiàngtián lineage-identity over the Bǎoshòu identity (“sìfǎ Xiàngtián lǎohéshàng 嗣法象田老和尚”).
Abbacies (1644–1656). Xiàngtiánsì (1644 winter, brief, internal conflict); Wēngzhōu Huángyángjiān bìguān (1645); Shàngyú Ruìxiàngsì (brief); Guìjī Tiānhuásì 會稽天華寺 (bǐngxū 1646 autumn, first full shàngtáng corpus); Fórìsì as xītáng (1647); Wūzhèn Mìyìnsì 烏鎮密印寺 (1647–49); Jiāxīng Báiliánsì 嘉興白蓮寺 (jǐchǒu 1649 winter, where he delivered his 行實); Jiāxīng Dìngyǐnsì 定隱寺; Dàjué Miàojìsì 大覺妙濟寺; and finally Cáoxī Nánhuá Chánsì 曹溪南華禪寺 (jiǎwǔ 甲午 1654 6.6 invitation by the two-Guǎng zhèntái Zhāng Guóxūn / Yúntái; entered temple 10.15). Died at Nánhuá c. November 1656 after two years’ tenure — the first substantial post-Hàn-shān Déqīng abbacy at the ancestral seat of Huìnéng, restoring the Cáodòng Chán presence at the central zǔtíng of Chán Buddhism. Tán Zhēnmò’s 1659 zǒngxù explicitly positions Dàxiū as the third Nánhuá zǔtíng restoration-abbot after Huìnéng and Hànshān (“zì Lúzǔ Hànzǔ liǎng dàshī yǐ qì Xiū héshàng ér sān yě 自盧祖憨祖兩大師以迄休和尚而三也”).
Work: KR6q0413 《大休珠禪師語錄》 (12 juan, Jiāxīng Canon J27 B192, compiled by shìzhě Guǎngxī 廣熙 with biāncì by 行信 行信 of the Ruìlù sub-line; zǒngxù by Tán Zhēnmò 譚貞默 dated 順治 15.12.15 = 1659-01-08). The yǔlù organizes its content by abbacy, not chronologically: the Nánhuá block leads (j.1 + j.8–12 = six of twelve juan), reflecting the symbolic centrality of the Nánhuá restoration.
Sources: KR6q0413 juan 3 xíngshí (the master’s own 1649–50s autobiography); juan 1 Tán Zhēnmò zǒngxù (1659-01-08); Wǔdēng quánshū 五燈全書 juan 63; Chén Yuán 陳垣, 《釋氏疑年錄》 (1964) entry for Dàxiū Zhū.