Juéyuàn 覺苑
Mid-Liáo-dynasty (Khitan) Buddhist scholar-monk and exegete; the principal Liáo-period Esoteric-school exponent. Honorific titles Lùqīng zǒngmì dàshī 祿卿總秘大師 (“Stipend-Officer Master of Comprehensive Esoterica”) and Cìzǐ shāmén 賜紫沙門 (“monk with imperially-bestowed purple robe”). Floruit Liáo Qīngníng 5 (1059) – Dàkāng era (1075–1085).
His principal work is the ten-fascicle Dàrì jīng yìshì yǎnmì chāo 大日經義釋演密鈔 (KR6j0735, X23 no. 439), an extensive sub-commentary on Yīxíng’s Mahāvairocanasūtra Yìshì (KR6j0734) that brings Liáo-period Esoteric exegesis to the foundational Tang commentarial layer. The introductory note to the Yǎnmì chāo is by cháoyìdàfū xíng qǐjū jí chōng Qiánwéngé dàizhì shǐguǎn xiūzhuàn jìdūwèi 朝議大夫行起居即充乾文閣待制史館修撰騎都尉 Zhào Xiàoyán 趙孝嚴, who composed it on imperial command, dated to the Liáo Qīngníng 5 = 1059 reign of Liáo Dàozōng. Juéyuàn’s own colophon refers to a Dàkāng era (1075–1085) timeframe.
The Yǎnmì chāo is one of the most important Liáo-period Buddhist texts to survive into modern canons and confirms the substantial Liáo-imperial commitment to Esoteric Buddhism that paralleled the Tang transmission to Heian Japan. Per DILA A001780.