Dàoshèng 道盛 (Juélàng Dàoshèng 覺浪道盛)
Major MíngQīng transitional Cáodòng-lineage Chán master and Míng-loyalist literary-religious figure. Hào Juélàng 覺浪 (“Awakening-Wave”), Làngzhàngrén 浪杖人 (“Staff-Man Làng”). Native of Pǔchéng 浦城 (Fújiàn). Lifedates 1593/1/18 – 1659/10/22 (Wànlì 20/12/16 – Shùnzhì 16/9/7, age 67, per the tomb-inscription in Tiānjiè Juélàng Shèng chánshī yǔlù juan 12).
Thirty-third-generation Cáodòng-orthodox patriarch (Dòngshàng zhèngzōng sānshísān shì 洞上正宗三十三世), dharma-heir of 元鏡 Huìtái Yuánjìng (1577–1630) and thus dharma-grandson of 慧經 Wúmíng Huìjīng in the Shòuchāng 壽昌 Cáodòng revival. One of the principal Cáodòng masters of the MíngQīng transition. Abbot at Tiānjièsì 天界寺 (in Nánjīng), Qīxiásì 棲霞寺 at Shèshān 攝山, Lónghú 龍湖, Shòuchāng 壽昌, Línggǔ 靈谷, Fènglín 鳳林, Jìngshān 徑山 — some fifty seats over his career. His institutional position near the former Míng capital Nánjīng placed him at the geographic and political centre of the Míng-loyalist Buddhist resistance.
Compiled (jí 集) his teacher 元鏡’s yǔlù (KR6q0363; X72 n1433), supplying the principal biographical material for Yuánjìng’s posthumous tǎmíng in the same volume. Before becoming Yuánjìng’s heir, Dàoshèng had trained under Ruìyán Shígōng 瑞巖識公 (initial tonsure), taken the full precepts from Bóshān Wúyì Yuánlái 無異元來, and consulted Huìjīng directly — the Shòuchāng group was tight-knit, and Dàoshèng’s dharma-lineage received its formal seal from Huìjīng himself after Yuánjìng’s initial recognition.
Substantial Míng-loyalist intellectual-literary engagement: widely associated with the mid-17th-century Buddhist lay community including Ǒuyì Zhìxù 蕅益智旭 (who preserves ten Q&A exchanges with Dàoshèng in KR6q0183) and various yí mín 遺民 scholars.
Major works:
- KR6q0221 Tiānjiè Juélàng Shèng chánshī quán lù 天界覺浪盛禪師全錄 — his comprehensive 33-juan yǔlù compiled posthumously by dharma-heirs Dàchéng and Dàrán.
- KR6q0482 《天界覺浪盛禪師嘉禾語錄》 1 juan, Jiāxīng Canon J34 B312 — a single-juan Jiā-xīng-region (= 嘉禾) selection from his preaching, recorded by Dàshū 大樞 + Dàyīng 大英 lù, with front-preface by Tán Zhēnmò 譚貞默 (the same Tán who wrote the tǎmíng for Miàoyòng 妙用’s KR6q0416 in 1654).
Sources: Tiānjiè Juélàng Shèng chánshī yǔlù juan 12 tomb-inscription; Wǔ dēng quán shū; Chén Yuán 陳垣. 1962. 《明季滇黔佛教考》 and 《清初僧諍記》.