Dàoqiān 道謙
Southern-Sòng Yángqí-branch Línjì Chán monk; dharma-heir of 宗杲 Dàhuì Zōnggǎo (1089–1163), styled Mì’ān 密庵 and best known as Kāishàn Dàoqiān 開善道謙 after his long residence at Kāishàn sì 開善寺 in Jiànníng fǔ 建寧府 (Fújiàn). Native of Jiànzhōu 建州, lay surname Yóu 游. Exact lifedates not transmitted.
Orphaned young; tonsured early and first presented himself to 克勤 Yuánwù Kèqín with little apparent breakthrough. Attached himself subsequently to Zōnggǎo during his teacher’s residence at Quánnán 泉南 and followed him to Jìngshān 徑山. Zōnggǎo sent him to Chángshā 長沙 with a letter for the layman Zhāng Jiǔchéng 張九成 (Zǐyán jūshì 紫巖居士); on the journey Dàoqiān suddenly attained awakening. Returned to his native region and taught at Kāishàn sì, where his assembly flourished.
Compiled (biān 編) the one-juan Dàhuì Pǔjué chánshī zōngmén wǔkù 大慧普覺禪師宗門武庫 (KR6q0061), a collection of Chán stories and anecdotes drawn from Zōnggǎo’s informal oral narrative — a distinct sub-genre from his formal sermons and the most widely read of his miscellaneous corpora. Dàoqiān’s influence extends into Neo-Confucian circles via his famous correspondence and teaching with the young Zhū Xī 朱熹, who visited Kāishàn repeatedly in his pre-Dàoxué Buddhist years; Zhū Xī’s later critiques of Chán draw extensively on material traceable to Dàoqiān.