Dàokāi 道開 (Mìzàng Dàokāi 密藏道開)
Late-Míng Chán monk. Zì Mìzàng 密藏 (“Secret Treasury”); full monastic style Mìzàng Dàokāi 密藏道開. Native of Nánchāng 南昌 (Jiāngxī). Lifedates unrecorded; active c. 1580–1605.
Originally a Confucian licentiate-scholar (qīngjīn 青衿), Dàokāi abandoned his scholarly career and took tonsure at Nánhǎi 南海 before becoming the personal attendant (shìzhě 侍者) of Zǐbǎi Zhēnkě 紫柏真可 (1544–1604). Zǐbǎi recognised him as a capable fǎ qì 法器 (dharma-vessel) and deployed him as the senior monastic organiser for the most ambitious Buddhist publishing project of the Wànlì era.
Jiāxīng Canon project leader. In Wànlì 10 (1582) Dàokāi, travelling through Shàoxīng, was struck by an inscription recording that the small Kuàijī prefecture alone had produced seven Buddhist canon-printings under the Yuán. Reflecting that the larger Míng should do at least as well, he conceived the vow to produce a new, accessibly-formatted canonical printing. In Wànlì 15 (1587) he formalised the vow with ten lay hùfǎ 護法 patrons and began working with his monastic colleague Fǎběn 法本. In Wànlì 17 (1589) carving began at Wǔtáishān 五臺山 Miàodéān 妙德庵; after four years the project was relocated to Jìngshān Jìzhàoān 徑山寂照庵 (for climate reasons). Midway through the work Dàokāi fell ill and withdrew, passing leadership to Huànyú 幻餘; the canon was completed by subsequent generations and is now preserved as the Jiāxīng zàng 嘉興藏 (Jiāxīng Canon) — one of the most important Chinese Buddhist printed canons of the early-modern period.
Works:
- Mìzàng Kāi chánshī yí gǎo 密藏開禪師遺稿 KR6q0189 — posthumous compilation of his writings, preserved within the very canon-project he had founded.
- Zàng yì jīng shū biāo mù 藏逸經書標目 — a bibliographic scholarly work identifying Buddhist texts lost from canonical collections.
Principal dharma-heir: Yánniàn Yúnqín 延念雲勤 (DILA A022834).
Sources: Zǐbǎi zūnzhě quán jí 紫柏尊者全集 juan 1; Hānshān lǎorén mèngyóu quánjí 憨山老人夢遊全集 juan 26; Mìzàng Kāi chánshī yí gǎo juan 1.