Ruibai Mingxue 瑞白明雪

School: Caodong | 1584–1641 | Teacher: Zhanran Yuancheng | Students: Xiaoyun Yun, Yuanjie Jingying, Baiyu Jingsi

From Tongcheng, lay surname Yang, born 1584; his father died when he was young and he served his mother. Tonsured at twenty at Julong hermitage on Jiuhua, he was given a verse to hold by Zibo Zhenke, took full precepts at Yunqi in 1608, and in 1610 went to Zhanran Yuancheng at Yunmen Xiansheng monastery in Shaoxing. Yuancheng broke him open — 'the four elements are false, the deluded mind is empty: who is dragging this corpse of yours here?' — and he came through on the seventh night. He succeeded Yuancheng at Yunmen, then moved to Bianshan in Huzhou and finally to Baizhang in Hongdu, nine seats in all. He died in 1641, aged fifty-eight; his whole body was interred in a stupa at Longhua on Bianshan.

References: DILA Authority A007133

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