A son of the Lü clan of southern Hunan, born about 1631. Born into civil war, he was TAKEN CAPTIVE AND CARRIED INTO GUIZHOU and pressed into an army camp; at Changshou hermitage in Anshun he heard the Reverend Yunfu give a dharma-talk and conceived the wish to leave the world. When the dynasty's forces retook Yunnan and Guizhou his unit scattered, and he fled to Longtan monastery at Annan and was tonsured under the elder Wuxia. Hearing that SHANQUAN DAWEI was teaching at Wanshou monastery in Longchang, he went and received full ordination; Shanquan took him for a vessel at first sight. He followed Shanquan to Songkui and, while attending him in a discussion of the Surangama, awoke at the passage where the Buddha raises his golden arm. Shanquan deeply approved him. He never left him again, staying at Songkui for over twenty years; when Shanquan died in 1684 the assembly asked him to succeed, and he rebuilt Songkui. He died in the winter of 1697, aged 67, with 40 years in robes, having told his disciples: 'When I am gone, do not trouble with pyre and expense — bury me whole.'
References: DILA Authority A016435 (Shanquan Dawei)
View interactive profile →