Youngest son of the Jiang clan of Qiyang in southern Hunan; his father was named Chunlong, his mother of the Li clan. He was born in 1633. He never studied as a boy, and about the age of twelve both his parents died; he was tonsured at Tianquan in 1644. In 1653, when the country had quietened, he took leave of his master and travelled to the lecture-halls. He entered QISHAN for the summer retreat in 1654 and was fully ordained that winter under LANFANG, a thirtieth-generation Caodong master at Renrui monastery on Qishan in Hengzhou. During work-practice a monk asked, 'Mountains, rivers and the great earth fully reveal the Dharma-King's body; before us they are vivid and clear — what then is the Dharma-King's body?' and the master answered 'Revealed.' Hearing it from the side, Wenmu Nian suddenly awoke. He later presided at a 'new Danxia'.
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