Of Xianju in Tiantai, Ye clan, from a prominent local family. A quick child who read anything once and had it; a passing monk told his parents not to hold him back. He was tonsured by Gutian Hou at Tianning, took precepts, then went the rounds — Zhencang at Tianfeng, and Fangshan Wenbao at Xi'an hermitage on Ruiyan, going back and forth between the two. Dissatisfied, he built a hut on Huading peak of Mount Tiantai and drove himself hard; one day while working he broke through, and Fangshan sealed him with a verse. He then sat on Huading for forty years and never once crossed the threshold — 'his foot never passed the door-sill' — while his reputation drew the whole southeast. Born 1265, died 1334, aged 70, fifty years ordained. Imperially styled Miaoming Zhenjue; his stupa is the Jiguang.
References: DILA Authority A000325
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