Born 1625 in his home prefecture, of the Cheng clan. He was tonsured at fifteen under a clansman-monk, Xiaosong, and studied the doctrinal texts with him for years; then, hearing of the teaching-wind of the Old Man of Hengshan, he went and took refuge with him. At the first knock he set to work hard on the matter, morning and evening without let, and the old man valued him and named him Lingyi. HE PRACTISED BITTERLY FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS. One day he presented a verse, and the old man said: 'Today at last I know I have not deceived you' — and handed over the responsory verses, staff and whisk that had come down from GRAND-MASTER TIE, renaming him Zhuofeng. When Hengshan travelled to Jiangnan he took charge of Qingyun; he opened the dharma at Qingyun monastery in Zhongzhou in 1680, on the forty-ninth day after his master's death. When Hengshan died his burden grew heavier still. In the autumn of 1685 the man who had promised to help him died; within ten days Zhuofeng too fell ill, and as he lay dying he took brush and paper, wrote a few lines, threw down the brush and stared, as though something were still unsettled.
References: DILA Authority A016343 (Hengshan Dengbing)
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