Lanxi Daolong

Lanxi Daolong
Born	c. 1213 Sichuan Province, China
Died	c. 1278

Lanxi Daolong (Chinese: 兰溪道隆; pinyin: Lánxī Dàolóng; Wade–Giles: Lan-hsi Tao-long;Japanese: Rankei Dōryū) (c. 1213-1278), born in Sichuan Province, China in 1213 A.D. (Southern Song Dynasty), was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, idealist philosopher, and is the founder of the Kenchō-ji sect, which is a branch of the Rinzai school. He entered temple life at the age of thirteen. Due to the Mongol Conquest of the Song Dynasty in China in 1246, also driven by the new trend that Zen monks of the Southern Song Dynasty increasingly tended to voluntarily go to Japan to preach Zen Buddhism, plus the influences of his teachers and friends, he sailed to Japan to preach Zen Buddhism, and later moved to Kamakura, where he took charge of Kenchō-ji (建長寺). after having accepted the invitation of Hōjō Tokiyori (北条時頼) in 1253. His calligraphy was famous in Japan, especially Rule of Zen (法语规则). Daolong died in Kenchō-ji, and was given the Posthumous Name as Dajue Zen Master (大覚禅師, Daikaku Zenji in Japanese) by Emperor Go-Uda (後宇多天皇). Throughout his lifetime, he made great contributions to promote Sino-Japanese cultural interactions.

Lanxi Daolong was born in Lanxi, Fujiang, Sichuan Province (presently Mianyang, Sichuan Province) in 1213 (in the Jiading period of Southern Song Dynasty) and died in Japan on July 24, 1278 at 2pm. It is difficult to trace his parenthood and the living conditions of his childhood. We only know that the family name of Lanxi Daolong was Ran. According to Biographies of Monks (高僧传), Lanxi Daolong displayed purity, excellence and bravery. In 1226, at the age of 13, he went to Daci Temple (), Chengdu, and he was tonsured to participate in various forms of Zen learning in 1227. Later, he went to Zhejiang Province to learn Zen from Wuzhun Shifan in Wanshou Temple (万寿寺), and finally became a disciple of Chijue Daochong, Beijian Jujian and so on. Daolong persevered in learning dhyana there. Before long he began to travel through Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, finally settling down in Yangshan (in Wuxi, Jiangsu) where he learned Zen from Renjue (formerly known as Wuming Huixing, 1160–1237) in Cuiwei Temple.

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