Nan-yüeh
Nan-yüeh
[南岳] (515–577) (PY Nanyue; Jpn Nangaku)
Also known as Hui-ssu. T'ient'ai's teacher and the third patriarch of the T'ient'ai school in China, in the tradition that counts Nagarjuna as the school's founder. A native of Nan-yü-chou in north China, he entered the priesthood in 529 and concentrated on the study of the Lotus Sutra. Later he learned from Hui-wen the meditation for observing the mind and mastered the Lotus meditation, a meditation based on the Lotus Sutra. In 548 a malicious priest who had opposed Nan-yüeh in debate poisoned him, and he nearly died. In 553 another rival priest poisoned him. He survived this attempt, too, and in the next year moved to K'ai-yüeh-ssu temple in Kuang-chou where he lectured on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. In 555 he moved to Mount Ta-su in Kuang-chou. There he devoted himself to lecturing on the Wisdom and the Lotus sutras and engaged in the practice of the Lotus Sutra and the training of his disciples; one of those disciples was T'ient'ai. In 568 he moved to Nan-yüeh, the mountain after which he gained the name the Great Teacher Nan-yüeh, and received the title great meditation master from the emperor. His works include The Mahayana Method of Concentration and Insight and On the Peaceful Practices of the Lotus Sutra.
