The progress of Buddhism was stagnated in Yuen and Ming dynasties, as there were not many eminent masters emerging until late Ming. In late Ming, for Tientai school, the revival led by Youxi Chuandeng 幽溪傳燈 is most influential and significant. There are two types of related studies, as one focuses on the thoughts of Youxi Chuandeng, and the other on the spread of the lineage. This paper stresses the latter. It’s known that Youxi is the heir of Baisong Zhenjue 百松真覺 and has Tongxi Xuesong 桐溪雪松 as dharma heir, followed by three branches. Among the three, little was known about the Shoutai 受汰 branch. On the basis of the previous research, this article investigates the monastic transmission in Shoutai branch to figure out domestic developments and influences of Tientai school in Ming and Qing dynasties. There two major parts in this article. First, the author elaborates the life of Master Shoutai, focusing on his social network and career accomplishment. Then the author discusses the propagational strategies of the master and his disciples. In the second part, the author portraits the monks in the Shoutai branch and infers the reason why no more successive dharma heirs in early Qing. The research finding points out that the follow-up operation of Master Shoutai’s disciples was tractable. We can see from its developmental progress that they took rather subtle propagational strategies as the temple Master Shoutai resided was not administrated by their own lineage and the original residential monks carried different perspectives and customs. Later when his heir finally obtained the power temple administration, however, they found no outstanding monks for succession. According to this, the author concluded that the talent development of monks stands more important role than the material conditions. As for Tientai monastics in late Ming period, to balance out between the education of monk and striving for the space was probably their most important concern.
