Although it cannot be said that Xue-lang-hong-en (雪浪洪恩), one of the greatest priests in the late Ming, has never been noticed by scholors, he has been considered far below the four greatest priests of that time. But yet, he did have an enormous influence on Buddhism in the Yangtze River delta. This article primarily provides fundamental research on Xue-lang-hong-en and evaluates him from a history-of-culture viewpoint. Two explicit concepts exist about Xue-lang-hong-en. First, he personally explained the Sutra by himself rather than depend on notes and already existing utterances. In addition, his dislike of the Jing-tu (淨土) school of thought was a rare sight after the Sung dynasty. He also edited a total of eight canons which later became the main body of texts for the Wei-Shi (唯識) school. The former illustrates his being closed to Zen thought, which was very popular at that time, while the latter reveals the ascending popularity of stressing the importance of Buddhist texts. Second, Xue-lang-hong-en excelled at poetry, as did many of his pupils. He even paid great attention to drama and lectured on the relationship between it and Buddhism. His example allows us to understand the intricacy between the arts and Buddhism of the late Ming. This article consists of four main parts: (1) an introduction of Xue-lang-hong-en's life; (2) the features of his theories; (3) his discourse on literature and art; and (4) an introduction of a rare copy of his Ku-xiang-lu《谷響錄》 stored in the Naigaku Library in Tokyo. With this article, I hope to enlighten scholars of the particularities of Xue-lang-hong-en's life and thought.
