Gaoan Dayu

Gaoan Dayu was a Yunmen school master who contributed to the tradition's preservation during the Song dynasty. He maintained the school's methods and trained students in the Yunmen approach to Chan practice, which emphasized the integration of literary culture with direct meditative insight.

Dayu's role in the Yunmen lineage reflects the school's position as a bridge between the literary and contemplative dimensions of Chan. The Yunmen tradition valued the capacity to express awakened understanding through beautiful and precise language, seeing in this capacity not a departure from direct experience but its natural flowering.