Ouyi Zhixu (蕅益智旭, pinyin: Ǒuyì Zhìxù; 1599–1655) was a Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar in 17th century China.

He is considered a patriarch of the Chinese Pure Land School, a Chan master, as well as a great exponent of Tiantai Buddhism.

[4][5] Zhixu is well known for his non-sectarian and syncretic writings, which draw on various traditions like Tiantai, Pure Land, Yogacara, and Chan, and also engage with Confucian, Daoist and Jesuit sources.

[7] At the age of 24, he became a monk at Yunqi temple under Master Khan Xueling, a disciple of Hanshan Deqing.

[10][7] After his mother died when he was 28, he experienced a spiritual crisis and turned to the Pure Land practice of nianfo (reciting the Buddha's name).

[10] When he was 31, he drew lots to determine whether he should write a commentary on the Sutra of Brahma's Net based on Tiantai, Yogacara, Huayan or “a school of his own” (zili).

[11] According to Foulks, his use of lots (rather than lineage ties or doctrinal reasons) for writing from a specific Buddhist tradition suggests that he saw these schools of thought as "not only compatible but also interchangeable.

[15] While Ouyi had previously written in his will that he wanted his remains to be burned and scattered in rivers as food for animals, his followers kept some of his bones as relics and placed them in a stupa at Lingfeng temple.

[17] Ouyi Zhixu's work was influential on many later Chinese Buddhists including modern reformists like Taixu (1889–1947), Yinshun, and Hongyi (1880–1942).

[18][19] His prolific writings and popularity with scholars made Ouyi one of the “four great eminent monks of the late Ming period" 明末四大高僧”.

[22] He had a non-sectarian view of the various forms of Buddhism, seeing them all as skillful means (upaya) for sentient beings with different potentials and circumstances.

This is because his works show a deep influence from Tiantai ideas and doctrinal schemas, including the three truths, three contemplations, four teachings and so on.

[24] However, other scholars refuse to pin him down to a single tradition, pointing to other influences in Ouyi's writings, including Vinaya, Chan and Pure Land ideas.

[25] Throughout his life, he studied and practiced multiple Chinese lineages, including Chan, Vinaya, Tiantai and Pure Land.

[22] For Ouyi, this resonance is grounded in the classic Chinese Buddhist metaphysical view of Buddhahood as a holistic and harmonious ultimate reality.

In his Commentary on the Amitābha-sūtra, Ouyi explains the Pure Land teaching by relying on the philosophy of the Awakening of Faith and on the Yogacara mind-only (cittamatra) school.

Every authentic Buddhist teaching is a skillful means tailored to specific circumstances, aiming to lead beings to the realization of the One Mind.

"[31] For Ouyi, the other-power of Amitabha Buddha (which is also inherent in our own mind) infuses his name with the force to lead beings to the pure land.

[26] For Ouyi, reciting the Buddha's name or Buddha-remembrance (nianfo) must be coupled with faith and vows (to attain birth in Sukhavati) for the optimum practice.

Ouyi writes that it is important to practice nianfo with a focused and undisturbed mind, as this will guarantee rebirth in the pure land.

[36]His moderate position is also evident in his understanding of how meditation (chan), doctrine (jiao) and precepts (lü) are all important and complementary elements of Buddhist practice.

[7] Master Ouyi also explains how the ultimate principle (li, dharmakaya) is unified with conventional phenomena (shi) and thus, how the view of the pure land as the absolute reality is in perfect harmony with the view of the pure land as another realm one is reborn into after death:[37][38]Believing in phenomena (事 shì) means having deep faith that this present single thought-moment appearing before one is inexhaustible, and therefore all the worlds of the ten directions manifested from the mind are also inexhaustible.

For Ouyi, maintaining ethical precepts remained a necessary aspect of the path, even if one relies on the Buddha's response power.

In his Zong Lun, Ouyi promotes the extensive recitation of this mantra, which he held would lead to samadhi and insight.

[44] Ouyi promoted a non-sectarian worldview that exemplified the “harmonization of traditions” (zhuzong ronghe) and the “unity of the Three Teachings” (三教合一 sanjiao heyi), i.e. Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism.

[47] According to Foulks, in his autobiography, Ouyi defends a "broad, nonsectarian religiosity" instead of focusing on any specific Buddhist tradition or seeing himself as part of any "school" (zong).

[7][1] According to Beverley Foulks, Zhixu "objects to the way Jesuits invest God with qualities of love, hatred, and the power to punish.

[13] This include treatises and commentaries on the teachings and texts of Mahayana Sutras, Chan, Tiantai, Yogacara, Vinaya, Bodhisattva Precepts, Pure Land as well as on Confucian classics.

The Chinese Buddhist Book Bureau has collected all of his extant works into the Full Anthology of Master Ouyi (蕅益大师全集).