Blue Cliff Record
According to the account given in Taigen Dan Leighton's "Cultivating the Empty Field", Hongzhi was born to a family named Li in Xizhou, present-day Shanxi province. He left home at the age of eleven to become a monk, studying under Caodong master Kumu Facheng (枯木法成), among others, including Yuanwu Keqin, author of the famous "kōan" collection, the "Blue Cliff Record".