dài 戴

Dai Kui (325–396), styled Andao, was a native of Qiao Commandery (now Su County, Anhui). Later, he moved to Shanyin County, Kuaiji (now Xinchang, Zhejiang). He was a sculptor, painter, and scholar in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He was good at playing the piano, had high moral character, and opposed the theory of cause and effect in Buddhism. He was especially good at painting religious figures and was also skilled in landscape, folk customs, and animal paintings. In terms of sculpture, it is said that when he made the wooden sculptures of the Buddha of Infinite Life and attendant bodhisattvas for Lingbao Temple in Shanyin, Kuaiji, he hid behind the curtain to listen to people's opinions and revised the works repeatedly, and it took three years to complete. The sculptures of the Five Buddhas he made for Wagon Temple, the mural of Vimalakirti painted by Gu Kaizhi, and the jade Buddha sent by the Lion Country (Sri Lanka) were collectively known as the Three Wonders at that time. He wrote An Explanation of Doubts and debated with famous monks such as Huiyuan.