关键词: 姚安“三陶”, 儒林诸贤, 檀越吏隐, 禅门高僧, 交游证据

Abstract: Huangyan, Zhejiang Province was the hometown of Tao Zongyi, a renowned writer and historian of the late 14th century. About two centuries later his descendants were sent to military exile in Yao’an Prefecture, Yunnan Province by the Ming government. Nurtured by their family tradition of success in the imperial examinations for promotion to officialdom, Tao Xigao, Tao Ting and Tao Gong - disciples of the 16^th-century philosopher Wang Yangming （represented by Luo Rufang and Li Zaizhi） -eventually changed the academic scenario of Yunnan, with achievements in elementary schooling, Zen and calligraphy in particular, in late Ming Dynasty at the turn of the 17th century. Meanings of their pseudonyms, however, revealed their frustration and despair of living their helpless lives in the forlorn frontier regions, explaining their hope of freeing themselves from the limitation of their “family heartland blood” with the help of Jing Shan Zang.

Key words: three Taos of Yao’an;, the intelligentsia, official living in spiritual hermitage, Zen master, evidence on interaction