Born in 1592 in Fuqing, Fujian Province, Ming China. He became abbot of Huangboshan Wanfusi in Fujian and was a renowned Chan master. During the Ming-Qing transition, he came to Japan in 1654 at the invitation of Chinese residents in Nagasaki. Originally planning a three-year stay, he gained the patronage of Shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna and in 1661 founded Ōbakusan Manpukuji in Uji. He transmitted Chinese-style temple architecture, chanting, and fucha cuisine, establishing the third Zen school in Japan. He also brought sencha tea, green beans (named ingen-mame after him), watermelon, lotus root, bamboo shoots, and wooden fish drums. He died in 1673 at age eighty-two.

An unwavering Zen master who preserved the dharma lamp through the turmoil of late Ming. Also an open-minded cosmopolitan who generously transmitted Chinese culture in a foreign land, breathing fresh life into Japanese Zen.

Manpukuji, with its preserved Chinese-style architecture, is designated a national historic site as a unique Zen temple. Ōbaku became the third Japanese Zen school after Rinzai and Sōtō. Ingen is also regarded as the father of sencha tea ceremony, and ingen-mame (green beans) bear his name.