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Master Hsu Yun brief Biography
By
Upasaka Lu K'uan Yu (Charles Luk)
THE MOUNTAIN PATH / Vol. 1 - OCTOBER 1964 - No. 4
1840-1959
Ch'an Master Hsu (Xu) Yun was born on 26th April 1840 at
Chuanchowfu in Fukien province. His father was an official of
the prefecture and his mother died immediately after giving
birth to him. His uncle was childless and adopted him as his
heir; so his grandmother decided that he should take two wives
to continue both families.
When he was 11, his grandmother died and monks were invited to
perform Buddhist rites. This was the first time he saw monks
or sacred objects and it made him very happy. After this he
read the sutras which deeply impressed him. When his uncle
took him on pilgrimage to Nanyo, he became so attached to the
holy place that he was reluctant to return home. When he was
14, his father discovered that he wanted to renounce the world
and, in order to keep him, engaged a Taoist to teach him
meditation. After practicing Taoism for three years, he
decided that its teaching failed to reach the ultimate goal.
One day he fled to Nanyo but was soon found and brought home.
Some time later his father sent for the two girls and
celebrated Hsu Yun's marriage. Although the latter lived with
his two wives, he had no intercourse with them but taught them
the Dharma, which they understood.
At 19, together with his
cousin Fu Kuo, he fled to Kushan monastery at Fuchow
where his head was shaved, and here he followed the
Master Miao Lien and received full ordination. After
being ordained, his cousin left in search of enlightened
masters but was never heard of again. Hearing that his
father had sent servants to look for him, Hsu Yun hid in
a grotto behind the monastery where he practiced
austerities for the next three years. At 25 he learned
that his father had died in Hunan province and that his
stepmother with his two wives had entered a nunnery.
During these years in the grotto, he made very good
progress and had most interesting experiences. He says
in his autobiography: "I was able to make my heart
content and became free to go anywhere I wanted. As
there were mountains to stay on and herbs to eat, I
started wandering from place to place." At 31, he
went to Wenchow where he met a monk who urged him to
call on the old master Yung Ching who was well-versed in
both teaching and Ch'an transmission. This master urged
him to resume eating rice and to use the Koan
"Who is dragging this corpse of mine?" and
ordered him to study the Ch'an rules, the Lotus teaching
and other important sutras. From 36 to 43 he went on a
pilgrimage to P'u T'o island off Ningpo, which was the
bodhimandala of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, thence to
the monastery of King Asoka at Ningpo and to many other
holy places where he called on well-known masters and
made good progress in his Ch'an practice.
At 43, he took stock of his achievements which were not
complete and remembering how he had sacrificed his love for
his parents in order to join the Sangha, he was ashamed that
he had attained so little. In order to repay his debt of
gratitude to them, he decided on a long pilgrimage from P'u
T'o to the Five-Peaked Mountain (the bodhimandala of Manjusri)
in the North-west to pray for their rebirth in the Pure Land.
From the thatched temple of Fa Hua on P'u T'o island, he set
out with incense sticks in his hands, prostrating himself
every three paces until he reached his destination.
In his long walk with prostration at every third step and
concentration on repeating Manjusri's name, he succeeded in
realizing singleness of thought which was the key to his
subsequent success in Ch'an training. Twice he was in danger
of death and twice he was saved by Manjusri who appeared as a
beggar called Wen Chi to hide his identity, instead of Wen Shu
as he was called in China. The first time he had been caught
in a heavy snowstorm and was very hungry, tired and exhausted
for several days after which he was given some yellow rice
gruel which brought him back to life.
Later he caught malaria and dysentery and was dying in a deserted temple on the top of a mountain when the beggar appeared again to give him the hot water and medicine that saved him. The begger, who had given his name as Wen Chi, asked several questions which Hsu Yun did not understand and could not answer because he was still unenlightened and did not understand the living meaning of Ch'an dialogue. Although he was told by the beggar that the latter was known in every monastery on the Five-Peaked Mountain, when Hsu Yun arrived there and asked the monks about Wen Chi no one knew him. Later he mentioned the incident to an elderly abbot who brought his palms together and said: "That beggar was the transformation body of Manjusri Bodhisattva." Only then did the master realize that he had actually met the Bodhisattva who had saved him twice on the long journey.
After sitting in meditation, he paid reverence to the
Bodhisattva on the Five-Peaked Mountain, thus fulfilling his
vow taken three years before to pray for the liberation of his
parents. During this long journey, which took three years, he
succeeded in realizing singleness of mind (i.e., the pure and
undisturbed mind) even in the midst of hardship, adversity,
illness and danger. On the mountain he saw, as many other
pilgrims including devotees from foreign countries have done,
balls of light dancing from one peak to another.
The master then went west and south, passing through many holy
places where he paid reverence and sat in meditation until he
reached the holy site of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva on mount O
Mei in West Szechwan. There he saw at night countless
Buddha-lights, like a constellation of bright stars in the
sky. He continued his westward journey and entered Tibet where
he visited the Potala, the seat of the Dalai Lama, and that of
the Panchen Lama at Tashi Lunpo monastery. He then left Tibet
to visit the holy sites of India, after which he crossed to
sea to Ceylon, and thence to Burma. He then returned to China
where he first visited the Cock's Foot Mountain in Yunnan
which was the bodhimandala of Mahakasyapa, and then passed
through the provinces of Kweichow, Hunan, Hupeh, Kiangsi and
Anhwei. In his autobiography the master wrote of these two
years of travel: "The scenery changed every day but my
pure mind was like a bright moon hanging solitarily in the
sky. My health grew more robust and my steps were rapid."
In his 54th and 55th years, the master stayed on a mountain to
read the Tripitaka. At 56, he was invited to the famous
monastery of Gao Ming at Yangehow to assist its abbot in
supervising the twelve weeks of Ch'an meditation. On his way
to Yangehow, he slipped and fell into a rising river and was
caught in a fisherman's net. He was carried to a nearby temple
where he was revived. He was very ill but went on to Kao Ming
monastery where he was asked to help at the forthcoming
meditation weeks. Without disclosing his illness, he politely
declined the abbot's request, asking only to be allowed to
attend the meditation meetings. His refusal was regarded as an
affront to the whole community and, according to Kao Ming's
rules of discipline, he was punished by being beaten with a
wooden ruler. As the master was practising the relinquishment
of attachment to ego, ksanti-paramita and virya-paramita, he
willingly accepted this punishment which aggravated his
illness. In order to cure it, he sat firmly in the meditation
hall day and night with increasing zeal. He said in his
autobiography: "In the purity of my singleness of mind, I
forgot all about my body. Twenty days later my illness
vanished completely. From that moment, with all my thoughts
entirely wiped out, my practice took effect throughout the day
and night. My steps were as swift as if I was flying in the
air. One evening, after meditation, I opened my eyes and
suddenly saw I was in brightness similar to broad daylight in
which I could see everything within and without the monastery
..." Knowing that he had only achieved an advanced but
not the final stage, he refused to cling to it, resolving to
wipe out the final hindrance caused by his last subtle
attachment to ego and Dharma. One night when the meditation
ended after six successive incense sticks had been burned, a
monk came to fill his cup of tea. As the boiling water
splashed over his hand, he dropped the cup, which fell to the
ground and broke with a sound which was heard by his pure
mind[1] that was now able to perform its non-discriminating
function of perceiving externals. Instantly he cut off his
last link with samsara and rejoiced at his realization of the
Absolute. He wrote in his autobiography: "I was like
someone awaking from a dream" which meant that he had
leaped over the worldly stream to the other shore of Bodhi. He
then chanted the following two gathas:
1 - A cup fell to the ground
With a sound clearly heard.
As space was pulverised,
The mad mind came to a stop.
2 - When the hand released its hold, the cup fell and was
shattered,
'Tis hard to talk when the family breaks up or someone dies.
Spring comes with fragrant flowers exuberating everywhere;
Mountains, rivers and the great earth are only the Tathagata.
After his own Enlightenment, the master immediately began his
Bodhisattva work of guiding others out of the sea of
suffering. His first act was to pray to Shakyamuni Buddha for the
liberation of his mother whom he had never seen. Previously he
had taken the vow to go to the monastery of Emperor Asoka at
Ningpo to pay reverence to the Buddha Relics and to burn off
there one of his fingers as his offering to the Buddha for her
liberation.
After the death of the Buddha he was
cremated. Followers searching ashes
found 4 teeth and finger bones. They
were redistributed by Emperor Asoka,
who built stupas for worshiping them.
Only 1 finger bone. is known to exist.
Each day he prostrated three thousand times and
increased the number until he ached all over and was seriously
ill. He became so weak that the chief monk did not approve of
his burning a finger on account of the risk involved. The
master burst into a flood of tears and finally the
superintendent of the monastery and another monk agreed to
assist him in fulfilling his vow. He was helped to the main
hall where together with the assembly, he paid reverence to
the Buddha, performed the ritual and recited the text of the
rules of repentance and reform. He wrote later: "With
singleness of mind, I repeated the Buddha's name and prayed
Him to liberate my affectionate mother. At the beginning I
felt pain, but as gradually my mind became pure, my awakening
wisdom manifested clearly ... When my finger had burned off, I
arose to bow down before the Buddha. I did not need others to
support me and entirely forgot my illness. After walking
unaided to present my thanks to the assembly, I returned to
the sick bay. Everyone present was surprised at my
transformation, and I moved out of the hut for sick
monks."
From then until his death, the master performed his
Bodhisattva work by expounding sutras, transmitting the
precepts, reconstructing many temples that had fallen in
ruins, building new ones and starting seminaries for novices,
Buddhist associations for lay men and free Buddhist schools
for children. His field of activities was not confined to
China but also included Burma, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore and
Hong Kong where the number of his disciples could not be
counted.
In the course of this Bodhisattva work, the master survived
dangers, illnesses, poisoning, beating, torture and
persecution. A translation of his autobiography is being
published by instalments in World Buddhism, a monthly journal
published in Dehiwela, Ceylon. Before passing away on 13th
October 1959, the master said to his attendant: "After my
death and cremation, please mix my ashes with sugar, flour and
oil, knead all this into nine balls and throw them into the
river as an offering to living beings in the water. If you
help me to fulfil my vow, I shall thank you forever."
Hsu Yun in his extreme old age had chosen hardship and
suffering to protect the Buddha Dharma in his country instead
of seeking safety across the water in Hong Kong.
SARIRA
Fundamentally, our experience as experienced is not different from the Zen master's. Where
we differ is that we place a fog, a particular kind of conceptual overlay onto that experience
and then make an emotional investment in that overlay, taking it to be "real" in and of itself.
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WITH THANKS TO:
THE MOUNTAIN PATH
A PUBLICATION OF THE
BHAGAVAN MAHARSHI SRI RAMANA
THE ZEN BUDDHIST ORDER OF HSU YUN
[1] Pure mind is a technical term for the innate primordial
intellect
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