The Legacy of Ch’an Master Xu Yun
(1840-1959)
Empty Cloud Adrian Chan-Wyles, PhD
2013-07-17
Master Xu Yun had an extraordinary and very
long life. He lived into his 120th year, and his life spanned two
centuries and three dynasties. It is a belief within traditional
Chinese culture that the purer the character, the longer the life
that is lived. Master Xu Yun’s long life is attributed to his
following of the Buddhist monastic vows including a vegetarian diet
– and the fact that when young and still a layman, he refused an
arranged marriage. More than this, however, but his father, fearing
that his son would not follow in his footsteps and become a
scholar-official, hired a Daoist master to teach Xu Yun the secrets
of that religion. Xu Yun studied the Daoist teachings but did not
agree with them – as he much preferred the Buddha’s teachings and
yearned from an early age to seek further instruction in the
Dharma, and to become a Buddhist monk.
He left home at the age of 19 and
permanently turned his back on the world of delusion. Even as a
monk, the world can present expected and unexpected temptations.
When Xu Yun was 38 years old (1877/78), he was riding on a small
boat travelling between Ningbo to Hangzhou. At night a young woman
made advances toward the master, who in response sat-up in the
meditation posture and started reciting a mantra. At that moment
the woman could not move, and the situation did not progress any
further. Through thick and thin master Xu Yun remained a monk for
the next 101 years.
His life time witnessed tumultuous changes
in the political and cultural life of China. He was born during the
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and experienced the collapse of the
imperial feudal system which had existed in China for over two
thousand years. He saw the establishment of the short lived
Republic of China (1912-1949) and the eventual victory of Mao
Zedong’s Communist forces in 1949. In the New China, the strength
of his character and the depth of his spiritual attainment helped
Chinese Buddhism begin the transition into the modern age. Many
good and fine masters, who were his disciples, such as Sheng Yi, Ti
Guang, Ben Huan, Hai Deng, Yi Cheng, and Jing Hui, and many others,
lived into recent times, and have kept the legacy of Chinese Ch’an
Buddhism very much alive. This is because master Xu Yun almost
single-handedly revived the Ch’an tradition, breathing a new and
dynamic life into its various lineages. Indeed, master Xu Yun is
viewed as being the rightful heir to all Ch’an lineages, and in so
doing is considered the Right Dharma Eye for this
Generation.
Xu Yun travelled (primarily on foot and by
boat) extensively outside of China, to such countries as Tibet,
Burma, Thailand, India, Singapore, (British) Hong Kong, and Sri
Lanka. Although he never travelled to the West, he did meet a
number of Westerners in China with an interest in Buddhism,
including John Blofeld and Amanda Jennings. This situation was
compounded by the fact that in 1931 (when Xu Yun was already 91
years old) the first recorded Westerner – Zhao Kong (i.e. Trebitsch
Lincoln) – ordained at Nanjing as a Ch’an monk. Xu Yun was
convinced through this interaction that the conditions existed in
the West for the spread of Chinese Buddhism. The barrier preventing
this transmission was a lack of access to Chinese Buddhist texts in
European languages. He requested a lay disciple – Charles Luk
(1898-1978) – to translate as many key Chinese Buddhist texts into
reliable English as possible, adding an explanatory commentary of
technical terms to each rendition. This process opened the spread
of authentic Chinese Ch’an Buddhism to the West, which hitherto had
only been exposed to Japanese Zen, and the Pali tradition
associated with the Theravada School.
Like all great masters in the Chinese
tradition, master Xu Yun was considered fully enlightened. The
English translation of his biography entitled ‘Empty Cloud’ states
that he attained enlightenment at the age of 56 years (in 1895/96),
at the Gao Min Monastery at Yangzhou. Just prior to this event, he
had fell into a river and floated with the current for a day and
night. His body was battered, bruised and bleeding when he finally
reached the gates of Gao Min. The abbot of Gao Min offered Xu Yun
the seat of honour in leading the upcoming intensive meditation
classes. Xu Yun declined but did not mention his previous accident
and resultant ill health. As to decline such an honour was a
violation of the rules of Gao Min, Xu Yun was beaten with a stick
as punishment, throughout the entire process he did not complain or
flinch in any way. As his body was suffering terribly from the
accident and the subsequent punishment, Xu Yun sat resolutely
within the meditation hall and did not move. He focused his mind
day and night for 20 days, and then suddenly all illness and pain
disappeared. At this time his thoughts were brought to an abrupt
halt, and one evening, when he opened his eyes, he perceived a
great bright light, and when he got up, his body seemed light, and
his feet felt like they were treading on air. He could see through
the wall and perceive all the activity both within and outside of
the monastery. Weeks later boiling water was accidently splashed
across his hand and he dropped a tea-cup that smashed on the floor
with a loud sound. At that moment all doubts vanished and he
clearly perceived the Mind Ground – the empty essence of Buddhist
reality that contains all things.
He spent much of his life re-building and
restoring temples and monasteries all over China. Without his
direct influence, it is doubtful that Chinese Buddhism in general,
and Ch’an inparticular, would have survived into the current age.
He was a great master whose pure example stood out amongst many
other good masters, who all worked together in various ways to keep
the Buddha’s teaching alive. Occasionally he would demonstrate his
use of qi force by withstanding illness, accident, ill treatment,
and bad fortune. Whilst escorting a large Buddha statue from Burma
to China, the workmen stopped halfway and refused to move without
further payment. Master Xu Yun pointed at a very large boulder –
which looked far heavier than the Buddha statue – and lifted it
with ease. The workmen were astonished by this show of hidden
strength and immediately got back to work. Another time, whilst
living in a remote area, master Xu Yun entered the state of samadhi
and sat there for weeks. When he returned, he found that the snow
had spread into his hut, and there were tiger foot-prints walking
all around him. Such was his spiritual power that during a drought
in 1900, he carried-out a ritual over many days which caused snow
to fall – at this time even the empress dowager bowed at his feet,
referring to him as a living Buddha. Master Xu Yun always reminded
everyone that animals and humans should live in harmony – to this
end he once befriended a white fox that lived in the monastery at
Nan Hua. When Xu Yun sat in meditation, the fox would sit on his
mat with him. There are many more such stories regarding master Xu
Yun.
As a result of his long life and good
reputation, master Xu Yun is revered in China, and the Chinese
diaspora, as well as becoming ever better known in the West through
translated texts, and improved travel opportunities to China. Ch’an
lineages have been established outside of China, and individuals
and groups are able to receive Ch’an training in monasteries and
temples on the mainland and elsewhere. The Chinese language
internet contains thousands of pages dedicated to the memory of Xu
Yun, set-up by devout lay individuals, monastics, and temples, and
there is now ample biographical material entered in encyclopaedias.
There are even rumours amongst Chinese Buddhists that master Xu Yun
has been re-born and now lives quietly in the Chinese hills,
keeping a watchful eye on the Dharma and its practice. His
biography – originally compiled by the scholar Cen Xue Lu in the
1950’s – has undergone a number of revisions and extensions as more
and more information has come to light, and has been gathered
together. Indeed, his reputation has never waned, but has gone from
strength to strength over the years. Through master Xu Yun’s
spiritual power and wisdom, a wave of transmission of Chinese
Buddhist teaching has emanated from China out into the world, and
it is a movement that has gathered strength and does not look like
stopping any time soon. Today, a new generation is able to read
about master Xu Yun, and watch his life story on Chinese DVD. As
time goes by, master Xu Yun’s influence appears to be stronger than
ever. There are hundreds of photographs of this great master, and
any one who looks at them will instantly understand why this is
so.
Copyright: Adrian Chan-Wyles (Shi Da Dao) 2013.
Reprinted with permission from Empty Cloud. The only changes that
have been applied are spacing in paragraphs for an online
format.