Patriarchal Zen

Biography

INTRODUCTION

The Master’s name was Xinyuan, his alias was Yuexi, his family name was Wú (吴), his ancestors were from Qiantang, Zhejiang province (China), he established his career in Kunming, Van Nam province, passed down through three generations to the Master, his father was Tu Trang, his mother was Luc Thanh Duc, they had five children, the Master was the youngest.

The Master was weak but loved to study, he was intelligent and quick-witted early on, he studied Confucianism with Mr. Uong Duy Dan.

At the age of 12, he read Lan Dinh Tap Tu to the sentence “Life and death are great matters, isn’t it painful?”, suddenly he had an enlightenment and asked the teacher: How can one be born and not die?

Mr. Uong said: “The Confucianists say if you don’t know birth, how can you know death, this question must be asked of a Buddhist scholar”.

So he went to ask a Buddhist scholar, the Buddhist scholar said: The physical body and the spiritual nature of seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing are all in the cycle of birth and death in the six paths, Buddha nature is like-suchness, motionless, neither born nor dead.

If one has not yet seen the Buddha-nature, then the Buddha-nature transmigrates according to the spiritual nature of seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing; if one sees the Buddha-nature filling the void, then the spiritual nature of seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing transforms into the Buddha-nature.

The Master asked: “What method can one use to see Buddha-nature?”

The Buddhist scholar could not answer, so he gave the Master the 42-Chapter Sutra and the Diamond Sutra.

From then on, taking the opportunity to study at a school in Shanghai, the Master also studied Buddhism, also focused on studying the books of Lao and Trang, read all the Six Classics of Confucianism, studied with all the famous Masters in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, paid homage to the Great Monks, and presented the Buddhist scholar’s question “What method can one use to see the Mind and see the Nature?” to the Master, but the answers were not satisfactory.

At that time, Venerable Diệu Trí taught to contemplate the first dialogue “Who is reciting the Buddha’s name?” and to study the Great Wisdom Treatise. At the age of 19, the Master was determined to leave home to propagate the Dharma.

When he was young, his parents had arranged a marriage for him, but he was determined not to marry. That year, he paid respects to the Venerable Tĩnh An in that place and asked to shave his head and receive the Great Precepts. As soon as he left home, he was diligent and courageous.

In front of the Buddha, he burned the little and ring fingers of his left hand, and cut a piece of flesh the size of a hand, on which he burned forty-eight incense sticks as offerings to the Buddha, and made three great vows:

1. Not greedy for delicious food, beautiful clothes, diligently practicing asceticism and never backing down.

2. Study all the scriptures and study them diligently.

3. Use all your knowledge to teach and expound to benefit all living beings.

Every day, in addition to reading the sutras, the Master chanted the Buddha’s name five thousand times, always chanting the Avatamsaka, Nirvana, and Shurangama.

When he had free time, there was a ceremony to worship the Avatamsaka Sutra.

His master said to him: “If you practice like this, you can also stay at home, why do you need to become a monk?! There is no need to show the appearance of a monk, you need to practice the Dharma door of the upward direction (Patriarch Zen) which is the great duty of a monk.”

Then he taught him to read the first dialogue “All dharmas return to one, where does the one return to?” and gave him the Transmission of the Lamp Record, the Five Lamps’ Assembly of the Origin, and the Record of the Moon; the Master read through it and knew some things and some things that were not.

The Master liked the Linji Sayings Record very much, but he still did not know how to practice.

Later, the Master followed Master Wu Tan to study the teachings of the Tiantai, Xian Shou, and Ci’en sects.

At the age of 22, he began to lecture on the Sutras and Dharma, and had a large audience. In response to the invitation of the Lankavatara Dharma Assembly in Nanjing, the Master told the assembly: “Living beings are inherently Buddhas, but because of their deluded thoughts and ignorance, they cannot escape birth and death.

If they destroy a part of their deluded thoughts and ignorance, they will realize a part of the Dharma-body.

If all their deluded thoughts and ignorance are destroyed, the Dharma-body will be revealed.”

At that time, in the Dharma Assembly, the Venerable Khai Minh asked: If the delusional thoughts of ignorance come from the outside and have nothing to do with you, then why do you need to stop them? If delusional thoughts arise from within, it is like a spring that always has flowing water.

When they stop, they arise again, when they arise, they stop again. When they end, when they end, they arise again, when they end, when will they end? Practicing like this is truly not correct! When delusional thoughts stop, it is Buddha-nature, when delusional thoughts arise, it is sentient beings. So does become a Buddha also involve reincarnation?

The master could not answer.

Again asked: The Dharma Master has never realized the Mind and seen the Nature, there are no such words in the Sutra, these words are obtained from the commentaries; those who have realized the Nature commentaries are not wrong, those who have not realized the Nature commentaries say South to North, drag East to abandon West, right and wrong are reversed, is that right?

The Master replied: Yes. The Master bowed to the Venerable One and presented the Buddhist scholar’s words on “What method can one use to enlighten the Mind and see the Nature?”

The Venerable One said: The Dharma Master should go and ask Master Tienan (鐵枏) of Nguu Dau mountain, who has attained enlightenment, about this.

That very night, the Master came to ask Tienan (鐵枏): What are you doing here, old monk?

Tienan (鐵枏) said: Wear clothes, eat, sleep, walk in the mountains, watch the river.

The Master said: What a pity for wasting your days!

Tienan (鐵枏) said: I can waste my time, but you cannot learn from me. If you can get to that piece of land, you can also learn from me!

The master said: What is that piece of land?

Tienan (鐵枏) raised a finger.

The master replied: _I don’t know! The master asked: “Now that you have completely eliminated all false thoughts and do not dwell on existence or non-existence, is that the same piece of land?”

Tienan (鐵枏) said: No, that is the realm of beginningless ignorance.

The Master asked: Master Linji said that it is the dark and deep pit of ignorance that is truly terrifying, is that true?

Tienan (鐵枏) said: Yes.

The Master presented the Buddhist saying: What method can one use to enlighten the Mind and see the Nature?

Tienan (鐵枏) said: You should not stop your wandering thoughts, you should use your eyes to look straight into that deep, dark pit where there is no existence or non-existence, walking, standing, lying, sitting without interruption, when the conditions come, make an “Oh” sound, the deep, dark pit of ignorance will dissolve, then you will have a clear Mind and see your Nature.

The Master heard these words as if he were drinking nectar. From then on, day and night he suffered from greed and desire.

His appearance was emaciated, and he was as thin as a piece of firewood.

One night, after hearing the sound of the wind blowing the leaves of a parasol tree, he suddenly attained enlightenment and was drenched in sweat.

He said, “Oh, that’s it! It’s neither green nor white, nor meditation, nor reciting the Buddha’s name, nor the great matter of birth and death, nor impermanence and the rapidity of it.”

He then recited a verse:

Originally there is no Buddha and no sentient beings,

The world has never seen a person,

The ultimate understanding is this,

Self-nature is still self-generated.

Looking out the window, it was the fourth watch of the night. The moon hung in the cloudless blue sky.

A few days later, the Master went to Tienan (鐵枏) and said: “I do not seek the Dharma method of practice, I only seek the old monk’s confirmation.”

Tienan (鐵枏) raised his stick and asked the Master: “Cao Khe has not met Hoang Mai yet, what is your intention?”

The monk replied: The old monk wanted to hit someone.

Tienan (鐵枏) asked again: After meeting, what is the intention?

The monk still replied: The old monk wanted to hit someone.

Tienan (鐵枏) nodded.

The master presented his understanding to Tienan (鐵枏).

Tienan (鐵枏) said: You have realized, now I will certify it for you, you can use the Record of the Transmission of the Lamp to certify it further. Your great work has been completed, if there is a cause and condition then preach the Dharma to save living beings, if there is no cause and condition then you can just follow the conditions and pass the days.

The Master then used the Transmission of the Lamp, the Record of the Moon, the Five Lamps Assembly, and the Avatamsaka Sutra to verify them. He understood them all as clearly as if talking about household matters, without any strangeness.

From then on, the Master taught the Sutras according to what the Sutras said: “Always maintain the Buddha-nature, without change, the Buddha-nature is not contaminated or disturbed, not afraid or bored, not receiving contamination, not giving rise to false thoughts, because false thoughts arise from the spiritual nature of seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing, eliminating the four diseases of stopping, doing, accepting, and destroying, not ending false thoughts, using one thought (doubt) to destroy the beginningless ignorance as the main thing.”

The Master’s lectures on the Sutras and Dharma were all from his own nature, without looking at other people’s commentaries. Later, at the invitation of provinces in China, as far as Hong Kong and Macau, the Master ascended the Dharma platform to preach the Dharma continuously for several decades, lecturing on the Sutras in more than two hundred and fifty assemblies, one Sutra in one assembly.

The Master’s nature was supernatural, and he traveled to places such as Zhongnan, Taibai, Xiangshan, Huashan, Emei, Jiuhua, Putuo, Wutai, Taishan, Huangshan, Wudang, Lushan, Maoshan, Mogan, Laoshan, Hengshan, Lafushan… Every time he traveled in the deep forests and high mountains for several months and forgot to return, he would write poems to each famous mountain. The Master was good at playing the seven-stringed zither, and he always brought his zither with him when he traveled. The Master had noble integrity, great generosity, and did not conform to worldly customs. His appearance was bright and majestic. Even learned Confucian scholars admired his simple and dignified conduct. He composed poems and prose that expressed his nature that transcended worldly dharmas.

The old monk held up a finger to his disciples and preached the Dharma: “Coming from the end of space, Buddha Kasyapa and Buddha Sakyamuni come; going from the end of space, Avalokitesvara and Buddha Amitabha go. The Buddhas of the past and present are all on the tip of my finger, neither coming nor going; I am also on the tip of my finger, neither coming nor going. If you receive them, that will be the place where you can settle down and establish your lives!”

The verse says:

Teaching the Dharma for decades, The life and death of all beings are myriad. Wait until one day this fate ends, Full of great freedom in space.

The master instructed his disciples: The Four Great Elements follow causes and conditions, and when they are born, they will surely die. Self-nature is originally birthless, and when they are not born, they will also never die. Now, saying that when they are born, they will surely die means that the Four Great Elements must have a place to return to. The place to return to is chosen on the top of Bao Ma Mountain, behind Du Jia Ding village, outside the south gate of Kunming city, looking down, right at Kunming Lake, which is called Cao-ngoa-xu.

Throughout his life, the Master never ordained a single disciple, and had more than 160,000 lay disciples. The Master taught different Dharma methods according to the disciples’ capacities, including eight who attained enlightenment through meditation: Wu Tai Xi Zhen, Ming Jing Zun Su, Layman Li Guang Quan in Beiping, Layman Zhou Yun Fa in Shanghai, and four others who had passed away before. The abbot of the Wan Fo Temple in Shadian, the Elder Dharma Master Yue Xi, passed away at 9:00 p.m. on April 23, 1965, lunar calendar, after living for 87 years. After the Master passed away, his disciples had his body gilded and worshiped in the Amitabha Buddha Temple. This body was a bit thin, not as plump and rosy as when he was alive.

RECORDS:

The Master wrote:

• Vimalakirti Sutra Commentary Record,
• Lankavatara Sutra Commentary Record,
• Avatamsaka Sutra Commentary Record,
• Vajra Sutra Commentary Record,
• Buddhist View of Life,
• Buddhist Questions and Answers Record,
• Mahayana Eight Schools of Practice,
• Mahayana Absolute Treatise,
• Yuexiu Sayings Record,
• Zen Practice,
• Buddha Recitation Practice,
• Yongfeng Hall’s Key to Holding the Key

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