Xuyun or Hsu Yun (simplified Chinese: ??; traditional Chinese: ??; pinyin: X?yún; 5 September 1840?[dubious – discuss] – 13 October 1959) was a renowned Chinese Chan Buddhist master and one of the most influential Buddhist teachers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Xuyun was purportedly born on 5 September 1840 in Fujian, Qing China. His original name was Xiao Guyan (simplified Chinese:
; traditional Chinese:
; pinyin: Xi?o G?yán). His mother died during childbirth. Guyan's grandmother insisted that her grandson take a wife. In order to continue both his and his uncle's lineage, Guyan was arranged to marry one woman from the Tian family and one from the Tan family.
His first exposure to Buddhism was during the funeral of his grandmother. Soon afterward he began reading Buddhist sutras and later made a pilgrimage to Mount Heng, one of the most important Buddhist sites in China.
When he was fourteen years old, he announced that he wished to renounce the material world in favour of monastic life. His father did not approve of Buddhism and had him instructed in Taoism instead. Guyan was dissatisfied with Taoism, which he felt could not reach the deeper truths of existence. The storerooms of his house were full of very old books. Going through them, he found a volume called the 'Story of Incense Mountain' (cf. Guanyin#Legend of Miaoshan), which described the life of Guanyin. After reading the book, he was deeply influenced and was inspired to go forth from the home to monkhood to practice Buddhism.
When Xuyun was seventeen, he attempted to flee to Mount Heng to shave his head and officially leave the home-life. On a winding mountain path he encountered envoys sent by his uncle to intercept and escort him back. His aspiration was not realized and he was reproved and brought back home. When he arrived home, the family feared that he would escape again, so he was sent with his first cousin, Fu Kuo, to Quanzhou. His father formally received the brides from the Tian and Tan families for Xuyun, and his marriage was completed. Xuyun, however, had already realized the emptiness of form. Therefore, although they dwelt together, he remained 'undefiled'. Moreover, he extensively explained the dharma to the women so that they too would practice Buddhism.
Fu Kuo also had previously explored Buddhism and had the same aspiration as Xuyun, so they amicably traveled the Path together. In his nineteenth year, accompanied by Fu Kuo, he started the journey to Gu Shan (Drum Mountain) in Fuzhou to leave home. Before leaving, he wrote the "Song of the Skinbag", which he left behind for his two wives.
It was at Gu Shan monastery that his head was shaved and he received ordination as a monk. When his father sent agents to find him, Xuyun concealed himself in a grotto behind the monastery, where he lived in solitude for three years. At the age of twenty-five, Xuyun learned that his father had died, and his stepmother and two wives had entered the monastic life.
During his years as a hermit, Xuyun made some of his most profound discoveries. He visited the old master Yung Ching, who encouraged him to abandon his extreme asceticism in favor of temperance. He instructed the young monk in the sutras and told him to be mindful of the Hua Tou, "Who is dragging this corpse of mine?" In his thirty-sixth year, with the encouragement of Yung Ching, Xuyun went on a seven-year pilgrimage to Mount Putuo off the coast of Ningbo, a place regarded by Buddhists as the bodhima??a of Avalokite?vara. He went on to visit the Temple of King Ashoka and various Chan holy places.
At age forty-three, Xuyun had by now left the home-life for more than twenty years, but he had not yet completed his practice in the Path. He had not repaid his parents' kindness, and so he vowed to again make a pilgrimage to Nan Hai. From Fa Hua Temple all the way to Ch'ing Liang Peak at Mount Wutai of the northwest, the bodhimanda of Manjushri, he made one full prostration every three steps. He prayed for the rebirth of his parents in the Pure Land. Along the way, Xuyun is said to have met a beggar called Wen Chi, who twice saved his life. After talking with the monks at the Five-Peaked Mountain, Xuyun came to believe that the beggar had been an incarnation of Manjushri.
Having achieved singleness of mind, Xuyun traveled west and south, making his way through Tibet. He visited many monasteries and holy places, including Sichuan's Mount Emei, the bodhimanda of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, the Potala, the seat of the Dalai Lama, and Tashilhunpo Monastery, the seat of the Panchen Lama. He traveled through India and Ceylon, and then across the sea to Burma. During this time of wandering, he felt his mind clearing and his health growing stronger. Xuyun composed a large number of poems during this period.
After returning to China, During Xuyun's fifty-third year, he joined with other Venerable Masters Pu Zhao, Yue Xia, and Yin Lian (Lotus Seal) to cultivate together. They climbed Mount Jiuhua (bodhimanda of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva) and repaired the huts on Cui Feng Summit, where Dharma Master Pu Zhao expounded the Mahavaipulyabuddha Avatamsaka (Flower Adornment) Sutra.
When Xuyun was fifty-six, the Abbot Yue Lang of Gaomin Temple in Yangzhou was going to convene a continuous twelve-week session of dhyana meditation. Preparing to leave, the group asked Xuyun to go first. After reaching Di Gang, he had to cross the water, but had no money. The ferry left without him. As he walked along the river's edge, he suddenly lost his footing and fell into the rushing water, where he bobbed helplessly for a day and night and was caught in a fisherman's net. He was carried to a nearby temple, where he was revived and treated for his injuries. Feeling ill, he nevertheless returned to Yangzhou. When asked by Gao Ming whether he would participate in the upcoming weeks of meditation, he politely declined, without revealing his illness. The temple had rules that those who were invited had to attend or else face punishment. In the end, Gao Ming had Xuyun beaten with a wooden ruler. He willingly accepted this punishment, although it worsened his condition.
For the next several days, Xuyun sat in continuous meditation. In his autobiography, he wrote: "[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 inside and outside the monastery..." But he knew that this occurrence was only a mental state, and that it was not at all rare. He did not become attached to this achievement, but continued his single-minded investigation of the topic, "who is mindful of the Buddha?" over and over again, he delved into this topic without interruption.
Xuyun composed a commemorative verse for the oft-cited moment of profound insight, which was galvanized by the sound of a breaking teacup in the Chan Hall:
A cup fell to the ground
With a sound clearly heard.
As space was pulverised,
The mad mind came to a stop.
Xuyun became ill in the summer of 1959 and died in October
In 1953, the Chinese Buddhist Association was established at a meeting with 121 delegates in Beijing. The meeting also elected a chairman, 4 honorary chairmen, 7 vice-chairmen, a secretary general, 3 deputy secretaries-general, 18 members of a standing committee, and 93 directors. The 4 elected honorary chairmen were the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama, the Grand Lama of Inner Mongolia, and Xuyun himself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuyun