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 Patriarch, great Ch’an meditation master
and teacher.
Born in 1840 at Chuanchowfu in Fukien province,
China. Inspired to seek Buddhist learning when he saw monks and
sacred objects during the last rites for his grandmother when he
was age 11.
He was reluctant to leave during a pilgrimage to Nanyo. At age
14 he wanted to renounce the world but was withheld by his
parent who engaged him in Taoist meditation. He was dissatisfied
and again fled to Nanyo but soon returned home. At 19 he fled to
Kushan monastery at Fuchow where he was ordained and later took
precepts with Master Miao Lien and received Dharma name Ku Yen
and remained in Kushan for four years. Here in the wild he
practised ardently and made good progress.
At 31 he met Master Yung Ching of Luang Chuan Temple on Mt.
T’ien T’ai who was well-versed in both teaching and Ch'an
transmission. He was instructed and advised to study the Ch'an
rules, the Lotus teaching and other important sutras. He ws
given the kung-an ‘Who is dragging this corpse of mine’. From
age 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 age 43, he expressed his filial piety for his parents on a
long pilgrimage from P'u T'o to the Wu T’ai Shan (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. This practise was the foundation for
his subsequent success in Ch'an training.
Thereafter he spent two years on on pilgrimage to other holy
sites in China, Tibet, India, Sri Lanka, Burma and then back to
China by sea, then visits to more holy sites in Yunnan, Hunan,
and Anhwei. He spent his 54th and 55th years 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. It was here
that he achieved his final awakening. While he is the abbot of
Ku Shan Ssu (1934) he had visions of 6th Patriarch who invited
him to take charge and restored the 6th Patriarch’s temple,
Ts’ao-Ch’I, and other monasteries. From then until his death,
the master performed his revival and teaching work including
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.
He is the Dharma successor of all five Ch’an schools and the
main reformer in Chinese Buddhist Revival (1900-1950). A
translation of his autobiography is being published by
installments in World Buddhism, a monthly journal published in
Dehiwela, Ceylon. Autobiography: Empty Cloud. |