Grand Master Xingchang
Grand Master Xingchang, courtesy name Thu Vi, lived in the Song dynasty and was born into the Nhan family of Qiantang. At age seven, he encountered favorable conditions to leave home and become a monk, and by age seventeen he had already received full monastic ordination.
During the Chunhua era, the Great Master became abbot of Chieu Khanh Monastery. Admiring the legacy of Mount Lu, he created an image of Amitabha Buddha, gathered lotus companions, and established a Lotus Society. Later, he also pricked his blood to copy the Pure Practices chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Because of this cause and condition, he renamed the Lotus Society as the Pure Practices Society.
There were 120 scholar-officials who joined the Buddha-recitation assembly. In addition, there were tens of thousands of other faithful men and women, all calling themselves disciples of Pure Practices. Among them, Chancellor Vuong Van Dan served as the society leader. As for the bhikkhu sangha, the Great Master ordained more than one thousand monks, all of whom cultivated the Buddha-recitation method.
In the fourth year of Tianxi, on the twelfth day of the first lunar month, according to his regular practice schedule, the Great Master sat in full lotus reciting the Buddha’s name. After a short while, he suddenly proclaimed loudly: “World-Honored Amitabha has arrived!” Then he sat still and passed away at age sixty-two.
At the time of his passing, the assembly saw the earth turn into pure golden color; only after a long while did it return to normal.
Supplementary Note:
The sutras teach: “When the mind is pure, the Buddha-land is pure.” Since the Great Master cultivated the pure cause of Buddha-recitation, he necessarily realized a pure result. But because that pure result was so powerful, he did not need to wait until rebirth in the Western Land; its influence even caused this defiled world to temporarily transform into golden color.
This is evidence that the Pure Land realm of golden ground and jeweled trees is real, because “all dharmas are created by mind.” The Great Master’s attainment must have been in the highest of the highest grade.