Grand Master Jixing
Grand Master Jixing, courtesy name Chewu and dharma name Nattang, lived in the Qing dynasty. He was born into the Ma family in Fengrun County.
From childhood, he had already mastered the Confucian classics and histories. After becoming a monk, he traveled and studied in many places, becoming broadly versed in both schools of Nature and Characteristics. What he most deeply realized was the essential purport of the Ten Vehicles and Threefold Contemplation of the Lotus Sutra.
Afterward, he consulted Chan Master Cui Ru Chun at Guangtong, attained thorough awakening, and later cultivated at Wanshou Monastery. The Great Master then succeeded to the seat at Guangtong, guiding later generations, and the lineage style flourished greatly.
In daily life, the Great Master often said: “Yongming was originally a great pillar of Chan, yet he still directed his mind to Pure Land. How much more, in this Dharma-ending age, should we follow that path.” Therefore he specialized in Pure Land practice and upheld the Lotus School. Each day he set a strict time limit: teaching the assembly or receiving visitors lasted only one incense-stick period. Outside of that, he only performed repentance rites and Buddha-recitation.
Before long, the Great Master moved to serve as abbot of Juesheng Monastery. Later he retired to reside at Sifu Monastery on Hongluo Mountain. Monks from many places, admiring his virtue, gathered in increasing numbers, and that place became a great monastic center.
The Great Master, weary of nothing in benefiting beings through the Dharma, took Pure Land as the final destination in all matters. Whenever he lectured on the Tathagata’s grace in relieving suffering and bestowing happiness, tears would often fall with his voice. Listeners were moved and wept as well. In his two-volume Recorded Sayings, his exhortations are even more urgent. In brief:
“In the whole matter of birth and death, there are only two forces: mind-force and karma-force. Mind-force means the mind has many tendencies; at death, one follows the heaviest tendency. Karma-force is like a debtor: the strongest creditor pulls first.
“Though karma-force is great, mind-force is greater still. Karma has no self-nature; it depends entirely on mind. Therefore, when mind emphasizes something, karma in that direction grows stronger.
“If we use this strongest mind to cultivate Pure Land, then Pure Land karma becomes strong, and at death we will definitely be reborn in the West. This is like a large tree or high wall leaning westward; when it falls one day, it must fall westward.
“What is strongest mind? In Pure Land cultivation, faith must be deep and vow must be earnest. With deep faith and earnest vow, no heterodox teaching can shake you, and no circumstance can drag you away.
“Suppose while reciting Buddha, Patriarch Bodhidharma appears and tells you to abandon Pure Land and cultivate Chan for immediate awakening – you should still respectfully decline and not obey. Or even if Shakyamuni Buddha appears and says there is a method superior to Pure Land and you should abandon Buddha-recitation for that method, you should bow and decline.
“Holding firm in this way is called deep and steady faith.
“As for vow: even if a red-hot iron wheel were turning above your head, you would not retreat from your aspiration for rebirth. Even if the most exquisite sensual pleasures of a Wheel-Turning King appeared, you would not forget your resolve to seek Ultimate Bliss.
“Only when one meets such extreme adverse and favorable conditions and still does not change heart can it be called earnest vow.
“This deep faith and earnest vow are called strongest mind. With this mind reciting Buddha, Pure Land karma becomes powerful and gradually matures, and defiled Saha affinities must be cut off.
“Then, at death, even if one wished for samsaric scenes to appear, and wished Pure Land and Amitabha not to appear, it would still be impossible. But this deep faith and earnest vow must be forged in ordinary times; only then will one not fall astray at death.
“As with ancient worthies at life’s end: devas from six heavens came with music and banners to receive them, yet they firmly declined and waited only for the Buddha. Death is when the four elements are about to disperse; devas arriving is an extraordinarily splendid scene. If one’s ordinary faith and vow are not completely firm, how could one remain self-mastered then?”
A Chan practitioner asked: “All dharmas are like dreams and illusions. Saha is certainly illusory, but Ultimate Bliss is also a dream. If so, what benefit is there in reciting Buddha and seeking rebirth in Ultimate Bliss?”
The Great Master replied: “That is not so. Bodhisattvas below the Seventh Bhumi still cultivate within dreamlike illusion. Even Equal Enlightenment remains in the great dream of fundamental ignorance. Only a Buddha is the Great Awakening, fully awakened.
“While still in dream, suffering and joy remain vividly experienced. Since this is so, rather than enduring the dream-suffering of Saha, why not enjoy the dream-joy of Ultimate Bliss?
“Moreover, dreaming in Saha is entering dream from dream, sinking ever deeper into delusion. Dreaming in Ultimate Bliss is leaving delusion from within dream, progressing step by step toward Great Awakening.
“Therefore, though both are called dream-scenes, the results in these two places differ vastly. For this reason, one should recite Buddha and seek rebirth in Ultimate Bliss.”
In the fifteenth year of Jiaqing, in the second month, the Great Master knew his final day was not far away. He went to bid farewell to lay supporters, saying:
“Illusory conditions do not endure. The remaining time of life should be cherished. All of you should strive in Buddha-recitation, and one day we will meet together in the Lotus Land.”
On the second day of the twelfth month, the Great Master felt a mild illness. While single-mindedly reciting Buddha, he suddenly saw countless banners flying from the West. He said to his disciples: “The Pure Land realm has appeared. I am about to return to the West!” Then he told the assembly to take turns in supportive recitation.
On the seventeenth day, at Shen hour, he said: “Yesterday I saw three great Bodhisattvas: Manjushri, Avalokitesvara, and Mahasthamaprapta. Now Amitabha Buddha himself has come to receive me. I am going now!”
Hearing this, the assembly recited Buddha even more earnestly. The Great Master sat upright, joined palms facing west, and said:
“Utter one phrase of the sacred Name, and you behold one portion of the Buddha’s marks.”
After these words, he formed a mudra and passed away.
At that time, everyone smelled an extraordinary fragrance filling the air. For seven days, with the casket left open, the Great Master’s complexion remained fresh as if alive, and his white hair turned black.
At cremation, more than one hundred shining relics were obtained. The Great Master lived to seventy, with forty-nine years in monastic ordination.