Great Master Chengyuan
Great Master Chengyuan was a monk of the Tang dynasty. His original hometown is unknown.
At first, he studied with Chan Master Tang in Chengdu, then with Chan Master San in Sichuan. Later he went to Jingzhou and studied with Dharma Master Zhen at Yuquan Monastery.
After completing his studies and attaining realization in practice, Master Zhen advised him to go to Hengshan to teach according to conditions. When he first arrived, the Great Master built a grass hut beneath a rocky overhang on the southwestern side of Mount Heng. If devout people brought food offerings, he ate them; if no one came, he ate mud and earth, never going out to solicit alms. He practiced austerities to such an extent that his body became thin, his face darkened, and he had only a single old, torn robe.
In teaching, the Great Master stood on the principle of the Middle Way, instructing people skillfully according to their capacities. Seeing that local residents were mostly poor and ill, he widely propagated the Pure Land teaching and urged everyone to recite the Buddha’s name. On rocks, at tree roots, by roadsides, on walls, near caves, and along streams, he wrote sacred admonitions encouraging people to awaken to both worldly and spiritual truth and to focus on Buddha-recitation.
Through his transforming virtue, people gradually came in ever greater numbers without needing much instruction: some carried cloth and rice, others brought stone and timber, and they built up a monastery complex, even with enough surplus to give alms to the poor and hungry. The Great Master remained equanimous, neither refusing nor encouraging, letting them construct and repair as they wished. Before long, what had been wild mountain land became a serene and magnificent monastery setting. Over time, faithful followers from near and far came in increasing numbers to take refuge and recite the Buddha’s name, like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea, numbering in the tens of thousands.
Earlier, at Mount Lu, Master Shik Faqhao once entered samadhi and his spirit roamed the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Beside the Buddha, he saw a monk in ragged robes standing in attendance. Amitabha Buddha pointed to that monk and said, “Do you know who this is? He is the monk Chengyuan of Hengshan.”
After emerging from samadhi, Faqhao went to Hengshan to find him. When he met Great Master Chengyuan, he recognized him exactly as the ragged-robed monk he had seen, and asked to become his disciple.
Later, Master Faqhao traveled widely spreading the teaching. His reputation and virtue became so great that Emperor Daizong of Tang bestowed upon him the title National Preceptor. In a quiet moment, the National Preceptor recounted his teacher’s conduct to the emperor. Daizong wished to invite Master Chengyuan to the capital to learn the Way, but realized that one of such supreme virtue could not be summoned. He therefore faced south, toward Hengshan, and bowed in homage.
After that, the emperor issued an edict conferring two plaques upon Chengyuan’s monastery: one reading “Imperially Bestowed Amitabha Monastery,” and another inscribed “Pratyutpanna Samadhi Practice Hall.” He also ordered Liu Zongyuan to compose a commemorative inscription carved on stone and erected at the monastery gate.
In the 18th year of the Zhenyuan era of Tang, on the 19th day of the seventh month, the Great Master peacefully entered nirvana at the age of ninety-one.