Grand Master Xingce
Grand Master Xingce, courtesy name Cheliu, lived in the Qing dynasty. He was the son of Jiang Quanchang, an elder Confucian scholar in the Yixing region. His father was a spiritual friend of Venerable Qing, namely Great Master Hanshan.
In the sixth year of the Tianqi era, three years after Great Master Hanshan entered nirvana, Jiang Quanchang dreamed one night that Master Hanshan came into his house. That same night, Great Master Xingce was born, and because of this his father gave him the additional name Menghan.
When he grew older, his parents passed away one after another. Deeply feeling the impermanence of worldly life, he developed the wish to leave home.
At age twenty-three, he shaved his head and became a monk under Venerable Ruo’an at Li’an Monastery. He practiced with great diligence, never lying his back on a mat. After five cycles of seasons, he thoroughly understood the true source and awakened to the Dharma-nature.
After Venerable Ruo’an entered nirvana, the Great Master became abbot of Bao’en Monastery. During this period, a fellow practitioner, Chan Master Xi’an, encouraged him to cultivate Pure Land. He also met Dharma Master Qiaoshi, who guided him in studying Tiantai doctrinal contemplation. Afterward, he and Dharma Master Qiaoshi entered retreat together to practice Lotus Samadhi. Through this, the Great Master’s innate wisdom opened, and he fully awakened to the essential marrow of Tiantai teaching.
In the second year of the Kangxi era, he built a hermitage on Mount Fahua beside West Creek in Hangzhou, devoting himself to Pure Land practice. He then named his dwelling Lianfu Hermitage.
In the ninth year of Kangxi, the Great Master became abbot of Puren Monastery at Yushan and promoted the formation of a Lotus Society. Scholars from many places responded and joined in large numbers. He once wrote an exhortation on generating true faith:
“Most practitioners in past and present have loved Buddha-recitation samadhi. Though they speak of lofty fruits and strive to cultivate, few in later times attain success. This is because their faith and vows are not focused, and thus they cannot return together to the Pure Land state.
“Now that many Lotus friends have gathered to cultivate Pure Land causes together, if we do not carefully examine our initial resolve, how can we clearly know the path out of suffering? We fellow practitioners relying on this Dharma assembly must make our faith and aspiration real and true.
“If they are not true and upright, then even if one keeps vegetarian discipline, recites Buddha, cultivates merit, and releases life, one is only a good person in the world and merely enjoys human and heavenly blessings. While enjoying blessing, one easily creates karma. Creating much evil karma, one falls again into cyclic suffering. If viewed with right Dharma-eye, such a person is only one step better than an icchantika. If faith is like that, how can it be called true?
“Then what is true faith?
“First, one must believe that mind, Buddha, and sentient beings are not different. We are Buddhas not yet accomplished; Amitabha is Buddha already accomplished. The awakened nature is one, without two. Though we are presently deluded and inverted, this awakened nature has never been lost. Though we have wandered through many lifetimes, this awakened nature has never moved. Therefore it is said: when one thought turns the light around and returns to original attainment, it is exactly this.
“Second, one must believe: we are Buddhas in name, Amitabha is Buddha in ultimate completion. Though the nature is not different, the level is as far apart as heaven and abyss. If we do not single-mindedly recite that Buddha and seek rebirth in the Pure Land, we must follow karma in ceaseless samsara and suffer endlessly. This is called the Dharma-body revolving in six paths, unable to become Buddha and content to remain an ordinary being.
“Third, one must believe: though we have deep karma and heavy obstruction, dwelling long in suffering, we are still beings within Amitabha’s mind. Though Amitabha is adorned with ten thousand virtues and at peace in the Pure Land, He is also the Buddha within our mind. Once it is clear that true mind is fundamentally non-dual, one knows response and resonance naturally communicate, like magnet drawing iron. Why should this be doubted?
“This is called: remembering Buddha, reciting Buddha, whether now or in future, one will certainly see Buddha and never be far from Buddha.
“With such true faith, even tiny good deeds as small as dust motes can all be dedicated toward the West and to adorn the Pure Land. How much more so vegetarian discipline, precept keeping, generosity, life release, reciting Mahayana scriptures, making offerings to the Triple Gem, and cultivating wholesome practices – are these not sufficient provisions for Pure Land?
“Only fear that faith is not sincere; then one sinks into conditioned merit. Therefore in pure cultivation there is no strange trick. If you do not want your effort wasted and want your fruit fulfilled, then day and night in practice, do not leave the faith above.”
The Great Master frequently organized seven-day intensive recitation retreats to encourage greater diligence. In these retreats, his essential instruction was:
“In seven days of Name-recitation, the important thing is to keep one mind undisturbed and not let worldly dust mingle in. It is not that faster or more recitation is necessarily better.
“The way to recite is neither slack nor hurried, but steady and firm, so that the Buddha-name appears clearly in the mind. While walking, standing, sitting, lying down, eating, and dressing, keep the sacred Name continuously unbroken, without scatteredness or torpor, like breath flowing in and out.
“Recitation in this manner is called one-mind diligence on the level of phenomena.
“If one investigates deeply, then ten thousand dharmas are all suchness, and vows have no dual appearance. This means beings and Buddha, self and others, cause and result, dependent and direct recompense, defilement and purity, suffering and joy, liking and aversion, taking and abandoning, bodhi and affliction, birth-and-death and nirvana – all these dharmas are non-dual, one appearance, one pure essence.
“Investigate in this way in a true and practical manner, without forced arrangement. When investigation reaches its utmost, one suddenly accords with original mind. Then one knows that wearing clothes and eating rice are samadhi, and laughing, scolding, and anger are all works of liberating beings.
“At that point, one-mind and scattered-mind become mere play of words; in all six periods day and night, one cannot find even a trace of separate mark. To realize thus is truly to study the path.
“Reciting in this way is called one-mind diligence on the level of principle.
“Phenomenal one-mind as before seems difficult but is easy. Principled one-mind as after seems easy but is difficult. If one attains the former one-mind, rebirth is certainly assured. If one also attains the latter one-mind, one can rise to the highest grade. But these two one-minds are both tasks for ordinary beings in the broad earth stage.
“Therefore all monastic and lay practitioners in the Lotus Society must urge body and mind: near term for seven days, long term for an entire life. If one constantly believes and practices in this way, even if one has not yet realized fruit, one has already planted strong lotus causes. In the future, when reborn in the lotus pond, one certainly will not fall into middle or lower grade.”
The Great Master served as abbot of Puren Monastery for thirteen years. In the twenty-first year of Kangxi, on the ninth day of the seventh month, he passed away at age fifty-five.
At that time, a man named Sun Han suddenly died of acute illness. The next day he unexpectedly revived and said:
“I was seized by underworld officials and imprisoned in King Yama’s hall. Suddenly, in that darkness, I saw brilliant light filling the sky and flowers and fragrance throughout space. King Yama knelt on the ground, escorting a Great Master westward. I asked who that Master was, and was told it was Master Cheliu. Because his light shone upon me, I was released and allowed to return.”
On that same day, a member of the Wu family also died and revived after one night, reporting exactly the same account as Sun Han.