Grand Master Shixian
Grand Master Shixian, courtesy name Siqi and dharma name Xing’an, lived in the Qing dynasty. He was born into the Shi family of Changshu. From childhood, he did not eat fish or meat. After becoming a monk, he investigated the phrase “Who is reciting the Buddha’s name?” attained awakening, and said, “I have awakened from the dream!”
After that, the Great Master entered three years of closed retreat at Zhenji Monastery. By day, he studied the Tripitaka; by night, he focused on reciting the Buddha’s name.
When the retreat ended, he went to Mount Mao to worship the relics at King Ashoka’s stupa. On the Buddha’s Nirvana Day, the Great Master gathered many monastics and lay followers to prepare offerings, then burned a finger before the Buddha and made forty-eight great vows. At that time, the relics emitted brilliant light. The Great Master wrote an essay, “Encouraging the Arousal of Bodhi-Mind,” to exhort the fourfold assembly; many who read it were moved to tears (supplement noted later).
In his later years, he returned to serve as abbot of Xianlin Monastery in Hangzhou. In the seventh year of Yongzheng, the Great Master established a Lotus Society and made a public vow text before the assembly, setting lifelong diligent cultivation of Pure Land practice as the term.
He divided his daily practice into twenty portions: ten portions for name-recitation, nine portions for contemplation, and one portion for repentance prostration. When a Chan practitioner asked about the essential meaning of Buddha-recitation, the Great Master gave this verse of instruction:
One phrase of Amitabha
Is the first case among koans.
No other weighing or debate;
Directly decide at once.
Like a great heap of fire,
Jump in and all burns away.
Like the Taia sword,
Enter and all is severed.
These six syllables gather in full
The eighty-four thousand Dharma stores.
One phrase settles it completely,
Seven hundred koans in a day.
Let others dislike hearing this;
I myself recite mind after mind.
No need for many words –
Strive for one mind undisturbed.
In the second year of Yongzheng, on the eighth day of the twelfth month, the Great Master told the assembly: “In the fourth month of next year, I will depart for afar.” Then he entered closed retreat and recited the Buddha’s name one hundred thousand times each day.
In the following year, on the twelfth day of the fourth month, the Great Master told his disciples: “Since the beginning of this month, I have seen the Western Three Sages twice; surely the time for rebirth has arrived!” After speaking, he composed a farewell verse to the assembly.
The next day, the Great Master took no food or drink, simply sat upright with eyes closed. At the fifth watch he bathed and changed robes. That day was the fourteenth. Near noon, he again sat quietly facing west with eyes closed. Monastics and lay followers from all regions, hearing the news, gathered in crowds like a marketplace.
The Great Master suddenly opened his eyes and said: “I am going to Ultimate Bliss and will return before long. Liberation from birth and death is the great matter; each of you should strive to recite the Buddha’s name with purity!”
After giving this instruction, he joined his palms, chanted the Buddha’s sacred name, and entered nirvana. He was forty-nine years old.