Master Huineng, known as the "Six Ancestors of Zen Buddhism", once said, "Bodhi only seeks from the heart, so why bother to seek xuan?" I have heard that according to this practice, the West is only in the present. "Chinese civilization for five thousand years, culture has a long history, in the long river of history, the local culture takes its essence from foreign culture, removes its dross, continues to grow, and becomes profound and profound.
Since the introduction of Buddhism to China during the Han Dynasty, it has integrated and developed with traditional Chinese culture, which is an important cultural support for China's feudal era and has become one of China's ethnic religions. Buddhism can be spread so widely in China because of those who have lofty beliefs in the Buddha, and among them, there are many enlightened monks who have studied Buddhist culture deeply.
Whether ancient or modern, Buddhism attracts a large number of believers with its strong vitality. In modern China, there are four great monks, one of whom is known as "China's first senior monk", and the name of the law is Virtual Cloud. The Void Cloud Master reached the age of 120, and left a word before his death, which was incomprehensible, and no one has broken it so far.
Buddhism was introduced to China around the time of the two Han Dynasties, and was initially known as the "Floating Tu Sect", and the accompanying art of Buddha statues also began to circulate in Chinese folklore. Buddhism originated in ancient India and is very different from china's native culture, but traditional Chinese culture has a strong ability to absorb foreign culture. Although Buddhism was introduced to China at the beginning of its introduction, it was incompatible with the folk customs and beliefs of all aspects of China, but with the development of the times, Buddhism has developed innovatively in China.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China, Buddhism was widely propagated, and by the Tang Dynasty, people's belief in Buddhism reached a historical peak. Although the later ancient Indian Buddhist culture suffered an unprecedented blow and gradually withered away in history, China continued the Mahayana Buddhist thought originating in ancient India in another cultural form after absorbing and borrowing.
Since ancient times, it has had a vast territory and multiculturalism, and different regions have also shaped a culture with different characteristics. After Buddhism was introduced to China, it gradually spread out, and eventually formed Chinese Buddhism with three major systems, in the Central Plains, the Chinese-language Han Chinese Buddhism was formed, and in Tibet, the unique cultural style was created in addition to Tibetan Buddhism, while the Yunnan region formed Theravada Buddhism.
In ancient feudal rule, Confucianism dominated, but with the spread of Buddhism, Confucianism also absorbed and borrowed Buddhist ideas for its own use to a certain extent, and became a means for the monarch to rule. At the same time, the background of the era of theocracy has squeezed the essence of Buddhism to a certain extent, and the freedom of the development of Buddhism is also full of obstacles.
Since entering the twentieth century, with the collapse of China's feudal dynasty, modern times have also set off a Buddhist revival movement, followed by the world trend of separation of church and state, some Buddhist organizations spontaneously arose, and the healthy development of Buddhism has achieved good results, and Master Xuyun has made indispensable contributions in this process, and is a representative figure of modern Zen Buddhism.
Master Xuanyun was named "Xiao Guyan" before he became a monk, and his ancestral home was in Xiangxiang, Hunan. His father was the prefect of Quanzhou, because of his official position, the family was far away from home very early, and Master Xuanyun was also born and raised in Fujian. The birth of Master Xuanyun has a coincidental connection with Buddhism.
His mother, surnamed Yan, was a woman from a scholarly family and a Buddhist believer. The mother married her father at a young age, but has never had children. When she saw that her husband was forty years old, there was still nothing left in the family, and his mother, in desperation, went to the Guanyin Temple to ask the bodhisattva to bless them with a child. Perhaps it was really because of the sincerity of the heart, shortly after returning from the Guanyin Temple, his mother really became pregnant, and in 1840 she gave birth to the void cloud.
Because of the postpartum weakness, the Yan family left a swaddling cloud, and it did not take long to die. Because his father was often busy because of his official duties, he entrusted the void cloud of the infant to the care of his aunt Wang Shi in the courtyard.
Fortunately, as a mother-in-law, Wang Shi did not treat Xuyun badly, but treated him as his own child. Xuyun was his father's old son, and the only boy in the family, who had high hopes, plus the family he was in at that time was a family of officials and eunuchs, powerful and powerful, so Xuyun did not suffer any hardships when he was a child, and grew up under all kinds of love.
As The Void Cloud grew up, his father hoped that he could honor his ancestors and let him enter the career path, and his learning requirements were more stringent. As long as his father is at home, his father personally teaches him to read and write, and if his father cannot leave because of official duties, he will also hire a special master to educate.
In the beginning, Xuyun did show a very high talent in learning, poetry and song were not a word, and the Four Books and Five Classics were even more thoroughly studied, but his favorite thing to read was the books on Buddhism. He is not interested in fame and fortune, and he prefers to be alone and free to devote himself to the world of books.
In the process of growing up, his family also saw that he liked to study the scriptures, and at first, he did not care about The Void Cloud's love of the Buddhist scriptures, after all, reading more was not a bad thing for a person, so it was up to him. Gradually, however, his father discovered that the child's obsession with the Buddhist scriptures had far exceeded that of the traditional Four Books and Five Sutras, and began to warn Xuyun to let him study with peace of mind, and at the right age, he went to participate in the imperial examination and thus entered the official field.
However, Xuyun did not accept his father's advice, and his rest time was spent almost entirely on studying the Buddhist scriptures in his home, and gradually forgot his father's instructions. Later, the ten-year-old Xuanyun told his father that he did not want to take the meritorious name, wanted to go out to study Buddhism, and immersed himself in the study of Buddhism, and his father, who had been responsive to The Void Cloud since childhood, was furious this time, rejected the Void Cloud, and reprimanded the Void Cloud. Seeing his father's incomprehension, Xuanyun did not care, but the pursuit of the Dharma in his heart became more profound.
When he was seventeen years old, the Buddhist scriptures that he could access at home could no longer satisfy The Void Cloud, and in order to find a deeper understanding of the Buddha, the Void Cloud decided to run away from home and go to other places alone. But when his father found out, he sent someone to forcibly bring the cloud back home. In his father's view, as the only boy in the family, Xuyun naturally had to take on the responsibility of continuing the family incense.
Moreover, in the family of officials and eunuchs, how to maintain a family for a long time is what Xuyun should consider as the heir of the family.
Xuyun's rebellion undoubtedly annoyed his father, and after sending someone to arrest Xuyun and take him home, he arranged his marriage, hoping that he would study at home and marry and have children. Under the persecution of his father, Xuyun married a woman arranged by the family, but after marriage, he strictly adhered to the Buddhist scriptures and was unmoved by his gentle wife.
I have to say that Xuyun's pursuit of Buddhism is carved into his bones, and under the persuasion of his father and family, he still has not been able to dispel The idea that Xuyun wants to become a monk. When he was 19 years old, Xuyun once again escaped from home and went to yongquan Temple in Gushan, Fujian Province, where he first worshiped the old man as an apprentice, shaved his head, and the following year, after receiving the ordination of the Monk Miaolian, he officially became a monk.
After his official renunciation, Void Cloud lived in seclusion in a cave and immersed himself in the study of Buddhism. In the following three years, he studied diligently every day, day and night, and in a very short time, he read all the Buddhist classics in the temple library and realized something. After leaving the customs, he felt that his practice was still far from enough, and in order to find a deeper Buddhist mystery, he bid farewell to the master in the temple and began to travel all over the world.
During this period of hardship, he encountered the famous mountain ancient temple and went to study the scriptures and zen, also met Buddhist laymen to study together, also experienced the Boxer Rebellion that broke out in Beijing, and even after the Invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, he followed the fleeing team to the west... It is worth mentioning that the initial Fa name of master Xuyun was not Xuanyun, but when he was practicing at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain in the west, he meditated for a month, and finally realized it, so he changed the Fa name to "Void Cloud".
Master Xuanyun devoted almost the second half of his life to the promotion of Buddhism, and with his understanding of the Dharma, he gradually carried out some religious activities to promote the Dharma and soothe people's wounded hearts through the Dharma. Later, he even went abroad to preach in Siam, Sri Lanka, Japan and other countries, and converted tens of thousands of people.
Buddhist believers do not blindly seek to enter the world and escape the world, on the contrary, under the guidance of Master Xuanyun, Buddhist believers have made great contributions to the anti-aggression war in modern China. He organized the masses to raise money and donate food for anti-Japanese supplies; he took the lead in praying for soldiers on the battlefield and organizing Buddhist believers to set up medical teams to go to the front.
In addition, he also broke the inherent idea of Buddhist taboo killing, and proposed that for those who infringe on the territory of the state, the Buddhist people have the obligation to resist, even if they violate the precept of killing.
After the founding of New China, Master Xuanyun returned to the monastery, still immersed himself in the cultivation of Buddhism, and under the recommendation of everyone, he became the chief of the Buddhist Association of China, leading a new generation of Buddhist believers to continue to move forward. On October 13, 1959, Master Void Cloud, who was ill, died at the age of 120 at Zhenru Temple. Before his death, Master Void Cloud left a word for future generations: precepts.
The meaning of this word is very broad, and what the Void Cloud Master wants to express with this word has been painstakingly studied by posterity, and has not been found.
Master Xuanyun devoted his life to the cause of Buddhism, from reading Buddhist scriptures when he was a teenager, traveling all over the world after becoming a monk, and painstakingly participating in Meditation, to later establishing a Buddhist branch to publicize the Buddhist scriptures, cultivating a large number of Buddhist talents, and using his own practice of Buddhism to make certain contributions to the country's anti-aggression war. The 120 years of life have witnessed the collapse of the feudal dynasty, the cruelty of modern China's invasion, and the advent of the era of peace.
His faith in Buddhism has never stopped, and after returning to the temple in his later years, he also combed his lifelong Buddhist experience into a chapter for posterity to learn from, and his contribution to the cause of Buddhism was enough to make him "the first senior monk in China".
Although the word "precept" is familiar, very few people can really break the word. Master Xuanyun's enlightenment to the Dharma has gone through a hundred years, and the realm he has reached is very comparable, and it may be true that only by reaching the realm of Master Xuanyun can you truly understand the meaning of "ordination."