淨宗理念

Huiyuan was from Loufan in Yanmen (present-day Guo County, Shanxi), of the Jia family. At thirteen he studied in Xuchang and Luoyang and mastered the Six Classics and the books of Laozi and Zhuangzi. At twenty-one, with his younger brother Huichi, he heard Daoan teach the Prajna sutras on Mount Heng in the Taihang range. He sighed that the Confucian and Daoist schools were so much chaff, and the brothers ordained. Trained in the teaching of emptiness, he was lecturing by twenty-four, often using the Zhuangzi to explain ultimate reality. Daoan then allowed him to keep reading non-Buddhist books.

In 381 he went south to Mount Lu and lived at Donglin Temple. Finding the scriptures of the south incomplete, meditation untaught, and the vinaya fragmentary, he sent disciples to seek texts. In 391 he welcomed the Kashmiri monk Sanghadeva, who translated Abhidharma works. When Kumarajiva entered Chang'an, Huiyuan sent Daosheng, Huiguan, and others to study with him, and the two masters corresponded. His disciple Tanyong joined the translation of the Ten Recitations Vinaya, and he invited Buddhabhadra to Mount Lu to translate a meditation manual. Alongside Mahayana prajna he also taught the meditation and numerical analysis of the lesser vehicle.

In 402, with Liu Yimin and more than a hundred others, he founded the White Lotus Society, taking Pure Land recitation as their practice and vowing rebirth in the West. For more than thirty years he did not leave the mountain. When Huan Xuan ordered monks to bow to the ruler, Huiyuan wrote A Monk Does Not Bow Before a King, arguing that the renunciant community need not submit to royal power. Donglin was then the Buddhist center of the south, balancing Kumarajiva's Chang'an. He died in 416 at eighty-three. Tang and Song emperors granted him posthumous titles. To distinguish him from the Sui-dynasty Huiyuan of Jingying Temple, later generations call him Lushan Huiyuan.

Shandao was from Linzi in Shandong (some say Xuyi in Anhui), of the Zhu family, and was called the Master of Zhongnan. As a child he ordained under Master Mingsheng of Mizhou and recited the Lotus and Vimalakirti sutras. When he obtained the Contemplation Sutra he was moved to tears and joy and cultivated the sixteen contemplations. In 641 he went to Xuanzhong Temple in Xihe to see Daochuo, practiced the fangdeng repentance, and heard the Contemplation Sutra. Thereafter he recited the Buddha's name exclusively, attained nianfo samadhi, and saw the adornments of the Pure Land in meditation. He then taught the Pure Land door at Guangming Temple in Chang'an.

His conduct was strict. He sat with palms joined and recited until his strength gave out. For more than thirty years he kept no fixed lodging, did not raise his eyes to look at women, did not receive bows from novices, and kept clear of fame and profit. Fine clothes and food he sent to the kitchen for the community; he himself ate coarse fare. With offerings he copied the Amitabha Sutra a hundred thousand times and painted three hundred transformation tableaux of the Pure Land, and he repaired any shrine he found in disrepair. Some of those he taught recited the sutra a hundred thousand to three hundred thousand times, or the name ten thousand to a hundred thousand times a day. People called him an emanation of Amitabha. Under Emperor Gaozong he served as inspector when the great Vairocana was raised at Longmen in Luoyang.

He died in the third month of 681 at sixty-nine. One account says he gave up his life by hanging from a willow in front of Guangming Temple. He was buried on the Shenhe Plain south of Chang'an. His disciples included Huigan, Huiyun, and Jingye. His works include a four-fascicle commentary on the Contemplation Sutra, a two-fascicle liturgy, and several shorter texts on recitation and rebirth. In 1909 Japanese scholars found fragments of his Praise of Rebirth and of the Amitabha Sutra, the latter with a vow in his name, near the old city of Gaochang — perhaps one of the hundred thousand copies. The four-fascicle commentary reached Japan in the eighth century. Honen founded the Japanese Pure Land school upon it and honored Shandao as its patriarch.

Chengyuan was from Hanzhou (Guanghan, Sichuan), of the Xie family. He first lived under a cliff on the southwest of Mount Heng. If someone brought food he ate; if not, he ate earth. Worn and unkempt, he carried his own firewood. His thatched hut was called the Amitabha Terrace, and there he practiced pratyutpanna Buddha-recitation. In time people came from far and near, and those who received his teaching were counted in the tens of thousands. National Teacher Fazhao, of Emperor Daizong's reign, was his disciple. Daizong himself came to pay respects and bestowed on the place the titles Pratyutpanna Way-place and Amitabha Temple.

He died in 802 at ninety-one. Liu Zongyuan wrote the stele, set to the right of the temple gate. He had more than a thousand disciples; Fazhao, Riwu, Huiquan, Zhiming, and Chaoming were the best known.

Fazhao's dates and birthplace are unknown. He is called the Master of the Five Assemblies. During the Yongtai era of Emperor Daizong he traveled in the east, then entered Mount Lu out of admiration for Huiyuan and cultivated nianfo samadhi. Once, in meditation, the Buddha directed him to study with Chengyuan at Nanyue. In 766, at the Amitabha Terrace, he vowed to keep a ninety-day pratyutpanna retreat each summer, and that same year he received the method of five-assembly recitation and sutra chanting. The next year he stayed at Yunfeng Temple in Hengzhou. One day five-colored clouds appeared in his porridge bowl, and within them the Great Sage's Bamboo Grove Temple; another day the bowl showed him the monasteries of Mount Wutai and scenes of the Pure Land.

In the summer of 769, at Hudong Temple (also called Xiangdong), he practiced five-assembly recitation on a high terrace and saw Amitabha together with Manjusri and Samantabhadra. In the fourth month of the next year he reached Foguang Temple on Wutai. Two children led him, and he found the very scenes he had seen in the bowl. Manjusri and Samantabhadra gave him the essentials of Buddha-recitation. He raised a stele there so that those who saw or heard of it would give rise to bodhicitta. Thereafter he traveled between Wutai and Chang'an. Five-assembly recitation spread from the court to ordinary society. After he died he was granted the title Monk of Great Awakening. Some say he was Shandao come again, and he is honored as the fourth patriarch of the Lotus School.

Shaokang was from Xiandu Mountain in Jinyun, Zhejiang, of the Zhou family. He left home at seven and received full precepts at fifteen at Jiaxiang Temple in Yuezhou, reciting the sutras and treatises widely. Later, at Baima Temple in Luoyang, he read Shandao's guide to the West and resolved to practice Buddha-recitation alone. He gave the coins from his almsround to children: one recitation of Amitabha's name, one coin. Within a year, people recited the name as soon as they saw him.

He then opened a Pure Land way-place on Wulong Mountain in Muzhou and gathered the assembly to recite. With each recitation a Buddha issued from his mouth; with ten, ten Buddhas. People called him the later Shandao. He died in 805.

Yanshou was from Yuhang in Lin'an, Zhejiang, of the Wang family, styled Zhongxuan, and called himself Baoyizi. He first served as an official. At thirty he ordained under Chan Master Lingcan of Cuiyan at Longce Temple, then studied with National Teacher Deshao on Tiantai. At Guoqing Temple he practiced the Lotus repentance, released living beings in the morning, offered food to spirits in the evening, recited the Lotus Sutra, and cultivated Pure Land practice with care. He taught on Mount Xuedou in Mingzhou and revived Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. In 961, at the invitation of Qian Chu, king of Wuyue, he moved to the great monastery of Yongming, and so is known as Great Master Yongming. He taught the joint practice of Chan and Pure Land, taking the mind as the axiom. He lived at Yongming for fifteen years, and people said Maitreya had come again.

He also gathered monks of the Faxiang, Huayan, and Tiantai schools and compiled the writings of two hundred Indian and Chinese sages into the Records of the Source-Mirror, one hundred fascicles, seeking to harmonize the schools where they had fallen into dispute. The king of Goryeo, seeing the book, sent envoys to take the disciple's courtesy and dispatched thirty-six monks to study. The Chan of the Fayan school then flourished in Korea. Yanshou died in 975 at seventy-two and was granted the title Chan Master Zhijue.

Shengchang was from Qiantang in Zhejiang, of the Yan family, styled Zaowei. At seven he was already weary of ordinary life. He received full precepts at seventeen and kept them strictly. He later lived at Zhaoqing Temple by West Lake in Hangzhou. Admiring what remained of the White Lotus Society on Mount Lu, he formed a society beside the lake for exclusive Pure Land practice, then renamed it the Pure Conduct Society, after the chapter of that name in the Avatamsaka Sutra. Prime Minister Wang Dan served as its head. One hundred and twenty-three scholar-officials took part over time, each offering a poem and calling himself a disciple of the society; more than a thousand monks joined as well. The flourishing of the old lotus society appeared again.

He died in 1020 at sixty-two. His body was buried beside Chan Master Niaoke's tomb on Lingyin Mountain. He is known as the master of the Qiantang White Lotus Society, and as Dharma Master Yuanjing of Zhaoqing.

Zhuhong was from Hangzhou, of the Shen family, styled Fohui, and called Lianchi. He studied the Confucian curriculum and passed the xiucai examination at seventeen. Influenced by a neighbor, he set his heart on the Pure Land and wrote four words on his desk to warn himself: the great matter is birth and death. In middle age he ordained under Wumen Xingtian at West Mountain, received full precepts from Wuchen at Zhaoqing, and then wandered to study. In 1571 he entered Yunqi Mountain in Hangzhou, lived in an abandoned temple, and cultivated nianfo samadhi with care. Monks gathered, and a community formed.

In 1584 he wrote the Collection on Rebirth in three fascicles. The precept platform had long been forbidden, so he had candidates wear the three robes and conferred the precepts before the Buddha as witness. He composed liturgies for the water-and-land rite and the yankou offering to relieve those in the unseen world, opened life-release ponds inside and outside the city, and wrote against killing. He upheld the Pure Land, sharply criticized wild Chan, and taught Chan and Pure Land together. Scholar-officials such as Song Yingchang, Lu Guangzu, and Feng Mengzhen came under his influence. When illness came late in life he practiced all the more, wrote thirty-two warnings, and set down “three regrets and ten sighs” for his students. He died in 1612 (one account says 1615) at eighty-one. He is known as the Monk of Yunqi and as Great Master Lianchi, and with Zibo, Hanshan, and Ouyi he is counted among the four great monks of the Ming.

Zhixu was from Mudu in Wu County, of the Zhong family, named Jiming, styled Ouyi, and called Babudao ren. Trained in Confucian learning, he wrote dozens of essays attacking Buddhism. At seventeen he read Lianchi's Record of Knowing Oneself and Jottings by the Bamboo Window, and burned what he had written. At twenty he recited the Ksitigarbha Sutra and resolved to leave the household life. At twenty-three he made forty-eight vows and called himself Upasaka Dalang. Hearing the Shurangama Sutra, he was stopped by the questions of why there is great awakening, and how space and the world arise, and he decided to ordain. At twenty-four he was tonsured by Xueling, a disciple of Hanshan, and given the name Zhixu. At Yunqi he heard the treatise on Yogacara and was told that the schools of nature and of characteristics must not be reconciled. He sat in Chan on Mount Jing and suddenly saw that the two were never in conflict. At twenty-six he received the bodhisattva precepts; the next year he read through the vinaya. Once, gravely ill, he turned wholly toward rebirth in the Pure Land.

At thirty he lectured on the vinaya at Longju Temple. Later, in Jinling, he saw clearly the abuses of the Chan schools and resolved to propagate the precepts. At thirty-two, wishing to comment on the Brahma Net Sutra, he drew lots before the Buddha and drew Tiantai, so he studied that teaching in detail. He then lived at Lingfeng and afterward at Jiuhua, Wenling, Shicheng, Shengxi, and Xin'an, teaching Tiantai and commenting on the scriptures. At fifty-six he fell ill at Lingfeng, wrote poems on the Pure Land, and compiled the Ten Essentials of the Pure Land. After he recovered he wrote A Guide to Reading the Canon and A View of the Sea of Dharma. In the tenth month the illness returned. He dictated his will and composed a verse seeking rebirth. In the first month of 1655 he sat on the rope bed, raised his hand toward the west, and died, aged fifty-seven, thirty-four years after full ordination.

He kept the precepts strictly, had no use for fame or profit, and spent his life reading the canon and writing. He studied Yogacara, Chan, vinaya, Huayan, Tiantai, and Pure Land, with particular weight on Tiantai, and he held that the Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian teachings meet. He also looked into Confucianism and Christianity. His Chan, doctrine, and vinaya all returned at last to the Pure Land: one recitation of the Buddha's name gathers the whole of Shakyamuni's teaching. From the Qing onward, Tiantai lecturers often took his commentaries as their basis, and the Lingfeng current — Chan, doctrine, and vinaya gathered into the Pure Land — has continued. His disciple Chengshi privately titled him Great Master Shiri. The world knows him as Great Master Ouyi of Lingfeng.

Xingce was from Yixing in Jiangsu, of the Jiang family, styled Jieliu. His father, Jiang Quanchang, was at home in both Confucian and Buddhist learning and was close to Hanshan Deqing. Three years after Hanshan died, Quanchang dreamed that Hanshan entered the room leaning on a staff; Xingce was born after that dream. His parents died one after the other. At twenty-three he went to study under Tongwen of Ruo'an at Li'an Temple in Hangzhou, and for five years he did not lie down. He came to understand the teaching. While living at Baoen Temple he was urged by Zi'an Ying to practice the Pure Land, and with Qiaoshi of Qiantang he studied Tiantai and cultivated the Lotus samadhi.

In 1663 he built a hut, Lianfu Hermitage, among the reed banks of Xixi west of Mount Fahua in Hangzhou, and practiced the Pure Land exclusively. In 1670 he lived at Puren Yuan on Mount Yu, revived a lotus society, and students gathered. He died in 1682 at fifty-five.

Shixian was from Changshu in Jiangsu, of the Shi family, styled Siqi, and called Xing'an. He is the eleventh patriarch of the Lotus School. His family had studied the Confucian classics for generations, and he wished early to leave the dust of the world. He ordained at fifteen, and a sutra stayed with him after a single reading. He received full precepts at twenty-four, held them strictly, did not set aside robe and bowl, ate one meal a day, and ordinarily did not lie down. He then studied Yogacara, the Shurangama, and the Great Calming and Contemplation under Shaotan, and came to understand Tiantai and Yogacara. Shaotan recognized him as the fourth-generation orthodox heir of Lingfeng Tiantai. For three years he closed the gate at Zhenji Temple, reading the canon by day and reciting the Buddha's name by night.

Invited by the monasteries, he lectured for more than ten years, and many monastics and laypeople in Jiangsu and Zhejiang took refuge with him. He lived at King Ashoka's Temple on Mount Mao and at Qianlin Temple in Hangzhou. Late in life he cut off outside affairs, formed a lotus society, and practiced the Pure Land exclusively. People said Yongming had come again. In 1733 he announced the time of his death and recited the Buddha's name a hundred thousand times each day and night. He died in the fourth month of the next year, at forty-nine.

Jixing was from Fengrun in Hebei, of the Ma family, styled Chewu and Natang, and called Mengdong. As a youth he prepared for the examinations and knew the classics and the histories well. At twenty-two an illness showed him that life is impermanent. He ordained under Rongchi at Sansheng Hermitage in Hebei, and the next year received full precepts at Xiuyun Temple. He then studied with Longyi of Xiangjie Temple, Huian of Zengshou Temple, Biankong of Xinhua Temple, and Cuiru of Guangtong Temple, working through the Perfect Enlightenment, Lotus, Shurangama, and Diamond sutras and the Yogacara teaching. He inherited Cuiru's Dharma. When Cuiru later became abbot of Wanshou Temple, Jixing succeeded him at Guangtong and taught the joint practice of Chan and Pure Land.

In 1800 he retired to Zifu Temple on Hongluo Mountain and taught only the Pure Land. The world knows him as Hongluo Chewu. He lectured constantly and urged people to recite the Buddha's name, and those he taught were for a time found both north and south. In the twelfth month of 1810, knowing his time had come, he gathered the assembly to recite and died among them, aged seventy, forty-nine years after full ordination.

Yinguang was from Heyang in Shaanxi, of the Zhao family, named Shengliang, styled Yinguang, and he called himself the monk who is always ashamed. As a youth he studied the Confucian books and liked the Cheng-Zhu school. He once opposed Buddhism and went blind; then he woke, turned to the Buddhist texts, and by his sincerity his sight returned. At twenty-one he ordained under Elder Daochun at Lianhua Cave on South Wutai in the Zhongnan mountains. In 1882 he stayed at Lianhua Temple in Zhuxi, Hubei, and soon afterward received full precepts at Shuangxi Temple in Xing'an, Shaanxi. At twenty-six he went to recite the Buddha's name at Zifu Temple on Hongluo Mountain, calling himself a successor to the practice of Lushan. He then lived more than twenty years at Fayu Temple on Mount Putuo in Zhejiang, reading the canon and reciting from morning to night, seeking no reputation, and he entered retreat twice.

In 1912 his essays appeared in the Buddhist Journal under the name of the monk who is always ashamed, and his name traveled. In 1918 he was often in Shanghai raising support to print the Complete Works of Anshi, and he stayed at Taiping Temple. Letters asking for guidance came from every side, and he received them with kindness. All his life he taught the Pure Land, and he kept three rules: he would not serve as abbot, he would not take disciples, and he would not ascend the high seat. He cared nothing for fame or profit, lived plainly, and taught people to practice honestly. At seventy he closed a retreat at Baoen Temple in Wu County. At first he saw no guests; later he taught the assembly. He compiled gazetteers of the four great mountains — Putuo, Wutai, Emei, and Jiuhua — and he set in motion the rebuilding of Lingyan Shan Temple in Wu County, with Monk Zhenda as abbot. It became the foremost Pure Land monastery of modern times.

He died at Lingyan Shan Temple in 1940, aged seventy-nine. After the cremation there were five-colored relic flowers and countless relic pearls. His integrity and his learning were both remarked, and he has been called the foremost Pure Land elder since the start of the Republic. His collected essays and complete works are in print.