12th Patriarch Great Master Che’wu 十二祖彻悟大师

Great Master Che’wu (彻悟大师) was born in 1741 C.E. (1741-1810) in present-day Fengrun District of Hebei Province (河北丰润). He was extremely bright as a child and loved to read classical books extensively. At the age of 22, due to a significant sickness, he deeply realised the impermanence of this physical body and all things in life. With this realisation, he was determined to renounce the household life and take the monastic life. He received the full monastic precepts the following year. Once he took the monastic life, he traveled around to learn from different masters. He diligently studied the Mahayana sutras, such as the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment (圆觉经), the Lotus Sutra (法华经), the Śūraṅgama Sutra (楞严经) and the Diamond Sutra (金刚经).

At the age of 28, Master Che’wu went to study with Master Cuiru at Guangtong Temple and realised the essence of all dharmas. He became the 36th heir of the Linji School of Chan Buddhism (临济禅宗).

He soon became the abbot of Guangtong temple and led all the people in practising Chan diligently for fourteen years. Later, due to many illnesses, he began to practise Nianfo, and through Nianfo his illness was cured. He then contemplated more deeply about the Nianfo Dharma gate and realised that great bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna and many other Great Patriarchs such as Master Zhìzhě, Master Yǒngmíng Yánshòu, Master Chǔshí, Master Liánchí, etc., in the end all practised the Nianfo Dharma gate and vowed to be reborn in the Pure Land. “Who am I thus, to dare not to take refuge (in Amitabha Buddha)?” Master Che’wu thought. From then on, the Great Master abandoned his Chan meditation and instead began to single-mindedly practise and propagate the Pure Land Dharma gate. 

Master Che’wu even burned many of his writings on Chan for the past decade, and only mentioned the Pure Land Dharma. Many people who followed him were also touched by his sincerity and soon opted for practising Nianfo. Because of the Master’s profound knowledge of both Chan and the Pure Land Dharma gates, he expounded the Dharma with unobstructed eloquence. The Great Master upheld the precepts stringently. Every day, he would limit his time for meeting guests to the duration of a stick of burning incense. After that, he would prostrate to the Buddha and practise Nianfo. The Great Master diligently cultivated the Pure Land Dharma gate with all the people together, and the wind of the Pure Land Dharma gate spread far and wide. Monastics and laypeople all took refuge with the Master and practised the Pure Land Dharma gate. During that time, Great Master Che’wu was the most revered Master within Buddhist circles.

In 1800, the sixty-year-old Master retired to Zifu Temple in Hongluo Mountain (红螺山资福寺). He originally wanted to spend his old age in peace, but because many disciples followed him to the temple, he received them with compassion. He also carried firewood and water and repaired the mud walls of the house with the people. Gradually, Zifu Temple became a famous Pure Land Temple. The 13th Patriarch Master Yinguang also cultivated at Zifu Temple in Mount Hongluo. Master Che’wu’s works also deeply inspired Master Yinguang to single-mindedly follow the Pure Land path.

In March 1810, Master Che’wu ordered the disciples to prepare for his own cremation ceremony, handed over the position of abbot and told everyone, "The Nianfo Dharma gate can cover beings from the three roots (i.e., beings of high, middle and low capacities); there is no root that Amitabha Buddha will not receive. Over the past few years, I have worked hard with everyone to build this temple. Its purpose is to welcome people to cultivate the Pure Land Dharma gate. All the rules I have established should always be adhered to and not changed so that it will live up to the hard work of the old monk and everyone."​​

Half a month before his departure, the master was slightly ill, so he ordered everyone to chant the Buddha's name. He saw countless banners in the sky coming from the west. The master told everyone: "The view of the Pure Land has appeared, and I will soon return to the West." The disciples earnestly urged the master to stay in this world. The master replied, "A hundred years of life are like a passing guest in the autumn wind; one will eventually have to go. I have reached the holy state. You should be happy for me. Why should I bother to stay?"

Me it out

On the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month, the Master ordered a Nirvana feast to be prepared. On the seventeenth day of the ceremony, the Master told everyone, "Yesterday I saw the three great masters Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahāsthāmaprāpta. Now I have been greeted by Amitabha Buddha in person. I am leaving now." The crowd chanted the Buddha's name louder and louder. The Master sat facing westward, put his palms together, and said, "To recite the holy name (of Amituofo) once, one sees one percent of the good appearance (of Amituofo and also of our Buddha nature)." While performing the Amitabha mudra, he departed peacefully to the Pure Land. The Master attained rebirth at the age of 70.

Everyone smelled an exotic fragrance filling the air. After making offerings to his body for seven days, the master's face still seemed alive, compassionate and full, and his hair turned from white to black with an abnormal lustre. On the 27th day, his body was put into the coffin, and on the 37th day of the cremation ceremony, more than a hundred relics were obtained (which are today still on display in Zifu Temple). The disciples enshrined them in the Putong Pagoda. The master wrote many writings about the Pure Land Dharma and poems, which are compiled in the Collected Works of Master Mengdong (《梦东禅师遗集》) (Mengdong is another name for the master).

清珠投于浊水，浊水不得不清。

念佛投于乱心，乱心不得不佛。

If you throw a pure pearl into turbid water, the turbid water will have to be clear.

If you recite (Amitabha) Buddha's name and cast it in a chaotic mind. Your chaotic mind will (slowly) have to be the Buddha’s mind.

Due to Master Che’wu’s diligent cultivation and realisation of Nianfo Samadhi, as well as his great contribution in propagating the Pure Land Dharma, he was regarded by the later people as the 12th Patriarch of Chinese Pure Land Buddhism.