1st Patriarch Great Master Huiyuan 初祖慧远大师
Great Master Huiyuan (慧远大师, 334-416) was born during the Eastern jin Dynasty (东晋时期). He was very intelligent and diligent in learning from a young age. At the age of 13, he mastered Confucianism and Taoism (Laozi and Zhuangzi). At the age of 21, while listening to Master Dao’an (道安大师) expounding the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, he suddenly became enlightened and understood the Absolute Truth. He decided to take the monastic life and follow Master Dao’an to study the Dharma. Master Huiyuan was very diligent in contemplating and reciting the sutras day and night. He became to expound the Dharma at the age of 24 and many people came to follow him. Master Dao’an praised, “The person who is capable of spreading Buddhism widely in the East (China), it should be Huiyuan!”
In the year 381, Master Huiyuan passed Xunyang (浔阳), nowadays in Jiujiang City Jiangxi Province, (今江西省九江市). He witnessed how serene Mount Lu (庐山) was, and thought it would be adequately peaceful and secluded for spiritual cultivation. Thus, Dongling Temple (Eastern Forest Temple, 东林寺) was founded. This temple later became the most famous Pure Land temple in China, with the tallest golden Amitābha Buddha statute in the world (a total of 48 metres), which became a pilgrimage site for Pure Land Buddhists in China and around the world. Since then, 123 people from all over China came and followed Master Huiyuan to stay at the Donglin Temple.
Although the Buddhist teachings were continually coming to China, the mission was still not complete. This was why monks who knew Sanskrit kept coming to China to propagate the Dharma. The Great Master felt that China lacked many important teachings, so he sent his disciples Fajing, Faling and others to India to retrieve more sutras. After obtaining many Sanskrit texts from India, Master Huiyuan established the Prajñā Peak for translating sutras at Mount Lu, becoming the first person in Chinese history to privately form a Dharma translation centre without government assistance. Mount Lu's Donglin Temple and Chang'an's Park Of Freedom From Fetters, which was Great Master Kumārajīva's translation centre, became the two greatest Buddhist centres of Southern and Northern China and maintained correspondence with each other from afar. Great Master Kumārajīva even addressed Great Master Huiyuan as the “Eastern Dharma Protector Bodhisattva.”
Master Huiyuan highly praised the Nianfo (Amitābha recitation) Dharma gate and asked his 123 disciples, “Those of you who are cultivating here, don’t you want to be reborn in the Pure Land?” In response, they respectfully constructed statues of the Three Sages of the Western Pure Land and built houses. Master Huiyuan led his 123 disciples in the temple before the statute of Amitābha Buddha, where they vowed together to be born in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This was the formation of the White Lotus Society (白莲社), the first group in Chinese history where a large group of Chinese and foreign monks gathered to chant Nianfo and vow to be reborn in the Pure Land. Master Huiyuan also asked his disciple Liu Yimin (刘遗民) to write out the Verses for Vowing to Attain Rebirth in the Western Pure Land (《庐山莲社发愿文》) carved in stone. This became the manifesto of the White Lotus Society. The White Lotus Society cultivated Nianfo Samādhi (念佛三昧) as its primary focus. Wang Qiaozhi (王乔之) and several other disciples also composed poems about Nianfo Samādhi to express their determination to be reborn in the Western Pure Land.
[Editor’s note: to attain rebirth in the Pure Land, one does not need to obtain Nianfo Samādhi, one only needs to have Faith, Vow and Practice (信愿行); but in the old days in China, the Masters and practitioners were all extremely diligent in their cultivation, and they all aimed to achieve the highest spiritual aspiration possible (i.e., Nianfo Samādhi).]
Everyone diligently practiced Nianfo Samādhi during circumambulation, prostration and sitting sessions. They all eventually experienced the vision of Amitābha Buddha while in concentration. Not only was this experience one person's verification; it was the verification of the entire Lotus Society. One hundred twenty-three people were able to; in concentration, dreams, or when approaching the end of their life; see Amitābha Buddha and the supreme, wondrous environment of the Pure Land: the same Pure Land described in the holy sutras. All 123 people successfully attained rebirth in the Western Pure Land with auspicious signs.
[Editor’s note: If one wants to see Amitābha Buddha in one’s lifetime, one can single-mindedly recite the name of Amitābha Buddha, until there are no other thoughts besides the thought of Amitābha Buddha. Then one can see Amitābha Buddha before rebirth.]
The Great Master Huiyuan saw Amitābha Buddha three times during his life, but he remained quiet and humble about this, until the fourth time, seven days before his rebirth. He then revealed to his disciples that he had indeed seen Amitābha Buddha three times before.
In the year 416, on an evening in the seventh lunar month, at the Prajñā Peak's eastern shrine, the Great Master arose from Nianfo Samādhi and witnessed the presence of Amitābha Buddha, whose golden body filled the entire space. Within His pure light, there were countless manifested Buddhas, with Guanyin and Dashizhi Bodhisattva standing on his left and right [Editor’s note: this scene corresponds to the nine grades of rebirth - the highest level of the highest grade of rebirth as stated in the Visualisation Sutra]. Amitābha Buddha told the Great Master, "I, with my great fundamental vows and power, have come to comfort you, and after seven days, you will be born in my Land." He also saw other members in the White Lotus Society who attained rebirth long before him. They all stood next to Amitābha Buddha, including Buddhayaśas (佛陀耶舍), Huichi (慧持), Huiyong (慧永), Liu Yimin (刘遗民), and others. They all came to receive the master and escort him to the Pure Land. Liu Yimin asked the master: “Master, you generated the vow to be born in the Pure Land first, how come you came so late?” (Liu Yimin attained rebirth six years earlier than Master Huiyuan).
After this marvelous experience, the Great Master informed two of his assisting disciples, Fajing (法净) and Huibao (惠宝), "Since I began residing here, within eleven years, I have seen Amitābha Buddha three times. Now again I see Him. My rebirth in the Pure Land is definitely assured!” As expected, he knew the time of his rebirth in advance, when approaching the end of his life at the age of 83. On the sixth day of the eighth lunar month, while seated upright in meditation, Master Huiyuan attained rebirth in the Pure Land at the highest level of the highest grade.
The Great Master and all the members of the White Lotus Society used their personal experiences to demonstrate that Nianfo practice, accompanied by faith and vows, can without a doubt lead to rebirth in the Pure Land. This story has inspired many people to follow the Pure Land teachings. Due to Master Huiyuan’s profound cultivation and great contribution in spreading the Pure Land Dharma, he was honoured by later people to be the first Pure Land Patriarch in Chinese Pure Land Buddhism.
The thirteenth Pure Land Patriarch Master Yinguang praised Patriarch Huiyuan, claiming that he must be a Buddha or Bodhisattva who came back to help. Otherwise, how could he have understood the Dharma so well? At that time there were many sutras which had not been translated into Chinese. Master Huiyuan hadn’t read the Avatamsaka Sutra, but already knew that all Dharma gates in the end will all lead to the Pure Land Dharma!
(See: The Practices and Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra - the last chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra, in which all the great Bodhisattvas such as Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī vow to attain rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss).
Jiawen shares the rebirth stories of the 1st Patriarch Great Master Huiyuan and his 123 disciples in the video below:
