Hsu Yun - Early Life

Early Life

Hsu Yun was born on April 26 in Fukien, in Imperial China. His mother died during childbirth. In the 30th year of the Tao Kuang reign period (1850), when he was eleven years old, his father returned to Quanzhou. The aging grandmother of the Chou clan was determined that her grandson would have a wife. In order to continue both his and his uncle's lineage, Hsu Yun was to marry one woman from the T'ien family and one from the T'an family.

His first exposure to Buddhism was during the funeral of his grandmother. Soon afterward he began reading the Sutras, and later made a pilgrimage to Nanyo. When he was fourteen years old, he announced that he wished to renounce the material world in favour of monastic life. His father did not approve of Buddhism and had him instructed in Taoism instead. From the start, Hsu Yun was dissatisfied with Taoism, which he felt could not reach the deeper truths of existence. The storerooms of his house were full of very old books. Going through them, he found a volume called the 'Story of Incense Mountain', which described the life of Avalokiteshvara (Bodhisattva Kuan Yin). After reading the book, he was deeply influenced and was aspired to go forth from the home-life to monkhood to practice the Buddhist Path in the future. He didn't want to be an official nor to be a wealthy man. He decided that a life of simplicity would exemplify his resolution to practice pure and lofty ideals.

When Hsu Yun was seventeen, he had already undergone the hardship of practicing Taoism for three years and was indeed disappointed. He constantly thought about leaving the home-life and joining the Buddhist Sangha. One day in his uncle's absence he attempted to flee to Nan Yo to shave his head and officially leave the home-life. Little did he know that on a winding mountain path he would encounter envoys sent by his uncle to intercept and escort him back. His aspiration was not realized and he was reproved and brought back home. When Hsu Yun arrived home, the family feared that he would escape again, so he was sent with his first cousin, Fu Kuo, to Quanzhou. His father formally received the brides from the Tian and Tan families for Hsu Yun, and his marriage was completed. Hsu Yun, however, had already realized the emptiness of form. He held no view of a self or of others and had not the slightest thought of desire. He was clear of mind and pure in body. Therefore, although they dwelt together, he remained undefiled. Moreover, he extensively explained the Buddhadharma for the two women so that they too would practice the Buddhist Path.

There was a deep bond of brotherly friendship and respect between Hsu Yun and Fu Kuo. Fu Kuo also had previously explored the Buddhadharma and had the same aspiration as Hsu Yun, so they amicably traveled the Path together. In his nineteenth year, accompanied by Fu Kuo, he started the journey to Gu Shan (Drum Mountain) in Fuzhou to leave home. Before leaving, he wrote the "Song of the Skinbag". which he left behind for his two wives (the T'ien and T'an women). It was at Gu Shan monastery that his head was shaved and he received ordination as a monk. When his father sent agents to find him, Hsu Yun concealed himself in a grotto behind the monastery, where he lived in austere solitude for three years. At the age of twenty-five, Hsu Yun learned that his father had died, and his stepmother and two wives had entered the monastic life.

During his years as a hermit, Hsu Yun made some of his most profound discoveries. He visited the old master Yung Ching, who encouraged him to abandon his extreme asceticism in favor of temperance. He instructed the young monk in the Sutras and told him to be mindful of the Hua Tou, "Who is dragging this corpse of mine?" In his thirty-sixth year, with the encouragement of Yung Ching, Hsu Yun went on a seven-year pilgrimage to Mount Putuo off the coast of Ningbo, a place regarded by Buddhists as the bodhimandala of Avalokiteshvara. He went on to visit the monastery of King Asoka, and various other Chán holy places.

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