Master Xu Yun And His Closest Disciples.

[Shi Da Dao]

'My 112th Year (1951-52)

During the transmission of the precepts in spring, misfortune befell me at the Yun-men Monastery.

Note by Cen Xue-lu, Xu-yun's Editor

The Master dictates his life story up to his 112th year, after which attendents recorded subsequent events as the occured until the time of his death.

[At this time, the Communist Revolution had taken place and the first shudders of ideological change were beginning to make themselves felt.]

On the twenty-fourth of the second month, a band of more than a hundred thugs suddenly came and surrounded the monastery, allowing no one to enter or leave. First, they forcibly detained the Master in the Aboot's room, leaving only a few to watch him, and confined the monks to the Dharma and Meditation halls. After that, they searched the temple buildings from the roof-tiles to the flooring bricks, including the statues of the Buddhas and Patriarchs, sacred articles and the cases containing the Tripitaka.

Although over a hundred men searched for over two days, they founding nothing illegal. Finally, they took away Bhikshu Ming-gong - the Superintendent of the monastery, and Wei-xin, Wu-hui, Zhen-kong and Wei-Zhang - the monks in charge. They also put the registers, documents, correspondance and all the Master's manuscripts of explanations and commentaries on the sutras - and his recorded during a whole century - in gunny bags which they carried away. They then accused the community of all sorts of crimes, but in reality they had wrongly believed groundless rumours that there were arms, ammunition, radio tansmitters, gold bars and silver bullion hidden in the monastery, these items being the real object of their search.

Although twenty-six monks were arrested and brutally beaten in an attempt to force them into divulging the supposed cache of arms and money, but they all declared that they knew nothing of such things. Bhikshu Miao-yun was beaten to death and Bhikshus Wu-yun and Ti-zhi were so ruthlessly knocked about that their arms were broken. A few other monks went missing. As the thugs found nothing after ten days of vain searching, they visited their anger of the Master.

On the first of the third month, he was taken to another room, the doors and windows of which were sealed up. He was given nothing to eat or drink and was not even allowed to go out and ease nature. The room, dimly lit by a small lamp, resembled hell. On the third day, about ten tall men entered roughly and ordered the Master to surrebder gold, silver and arms. When he said that he had none, they struck him - first with wooden sticks - and then with iron bars until his head and face bled profusely and his ribs broke.

He was interrogated while being attacked, but sat in the meditation posture to enter the state of dhyana. As the blows rained down mercilessly, he closed his eyes and mouth and seemed to be in the state of samadhi. That day they beat him brutality four times and finally, they threw him to the ground. Seeing that he was badly hurt, they thought he was dead and left the room. A little later the guards also left and the Master's attendents carried him to a bed and helped him sit in the meditation posture.

On the fifth day, when they heard that the Master was alive, they came again and seeing that he was sitting in the meditation posture as before, they were furiously angry and struck him with wooden sticks. Dragging him to the ground, they kicked and trampled on him with their heavy leather boats. As he lay there with blood streaming from his head, they thought he was dead, laughed brutality and left. At night, his attendants again carried him to the bed and helped him to sit in the meditation posture.

On the tenth day, early in the morning, he slowly reclined on his right side (in a position similar to that of the Buddha at his Parinirvana). As he was motionless for a whole day and night, his attendant took a lamp-wick and held it close to his nostrils; he was found to be breathless and was thought to have died. However, the Master's mien was fresh as usual and his body was still warm. His attendants, Fa-yun, Kuan-shan, kept watch by his bedside.

Early in the morning of the elenenth, the Master was heard to groan feebly. His attendants helped him sit up and told him how long he had sat in dhyana and lain on the bed. Slowly, the Master said: 'I thought it was just a few minutes.' ....

The thugs who had beaten and tortured the Master and who now witnessed his remarkable feat of endurance, whispered to one another and began to be afraid. A man who seemed to be their leader, asked a monk: 'Why did not the old monk succumb to our beating?'

The monk replied, 'The old Master endures suffering for the welfare of all living beings and also to help you escape from your troubles. Later, you will know why he did not succumb to your beating.'

The man trembled and never thought of torturing the Master again.

Since they did not find what they were looking for and were afraid that news of the torture might leak out, they stayed on at the monastery and searched the monks, forbidding them to speak to one another or leave their quarters. Even their food and drink were subject to their captors' rigid examination. This state of things lasted for over a month. As a result of the beating and torture, Master Xu-yun suffered great pain and felt very ill; he could neither see nor hear. Afraid that he might pass away, his disciples urged him to dictate his life-story; hence this biography.

Empty Cloud: Translated by Charles Luk and edited by Richard Hunn - Pages 139-40)