After the introduction of Buddhism to China in the first century, the religion slowly established itself there. With the typical rise and fall of the Chinese dynasties, people lived their lives with many difficulties and upheavals. Thus, they needed something to guide them to alleviate their spiritual suffering. Buddhism, with its emphasis on the equality of all lives and the merits that could bring salvation, was especially attractive to the Chinese people, so it was able to spread quickly. The founding emperor of the Ming dynasty had originally been a monk, and all later emperors and many queens were also Buddhists. Buddhism spread quickly under the aegis of these powerful people.

The beginning

Han Shan was born into a Tsai family in central China. His mother was a devoted Buddhist and constantly worshipped Kuan Yin Bodhisattva. One night she dreamed that the bodhisattva approached her holding a child in her arms. She very happily took over the child. After that dream, she became pregnant. The baby boy was born on October 12, 1546, and the birth brought a great deal of pleasure to the family.

At a very young age, Han Shan showed extraordinary signs that he would one day become a great monk. He spent most of his time contemplating life and death and did not like to play with other children.

When he was older, he was sent to a temple to study. The atmosphere at the temple tended to be very quiet, so Han Shan's studies improved quickly. The monks at the temple frequently chanted Kuan Yin Bodhisattva's Universal Gate Chapter. Although young Han Shan didn't understand it completely, he was attracted by its beautiful rhythms. He received a copy and spent most of his time reading it.

His mother didn't know that there was such a sutra, so one day he recited the whole sutra to his mother and explained to her what it meant. His mother was moved to tears and asked him where he had learned to recite this sutra. The young boy replied that the monks at the temple often chanted it, so he had borrowed a copy and memorized it. His mother was delighted, but she wondered whether her son would become a monk too.

A few years later, young Han Shan was sent back home. One day he asked his mother why people should spend so much time studying, and his mother replied that they did so in order to become eminent officials in the royal court. Young Han Shan then asked his mother what kind of officials people could become, and she replied that people usually started from the bottom. One day one of them could become prime minister, the highest ranking official just below the emperor and above everyone else. Young Han Shan was not too happy to hear that, since it seemed that in the end people achieved nothing significant. He declared that he did not want to study anymore. His mother became angry with him and retorted that he might as well become a monk instead.

His mother then said to him jokingly that a person needed a lot of blessings to become a monk, since there were far fewer enlightened people than officials. Pondering the idea of becoming a monk, young Han Shan said immediately that even if he had enough blessings, he doubted his mother would allow him to do so.

"If you can truly become a monk, of course I'll allow you to do it," said his mother. His mother suddenly felt her heart sour over the possibility that his son might leave her one day to become a monk. However, she remembered the dream she had had when she became pregnant and all the Buddhist signs her son had exhibited, so she hugged him and said, "Son, I don't want to let you go, but in the end I'll support your decision."

Young Han Shan thus thought of the possibility of becoming a monk. When he was twelve years old, he heard someone say that Master Hsi Lin of Pao-en Temple in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, was very knowledgeable and respected by many people, and he became even more determined to become a monk. Thus, at the age of only twelve, he went to Pao-en Temple. When he was brought before Master Hsi Lin, abbot of the temple, the old monk liked him very much and held high expectations for him.

To begin his studies, Han Shan started with some Confucian classics. Two years later, he started learning the Lotus Sutra, and within three months he had memorized that long sutra. Amazed at how quickly he learned, Master Hsi Lin asked other people to teach him more traditional classics and other literary works. Because of this Han Shan became quite well versed in the classics, which later allowed him to write excellent essays and poems.

A monk

When he was nineteen, he was officially consecrated as a monk under Master Hsi Lin's tutelage. To everyone's surprise, at the next Chinese New Year's Eve, Master Hsi Lin suddenly told his disciples to prepare for his funeral and gathered all to recite the name of Amitabha Buddha for five consecutive days and nights. He passed away peacefully at the age of eighty-three.

One year later, their temple was struck by lightning and caught on fire. Almost 140 buildings were burned down. Since the temple had originally been constructed by royal decree, the local magistrate ordered eighteen monks in charge of fire prevention to be arrested. He suspected that someone had purposely burned down the temple, and he also wanted to use the arrested monks as scapegoats if the emperor wanted someone to pay for this. Many other monks fled to avoid persecution, but Han Shan and a few other monks stayed behind to help release the jailed monks.

About three months later, the sentence was handed down: all the monks responsible for fire prevention were released. All of them felt greatly relieved that none of them had been executed, but then they had to face debts that had accumulated over a long period of time. Even the funeral for Master Hsi Lin had been completed with borrowed money. Now with the temple burnt down, they didn’t have any money to rebuild it.

All they could do at the moment was to solicit donations to repay the debts and rebuild the temple. Master Hsueh Lang, one of the monks, went begging from door to door and finally helped to rebuild part of the temple three years later.

In 1567, Han Shan, now aged twenty-two, was appointed by the royal court to teach young monks and novices in a remaining building of Pao-en Temple. In the following year he was invited to teach at one temple, and in the year after that he went to teach at another temple. Han Shan spent these three years teaching at various temples and used the money he received to repay the debts.

After those three years, he decided to travel around the country to visit other temples and to learn from great Buddhist monks. However, his friend, Master Hsueh Lang, opposed his plan because he was worried that Han Shan would not be able to endure the fatigue and danger of travel. Han Shan replied, "People like to enjoy places with good weather and beautiful scenery, but in order to understand life and death and to eliminate one's bad habits, one has to endure harsh places and weather. Also, if I couldn't withstand the hardship of travel, I wouldn't be able to carry out my spiritual cultivation since there would be many things to overcome along the way."

Traveling around the country

Han Shan started his travels in 1571. The 26-year-old monk left the place where he had first shaved his head and become a monk. One day he was begging for food, but couldn't get any. He touched his pocket and found that he still had some money left. He realized that he couldn't get any food because of the money! As a monk, he should not think like an ordinary person who was always concerned about money. He had to let it go. He noticed that two other monks roaming on the streets couldn't get any food either, so he invited them to an inn and used up all the money on a meal for them. He now had no worries over how much money he had or how many days the money could sustain him.

One day, he went to visit a famous Zen monk, Hsiao Yen. Hsiao Yen asked him where he came from, and Han Shan replied that he came from the south. When Hsiao Yen asked him if he still remembered the path of his life, Han Shan answered that a monk like him shouldn't be attached to it. But Hsiao Yen said to him that he was rather clear about it and knew where he came from and where he should go. However, when Han Shan asked him about his future, Hsiao Yen simply shook his head and didn't say a word.

Han Shan went to the north of Shanyin Mountain in Shanxi Province and stayed there for the winter. There he read a passage in Nothing Changes: "A practitioner left home for his spiritual cultivation, and he only returned home when he was old and his hair had turned gray. His neighbors saw him and asked him, 'Is this still the same practitioner?' He replied, 'I might still look like him, but I am not him!'" Then Han Shan's mind immediately became tranquil and he said, "I see--there is no such thing as existence or annihilation in the Buddha's teachings." He went outdoors and saw the wind sweeping up all the yellow leaves, but his mind remained peaceful. All his doubts about life and death had disappeared as he realized that "there are no distinctions between our new and old selves, stillness and actions, life and death." There he composed a famous Zen poem:

Life and death, day and night;
Water flows and flowers fall.
I didn't know until now
That my nostrils face down.

In 1575, Han Shan and his friend, Master Miao Feng, whom he had met on his journeys, went together to Wutai Mountain. Master Ta Fang, the abbot of a temple on the mountain, gave them a room to stay in. When they arrived there was still snow on the ground, but the weather became warmer as spring arrived and the snow and ice started melting. All the water converged into a torrent that created a thundering noise as it roared through rocks and gullies. The din made it difficult for Han Shan to concentrate on his meditation. Master Miao Feng observed that the disturbances they sensed from the environment were actually created by their own senses when their minds tried to grasp them; the noise was not actually created by the environment. He said that the ancient sages used to say, "If your mind can remain undisturbed by the sound of flowing water for thirty years, you will be able to attain the Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s power of extraordinary hearing."

Thus, Han Shan meditated by the creek. At first he could still hear the sound of water running through the gullies, but after some time he did not hear it anymore. One day as he was meditating on a bridge nearby, he suddenly had no sense of his physical body and he didn't hear any sound around him. If this indicated that his spiritual cultivation had reached a new plane, an even greater experience of enlightenment finally came to him six months later. After he had eaten some rice porridge one day, he took a little stroll outside his house. Suddenly he entered into deep contemplation. He could no longer sense the existence of his body or mind; he could only sense a high level of ecstasy. He somehow saw a round, crystal-clear mirror which reflected all the images of the river and mountains. Everything was so clear to him, but he just couldn't find out where his body and mind were. He seemed to have become part of the universe. When he came out of the ecstasy, he felt his body and mind in great peace. Han Shan, who had been following the path of Zen cultivation, was delighted with his enlightenment.

A visit by Lien Chih

In 1576, Master Lien Chih [see the Summer 2001 issue of the Tzu Chi Quarterly] came to Wutai Mountain and lectured on Buddhism. Han Shan was eleven years younger than the great monk, but they hit it off right away and talked more than ten days.

Master Lien Chih focused on the Pure Land practice (reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha to be reborn in the Buddha's Pure Land in the afterlife), so Han Shan later promoted the Pure Land sect in addition to Zen meditation. He believed that the Pure Land practice with its recitation of Amitabha Buddha's name was a shortcut to enlightenment. He observed that the Buddha had said there were 84,000 ways to enlightenment, but the most important ones were Zen and the Pure Land sect. If one could recite the name of Amitabha Buddha to the degree that the mind could remain completely tranquil, all worries would disappear and the practitioners would comprehend the intrinsic buddha-nature in their minds--that was enlightenment. This recitation was the same as Zen practice.

The unconcealing ceremony

Han Shan wanted to repay his parents for their love and care, so he used his own blood to copy the Avatamsaka Sutra, which contains over a hundred thousand Chinese characters. At that time, his friend Miao Feng was also doing the same thing. After the two monks had completed their work, they decided to hold an unconcealing ceremony to commemorate this event. In this ceremony, which originated in India, people from all walks of life were invited to make offerings to the Buddha and the assembly of monks and nuns.

When Han Shan asked Master Ta Fang if he could borrow his temple for the event, he found out that the empress dowager had asked Master Ta Fang to hold a ceremony to pray for a son for the emperor. This actually revealed a conflict between the emperor and his mother. The Emperor Shen-tsung was in favor of royal concubine Cheng, but the empress dowager preferred Tsai-jen Wang (Tsai-jen was an official title lower than royal concubine). The emperor preferred Taoism over Buddhism, so he ordered Taoist priests to hold a ceremony for his royal concubine Cheng to pray for a future heir, but the empress dowager also ordered monks at Wutai Mountain to hold a ceremony for Tsai-jen Wang to ask for blessings from the Buddha for the same purpose.

Han Shan saw that all Buddhist ceremonies were good for the country and the people. Now the empress dowager's request from the Buddhist circle to pray for the future heir of the empire was also very important for the country, and he thus wanted to combine this with the unconcealing ceremony. However, Miao Feng and some other court officials opposed the idea, since they considered the two had no relation at all. Han Shan and Miao Feng unfortunately became estranged because of this event.

Nevertheless, the ceremony, held in 1581, was a great success: ten months after the ceremony, Tsai-jen Wang gave birth to a baby boy. The temple on Wutai Mountain became famous, and the three organizers--Han Shan, Miao Feng and Ta Fang--became household names.

To avoid the troubles brought by fame, Han Shan decided to leave Wutai Mountain. He had lived there for eight years, during which time he attained enlightenment and gained a great deal of prestige and fame. The valuable experiences he accumulated on Wutai played an important role in his following life. He left and finally settled on Lao Mountain on the east coast of China.

Lao Mountain

In 1584, the empress dowager wanted to award the three organizers of the ceremony for their success. Ta Fang and Miao Feng received their awards, but Han Shan was nowhere to be found. Thus, Master Tun An, abbot of Hualung Temple and the only one who knew Han Shan's whereabouts, was told to find the great monk. He finally found him on Lao Mountain and told him about the empress dowager's request. Han Shan humbly declined the award. The empress dowager then wanted to build a temple for him, and again Han Shan declined the offer. A third time, the empress dowager sent a court eunuch to present to him three thousand gold bars of her own money, and again Han Shan declined the offer. But that put the messenger in a difficult situation: he was not allowed to return if Han Shan didn't accept the gift. Sensing his difficulties, Han Shan suddenly recalled that people living to the east of Lao Mountain were suffering from a famine. He suggested using the money to buy food for these people in the empress dowager's name. All parties were very happy with this arrangement. Han Shan's compassion and generosity actually saved his life when the emperor tried to find an excuse to kill him later.

Around 1586, the emperor ordered the printing of fifteen copies of the entire Buddhist canon, and one copy was given to Han Shan. When the books arrived, the monk had no place to put them because he lived in a small hut. The court eunuch ordered an old temple to be refurbished in the name of the empress dowager to store the canon. The temple was completed in 1590 and was renamed Haiyin Temple. However, Han Shan didn't foresee the trouble that this temple would cause.

Trouble ahead

When Han Shan first came to Lao Mountain, the place was full of Taoist temples. But after Haiyin Temple was completed, more and more people went to worship and make donations there. The local Taoist monks began to see this as a menace to their survival. They decided to take over Haiyin Temple and kick Han Shan out. They enticed a group of fake Taoists to make a complaint to the provincial governor that Han Shan had illegally occupied their temple. However, they never realized that Han Shan had an excellent relationship with the governor, who then ordered the local authorities to punish those false Taoists. Han Shan wanted to make peace with everyone, so he went to the local magistrate and asked him to pardon them. However, the Taoists surrounded Han Shan and even wanted to kill him.

Han Shan then said to the leader of these hooligans, "What is it for you if you kill me? You will be executed if you do that."

The man thought for a moment and lowered his sword, but the crowd still urged him to kill Han Shan. The monk knew he was in danger, so he invited the leader to the temple and tried to make friends with him. However, a rumor went around that Han Shan had been injured. When the local magistrate heard the news, he immediately rushed to the temple with his soldiers. He wanted to put the leader in jail, but Han Shan pleaded to let him go. Thus, the magistrate freed the man and there was no more trouble with the hooligans.

Major suffering and exile

As mentioned earlier, the emperor ordered Taoist monks to pray that his beloved royal concubine Cheng would give birth to a son, and indeed she gave birth to a boy named Chang-hsun. However, Tsai-jen Wang also gave birth to a boy, named Chang-jo. The emperor wanted Chang-hsun to be the heir, but the empress dowager preferred Chang-jo. The argument dragged on for years between those who supported Chang-hsun (and thus the emperor) and those who supported Chang-jo (and thus the empress dowager). The emperor hated Han Shan for holding that Buddhist ceremony. Also, the empress dowager had given Han Shan many presents and even invited him to the palace, so the emperor had been trying to kill Han Shan for years. There were always sycophants who wanted to gain the emperor's favor, so one day they hired someone to falsely accuse Han Shan of embezzling millions from the royal coffers and illegally building Haiyin Temple. The emperor thought this was the chance to get even and ordered that Han Shan be arrested.

When the monk was taken away from Haiyin Temple, residents from the nearby city lined up along the streets to see him off. Tears rolled down their faces as they remembered how Han Shan had once given them the empress dowager's three thousand gold bars to help them live through the famine. When Han Shan reached the capital, the emperor had him tortured to find out how much money the empress dowager had donated to the temples around the country, and also how much of her money Han Shan had put into his own coffers. The monk was tortured for many days and went unconscious several times. He finally said that he was not the kind of person who would take money illegally. If he did that, he would betray all the sages before him and would also be unfaithful to the love from the empress dowager and the emperor. Han Shan indicated that he only accepted the three thousand gold bars from the empress dowager, and he had a list that clearly showed how he used the money. The official in charge of the case went through the list, and he also had a look at the books of the royal coffers. It became clear that Han Shan was telling the truth. The emperor had hoped to get even with his mother, but now the truth told otherwise. The emperor was smart enough to apologize to his mother, and in order to save face he also decreed that Chang-jo would be the heir to the throne. However, Haiyin Temple had not been built with the emperor's consent, so Han Shan was still found guilty and was sent into exile in Leichou in southern China. What was worse was that he was forced to give up his status as a Buddhist monk and resume secular life.

Life in Leichou

On his way to Leichou he passed through his hometown, so he asked to meet his mother. To his surprise, his mother was much tougher than he had thought as she showed no sign of dejection over his mistreatment. She told him she was quite concerned about his life, but she had heard many rumors about him and so she wasn't sure what had actually happened to him. However, she was very happy to have one last chance to see him, since she was old and could die at any minute. They both bade farewell and left each other. This was the last time Han Shan talked to his mother.

In 1596, when he reached Leichou, there was a terrible drought. Many people were starving to death, and the city was littered with dead bodies. One day Han Shan asked the city residents to bury all the bodies and hold a joint memorial service for the dead. Strangely, when the memorial ended, it suddenly rained. It rained so much that the drought was broken.

Han Shan was the only monk in the Ming dynasty to be exiled to the border areas. In such a case he should have been treated like a real criminal, but in reality he was given a great deal of freedom by the local magistrates and generals, who knew that he was very close to the empress dowager. He could move freely from place to place to visit many well-known local people and propagate Buddhism. A collection of his writings indicates that he was still in contact with many high officials and princes. All these were indications of his unique connections with the government and the high prestige that he still maintained even in exile.

Restoring Nanhua Temple

One day the governor of Shaochou (now in Guangdong province) asked the influential ex-monk to help restore the great Nanhua Temple in Tsaohsi, the second largest temple in China at that time. It had been founded by the great Zen master Hui Neng [see the Summer 2000 issue of the Tzu Chi Quarterly]. But after his disciples went out to spread the Zen lineage, the great Buddhist atmosphere at the temple started to wither. Hooligans gradually took over the temple and it lost its sacred nature as it became more like a market.

Han Shan went there in 1601, and with help from the local government he took back the temple properties one by one. He also helped rebuild the temple and laid down rules for the monks there. But the good times didn’t last long--only three years--because Master Ta Kuang, a good friend and also a great Buddhist figure, wrote a letter to protest Han Shan's mistreatment. Master Ta Kuang was consequently sent to jail and Han Shan was ordered back to Leichou. He stayed there until 1606, when the emperor proclaimed a national amnesty to celebrate the birth of his grandson. Han Shan then went back to Nanhua Temple.

Restored status as a monk

Han Shan wanted to renovate the Nanhua Temple, so he personally went to talk to lumber traders about the amount of lumber needed, the transportation, the timing, and all the relevant details. However, many monks in the temple suspected him of receiving kickbacks and pressed charges against him. After two years of trials, Han Shan’s name was finally cleared in 1611. However, the pressure of all these trials exhausted him and he decided to leave the place.

Han Shan was still considered a commoner since he had been stripped of his identity as a monk, but his wish to become a monk again was granted when the empress dowager died. The emperor knew how much his mother had liked Han Shan, so he invited him back to the palace to perform a Buddhist funeral for his mother. Han Shan put on his monk's robes and performed the funeral. After that, he started visiting other places and finally came to rest in Tunchou (also in Guangdong Province), where he wrote many books on Buddhism. He left in 1616 for Lu Mountain, where he built Fayun Temple.

The monks in Nanhua Temple invited Han Shan to return, so in 1622 he went back to the temple. He died the following year at the age of seventy-eight.

Master Han Shan lived a very rich life. He attained enlightenment twice on Wutai Mountain and also on Lao Mountain. He gained a thorough understanding of Buddhism and became a great monk. His unconcealing ceremony, combined with the ceremony to pray for the future heir of the dynasty, also won him great fame. To relieve the starving people near Lao Mountain, he gave them the three thousand gold bars the empress dowager had presented him. In Leichou, he prayed and the rain came and ended the drought. He also restored Nanhua Temple. Some people may not be able to complete any one of these great tasks, but Master Han Shan was able to finish all of them.