A legend says that just before Lien Chih was born, his father, Shen Te-chien, dreamed of a monk who appeared in the lotus pond in the enclosed courtyard and then walked towards his wife's room. Shen was quite furious, but he couldn't make a sound. Suddenly, a baby's cry awoke him from his dream. When he ran towards his wife's room, a maid came out and shouted, "Master, your wife has given birth to a baby boy!" Remembering the vivid scene he had seen in his dream, Shen named the boy, "Lien Chih," meaning "lotus pond."

In ancient China rich people hired private tutors to teach their children, so Shen hired a tutor surnamed Chen to teach his son. Chen found many extraordinary things in the six-year-old Lien Chih. One was that the boy was very good with animals. Fish in the pond would swim toward him whenever they saw him walking near the pond; birds would sit in the tree branches and sing to him. Another thing was that Lien Chih was very good at reading Buddhist sutras. One day when he was alone in the study, he found his tutor's copy of the Diamond Sutra on the desk, and he started reading it. When Chen returned, he was surprised to see the young boy reading a sutra. He asked him if anyone had taught him how to read it, but the boy said that no one had taught him the sutra. Chen then picked some sentences at random from the sutra, and he was stunned to find that young Lien Chih could finish the rest of the sentences. The boy was also able to read other sutras that his tutor picked out. The tutor then told Shen that the young boy was perhaps the reincarnation of an outstanding monk.

At first Shen was not pleased to hear this, because he wanted his son to pass all the district and national exams so that he could bring honor to his family by obtaining a position in the royal court. Besides, if the boy decided to leave home to become a monk, the family lineage would end.

At the age of seventeen, Lien Chih was old enough to sit for the district examinations. He passed with honors, which brought great joy to the family. Then he had to prepare for the higher level exams to be held about three years later. However, three months before the exams Lien Chih fell sick. His father sent him to a nearby temple to recover. The temple and the monks there brought him a feeling of serenity that he had never felt before, and he began to like it.

One day his parents went to visit him at the temple. To their disappointment, Lien Chih had decided not to take the exams. His father, like any other intellectual of that time, had also taken the local district exams, but he had failed. He had tried many times but still didn't pass, because the chief examiners were only interested in bribes. Thus Shen was deeply angered by the corruption of court officials. Nevertheless, after he was married and had a son, Shen wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, pass the exams, and eventually land a good job with the royal court. This would surely bring honor and pride to the family. But at the same time Shen also regretted forcing his son down this path, because he had also seen people go insane after failing the exams. Furthermore, the family was rich enough that his son could be idle for the rest of his life, and he didn't need to try to get a position in the court.

Lien Chih's cousin, Shan-chou, passed the national exams with high honors. Although he was not among the top winners, it was still a great pride and honor for his family. Firecrackers exploded constantly in front of their home in celebration and a throng of friends and relatives jammed the house to congratulate him and his parents. However, Lien Chih's home, only a few paces away, had no visitors at all. Shen felt desolate, especially since those people visiting Shan-chou's home were also his own friends and relatives.

Not long after Lien Chih returned home from the temple, his mother arranged a marriage for him. Four years later, his wife, Shuo-jen, gave birth to a boy named Tzu-chih. This brought much excitement and joy to the family. When the boy was one year old, Lien Chih's parents held a banquet to celebrate his birthday, but Lien Chih adamantly insisted that only vegetarian dishes be served. He said to his mother, "We are celebrating Tzu-chih's birthday, but I don't want to see poor animals killed for him. We should be creating blessings for him, not evil."

"But people always kill animals for banquets like this," his mother pointed out.

"We don't need to follow what other people do. Don't you hear the animals shriek with pain while you are eating them?"

Therefore, every course of the meal was changed to a vegetarian dish.

A change of fate

Lien Chih's family was held in high esteem until bad times came and took away their happiness. One night when Lien Chih was twenty-seven years old, his father died after a long period of illness.

That was not the end of troubles for the Shen family. One evening about two years later, while the cook was preparing dinner and everyone was gathering around for their meal, Shuo-jen suddenly asked Lien Chih, "Where is our son?"

"He's out with our servant, Ah-fu," he replied. "Ah-fu took him out this afternoon to play."

"But it's so late and they should be home by now," worried his wife.

They both went out to look for Ah-fu and the child. But just as they stepped out of the house, they were surprised to see the servant running home in tears. It was not a good sign.

Tzu-chih had fallen into some water, but Ah-fu didn't know how to swim and he had to run for help. When people came and jumped into the water to rescue the boy, he was already dead.

The whole family was grief-stricken, but Shuo-jen was completely heartbroken. She couldn't eat or sleep and she wept constantly. She finally became ill and died later in the same year.

Seeing his three dearest people die one right after the other was an extremely terrible blow for Lien Chih. Whenever he closed his eyes, the images of his father, his wife and his son would appear. He became despondent, and he would let days go by without doing anything.

His mother comforted him by saying, "Son, try not to be so sad. I have asked the matchmaker to find another woman for you."

"But Mom, I don't want to get married again," he protested.

"But you aren't even thirty years old, and you have to try to have another son to continue the family line."

"My two younger brothers have children, so you don't need to worry about that."

His mother became furious and asked, "Do you want to be a widower for the rest of your life?"

Lien Chih was silent because he didn't know why his mother so insisted on getting him married and having male offspring to carry on the family tree. Why was that so important?

The matchmaker quickly found an appropriate woman, named Tang Chin-erh. The night after they were married, Chin-erh showed him a note which read, "Your body and hair come from your parents, and so it is not right to copy a Buddhist scripture with your blood. If you are sincere, the Buddha will respond to your request. The Buddha is always in your heart. Amitabha!”"

Lien Chih was amazed when he saw this. Some years before, after his father passed away, he had given this paper to a young girl, and that girl had now become his wife! After Lien Chih's father died, a young girl living near the market vowed before the Bodhisattva of Compassion that if the bodhisattva would cure her mother of her sickness, she would copy a Buddhist sutra with her blood. Indeed her mother was cured before she finished copying it, but this young girl still carried out her oath. She fainted several times from losing so much blood, but she still persisted in carrying out her vow. When Lien Chih heard about this, he wrote the letter and asked a servant to hand it to that girl. In the letter he told her not to carry out her vow, since there was no real need to copy a sutra with one's blood to show one's sincerity. After his father died, he made a hundred copies of the Diamond Sutra--in ink.

Lien Chih was quite delighted to see her and he asked her about the scripture she had copied. "If it hadn't been for this letter from you, I would have died from losing too much blood," she replied. "And I wouldn't have been able to care for my mother either. It was so simple to understand, but I just never thought about it. I was so stupid! The servant you sent to me said that you used ink to write a hundred copies of the Diamond Sutra for your deceased father because when one is sincere, the Buddha or bodhisattvas will respond to your request no matter what you use to copy the sutras. So I used ink to finish the sutra."

"However," continued Chin-erh, "there are so many things I don't understand about Buddhism, and I need your help to understand."

Lien Chih was delighted to hear this, because he had finally found someone in his family who was also interested in Buddhism. Before that, no one was as interested in Buddhism as he was. They both spent the night reciting sutras until dawn.

About two years later, Lien Chih's mother died. Lien Chih had become more devoted to Buddhism by simply spending all day reading and copying sutras. During that year's Chinese New Year's Eve, Chin-erh went to get a cup of tea for Lien Chih and accidentally broke it. At the sound of the breaking cup, he thoroughly awakened to the impermanence of life and he decided to renew his life by becoming a monk.

When he told Chin-erh about his decision, she consented rather quickly, because she knew her husband's mind quite well from living with him for over two years. He was fascinated by Buddhism, and she was the last obstacle to his leaving home and becoming a monk. Nevertheless, she still felt a deep passion for him in her heart, and she tearfully said to him that she would shave her head and become a nun after she had taken care of the family.

The Shen family had many relatives in the area. When they heard about Lien Chih's decision to become a monk, they all flocked to his home and demanded that he change his mind. But their entreaties were in vain. His cousin, Shen Shan-chou, came back from the capital on holiday. He also tried to convince Lien Chih to give up the idea, but his attempt was fruitless.

Travels as a monk

Lien Chih went to Wumen Cave and became a disciple of Master Hsing Tien. Then he traveled around to seek out other famous monks and learn their knowledge on Buddhism so that he would be able to broaden his understanding. His former wife, Chin-erh, also came to the same place after he left and under Master Hsing Tien's tutelage became a well-known nun.

Lien Chih went to Tunglin Temple on Lu Mountain, because he had heard that Master Hui Yuan had established the Pure Land sect and encouraged his followers to chant the name of Amitabha Buddha to gain peace of mind and eventually attain enlightenment. He had also heard that the current abbot of the temple, Master Yun Tao, was a great and famous monk and frequently went to the capital to preach Buddhism. However, when Lien Chih arrived at the temple, the master had already left. Lien Chih left the temple and walked a few miles to a bridge, where he ran into an old monk with a white beard--it was Master Yun Tao. The master was delighted to see him. He immediately invited him back to the temple and ordered other monks to open the main gate to welcome him. The monks at the temple were stunned because Lien Chih was young and not very famous, but they still obeyed the master's order.

Lien Chih and Master Yun Tao went to a room and talked for three days straight. The other monks were surprised at this, but they were sure that the master had never spoken to any other visiting monks like this before and they felt Lien Chih had to be very special. On the fourth day, the two men came out of the room and Master Yun Tao even walked with Lien Chih to the foot of the mountain and bade him farewell.

When Master Yun Tao got back to the temple, he gathered all the monks and told them about a dream he had had. When he was taking a boat to Nanking, he dreamed that Master Hui Yuan, the founder of the Pure Land sect, approached him riding on a lotus flower and told him that the eighth patriarch of the sect would come to Tunglin Temple. He told him to head back right away. When Yun Tao asked Hui Yuan the name of this patriarch, the saint simply pointed to the golden lotus (Lien Chih means "lotus pond") upon which he was sitting and then disappeared. When he awoke, Yun Tao ordered the crew to sail the boat back to Lu Mountain. Shortly after, he heard a cry from a crewman. When he came out, he was surprised to see that the boat had already reached the foot of the mountain. No one knew how the boat could have reached the place in less than a day. Master Yun Tao knew that it had indeed been an extraordinary dream. As he was rushing back to the temple, he happened to meet Lien Chih at the bridge.

All the monks were amazed at what they heard, and the large bell at the temple rang the whole day to bless Lien Chih.

After touring many places for more than three years, Lien Chih had a vision during his meditation. He saw a group of buddhas approaching him, some chanting sutras and some folding their hands in gestures of respect. They walked around him once and stood at his left side. Then he saw a group of demons dancing and yelling. They circled around him once and then stood at his right. Suddenly, the buddhas were transformed into demons and the demons were transformed into buddhas. Lien Chih was frightened, and his thoughts became chaotic and frantic. He suddenly gave a roaring cry, and the buddhas and the demons all disappeared.

When the vision ended, he was still in the same position but he was covered in a cold sweat. What had just happened? He then realized that he had spent more than three years touring all over the country seeking out great monks and learning from them. He had accumulated much knowledge, but that knowledge could either lead him on the right path to buddhahood or on the wrong path to evil. If he kept seeking external knowledge, he would one day lose track of his real goal and become a devil inside. Thus, he decided to go back to his old master's temple.

When he returned and met Master Hsing Tien at Wumen Cave, they were both delighted to see each other. The master noticed that Lien Chih's face had changed from white and round to dark and thin. He was not a young novice anymore; he had been completely transformed into a true, mature Buddhist monk with experiences and knowledge. As Master Hsing Tien listened to Lien Chih tell of his encounters and browsed through his commentaries on the Buddhist sutras, he also praised him for his great wisdom. At the instruction of the master, Lien Chih and another disciple then went to Yunchi Mountain, also in Zhejiang Province.

When they reached a village, the villagers told them that there were dangerous tigers in the mountains. Master Lien Chih said calmly that if he was eaten by a tiger, then it was the work of karma and he was not afraid of that. He still insisted on going. The villagers were impressed by his persistence, so they led Master Lien Chih and his disciple to the ruins of an ancient temple. Several miles from the temple gate, the two monks found a flat piece of ground where they decided to settle. The village people helped cut down trees, clear away grass and build three huts for them. One hut housed the Buddha's statue, one was the bedroom and one was the kitchen.

The next morning, the villagers went to see if the two brave monks were still alive. When they arrived, they were shocked to see two tigers sitting before a hut. When the tigers saw the visitors, they just stood up and walked away. The village leader finally got the courage to open the door of the hut, and he found Master Lien Chih in meditation and his disciple lying on the ground as if he had fainted. They named Lien Chih "Master of Taming the Tigers" and he became famous in the village and beyond.

What actually happened that night was simply that Master Lien Chih was concentrating on reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha, even with those two tigers roaring outside the hut. The disciple shook with fear, even though he was also reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha. The tigers found the door of the hut closed tight and they tried to open it. Master Lien Chih suddenly stood up from his futon, walked to the door, opened it, returned to his futon and continued with his recitation. The tigers walked in, and the disciple fainted out of fear and slumped to the ground. However, the tigers just walked around Master Lien Chih and sat down by the door, as though protecting the monk.

After that incident, the tigers and other animals slowly disappeared, and the villagers venerated Master Lien Chih as a deity.

Seeking rain

One year later, the weather took a change for the worse. It had not rained in weeks, the fields all dried up, and many crops died. Seeing the terrible drought facing the villagers, the village leader and several villagers went to Master Lien Chih for help. Sensing their suffering, he agreed to help them and he led a group of villagers to the fields to chant. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but many villagers believed that their sincerity touched heaven--dark clouds slowly rolled in and suddenly it started to rain. Everyone was exultant; the farmers danced and sang in the rain. It rained for several days and the drought was over.

First taming the tigers and then bringing rain--these events helped make Master Lien Chih the most famous person in the village. His name spread to other places as well. When other villages suffered from drought, villagers came to ask him for help, and he always agreed. The villagers and people living nearby showed their gratitude to him by renovating a ruined temple, Yunchi Temple, so that he could have a good place to live and practice.

His final years

Throughout the years, Master Lien Chih wrote commentaries on sutras and essays on Buddhism. The most famous essay he wrote was Essay on Why We Should Not Kill Animals for Food. It listed seven conditions and reasons why people should not eat animals. His ultimate idea was certainly to encourage people to cultivate their compassion and merits by not killing animals.

Many admirers came to the temple to ask for his advice on Buddhism, and many of them, whether laypeople or monks, became his disciples. The temple became very famous.

One day, when the master was eighty-one years old, he went out and bade farewell to his old friends. When he returned to the temple, he ordered all the monks to gather in the main hall. Everyone was quiet as it seemed that something major was about to happen.

Master Lien Chih said to them, "What is the most important thing in our Pure Land sect?"

All replied, "Reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha with all sincerity."

Master Lien Chih faced west and recited the name with every monk in the main hall. Slowly his voice became quieter and quieter and then stopped. He died at the age of eighty-one in 1614.