Hanshan Deqing (, Wade Giles: Han-Shan Te-Ch’ing, "Crazy Mountain, Virtuous Clarity", c. 1546–1623), was a leading Buddhist monk and poet of the late Ming dynasty China.Buswell Jr.; Lopez Jr. (2013) The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 344. Princeton University Press.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. ix.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 1. He was also posthumously named Hongjue Chanshi (). Hanshan was known for studying and teaching Pure Land, Huayan and Chan Buddhism. He is known as one of the four great masters of the Wanli Era Ming Dynasty,McGuire, Beverley Foulks (2014). Living Karma: The Religious Practices of Ouyi Zhixu, p. 2. Columbia University Press. along with Yunqi Zhuhong (1535–1613) and Zibo Zhenke (1543–1603) both of whom he knew personally. He also wrote their biographies after their deaths.
Hanshan has remained an influential figure in Chinese Chan Buddhism down to the twentieth century. His works are widely printed and published in various editions. His teachings were most recently promoted by modern figures like Xuyun (1840?-1959) and his disciple Charles Luk (1898–1978).Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 2.
Life
Early life Hanshan was born in Quanjiao, thirty miles west of modern Nanjing (in modern Anhui). His mother was a great devotee of Guanyin and encouraged his studies.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 59. He became a monk at 11 and was fully ordained as a bhiksu at 18 at the Great Bao’en Temple. While there he studied literature as well as religious subjects and began writing poetry when he was 17. Two years later he was ordained as a Chan monk under the Buddhist name of Cheng Yin. He studied under Yungu Fahui (at Mt. Xixia) and Fangguang.Youru Wang (2017). Historical Dictionary of Chan Buddhism, p. 119. Rowman & Littlefield.
He also studied Huayan Buddhism under Wuji Mingxin (1512–1574), a great Huayan master of the time and a student of Lu'an Putai (fl. 1511) of Da Xinglong monastery in Beijing.Wu (2008), p. 26. After hearing Wuji's lectures on the Avatamsaka sutra, Hanshan became very interested in Huayan and the thought of Patriarch Qingliang Chengguan.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 64. In 1565 Hanshan also took part in a meditation retreat led by Yungu Fahui. Hanshan practiced nianfo (buddha name recitation) for around three months, after which he had a great insight.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 65. After this, he started the Chan-practice of focusing on the question "Who is repeating the Buddha's name?"
Bao’en monastery burned down in 1566 after being struck by lightning.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 66. Hanshan busied himself for some years in keeping the community together, teaching, and raising money for the monastery's debts.
Travels, religious activities and influence at court Then in 1571, at the age of 26, Hanshan set out as a religious wanderer, traveling to different regions and Buddhist temples and monasteries in search of instructions.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 67. He visited different regions, including Beijing, where he studied various subjects like Pure Land, Chan, pramana, and Weishi with various Beijing area masters.
After four years he traveled to and explored Mount Wutai always carrying with him biography of Huayan patriarch Qingliang.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 68. During this period he saw the mountain peak called Hanshan (foolish mountain) and he adopted the name as his own style name. Hanshan then continued his travels, visiting Beijing again. He read the works of Sengzhao and had a powerful awakening experience afterwards and had an insight into the non-duality of all things.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), pp. 68-69.
Hanshan then went back to Mt. Wutai in 1575, staying at an abandoned house and focusing on meditation. He developed strong samadhi (meditative absorption) and had some powerful experiences,Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 69. called his major awakening or satori by Charles Luk. He did not have a teacher to guide him and instead made use of the Surangama sutra to verify his own enlightenment.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 70.
In 1577, while on Mount Wutai he decided to copy the entire Avatamsaka Sutra in his own blood (mixed with gold powder).Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 72. When the Empress Dowager Xiaoding heard of his intention, she provided gold papers for the project, which was the beginning of the close but complicated relationship between Hanshan and the Empress Dowager. The copying of the sutra took two years, and at every stroke Hanshan recited the name of Amitabha Buddha, attaining great concentration and reportedly being able to converse during this practice. He had various dreams related to the Avatamsaka during this time, in which he saw Qingliang Chengguan, Maitreya and Manjusri. The project was finished in 1581 and a ceremony was held to have the sutra installed into a pagoda.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 74.
By 1583 he had become famous as a Buddhist Master and set out traveling to remote areas again. It was at this time that he prefixed his name with that of Hanshan Peak so as to return to anonymity. In consequence of having organized a successful ceremony to ensure the birth of a male heir to the throne while he was still at Mount Wutai, Hanshan obtained the patronage of the emperor's mother. With her support he was able eventually to establish a new monastery at Mount Lao on the coast of the Shandong Peninsula. This new monastery was called Haiyinsi (Ocean Seal) and it was granted a full copy of the Buddhist canon by the empress dowager.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), pp. 76-77. By this time Hanshan was described by his friend Miao-feng as being unable to walk alone, suggesting by this point in his life he had become partially paralysed from his intense meditation practice, an affliction which would remain with him for the rest of his life. During his stay at Haiyinsi, Hanshan studied, lectured and composed various commentaries, including commentaries on the Surangama sutra and the Heart Sutra.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 77.
Exile period and life in the south
When relations between the Wanli Emperor and his mother broke down over the choice of heir, Hanshan was caught in a conflict which also included tensions between Daoists and Buddhists.The background to this conflict is outlined in Zhang, Dewei, Challenging the Reigning Emperor for Success: Hanshan Deqing and Late Ming Court Politics, Journal of the American Oriental Society 2014Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), pp. 80-81. In 1595, he was put on trial, tortured, and imprisoned. This was due to his close relationship with the empress Dowager and as such mainly served as a scapegoat.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), pp. 81-82. After this the monastery at Haiyin was destroyed (as Hanshan had been found guilty of building it without government approval). Hanshan was defrocked and exiled to a border region in Guangdong. He traveled there under military supervision with three disciples, dressed as a common prisoner with hair and beard grown.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), pp. 85-88.
While in Guandong, he visited various places, including Guangzhou, where he met with various important scholars, including Chou ju-teng, a teacher of Wang Yangming's philosophy. During this time Hanshan also attracted many Confucian students who studied his Buddhist interpretations of Confucian classics (during this time he wrote a commentary on the Doctrine of the Mean).Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 86. During this period he also visited Lei-chou temple and wrote commentaries to the Lankavatara sutra and the Lotus sutra. He also started a campaign against killing animals during local festivals.
Hanshan also visited and stayed at Caoxi where the sixth patriarch Huineng had resided. He spent some years (1601 to 1609) working to restore and revive Nanhua Temple (of the Sixth Patriarch) at Caoxi. Since the time that Huineng was entombed there, the area had been converted into a meat market by local gangs and the temple's monks were unable to do anything.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 88. Hanshan appealed to the supreme commander at Guanzhou for help. Some of the local monks at the temple also made a false accusation of embezzlement of the restoration funds against him in 1610, although he was later acquitted. Hsu Sung-Peng says these monks may have been supported by the local shop keepers and merchants driven away by Hanshan.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), pp. 90-91.
Hanshan became officially a free man in 1611. From that period onwards he remained in Guangdong teaching until 1613.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 91.
At Hengshan and Lushan In 1613 Hanshan left for Hengshan in Hunan Province. He also spent his time traveling across Hunan province and teaching. From 1616 to 1617 Hanshan undertook what became known as his 'Journey to the East' wherein he travelled from Hunan to the regions of Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the rough region of his upbringing.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), pp. 92-93 This journey carried not only a personal significance for Hanshan but also a religious significance, since 'west' is the general direction from which Buddhism entered China, and also the direction of Sukhavati in which the Buddha Amitabha and Bodhisattva Guanyin both reside, placing Hanshan firmly in the role of a traveling Bodhisattva.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 93 Everywhere he traveled he was welcomed enthusiastically by laypeople, monks and especially government officials. During this period he focused his teachings more towards Pure Land teachings since his friend Zhuhong who was prominent in the region was most well remembered for his Pure Land teachings.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), pp. 93-94 He is recorded as having used Buddhist means to heal the sick particularly through nianfo practice.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 95
From 1617 to 1621 he lived at Lushan in Jiangxi province, helping build a monastery there (Fayun monastery).Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 96. During his time at this mountain, he edited and condensed the teachings of master Qingliang on the Avatamsaka sutra. This led to Hanshan's Hua-yen kang-yao (Outline of the Avatamsaka sutra). He also devoted himself to Pure Land practice at this time, inspired by master Huiyuan.
At the request of his disciples, Hanshan moved back to Nanhua Temple at Caoxi in 1622 to spend his final years.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 97. His disciples record the final year of his life teaching to large gatherings in Caoxi and maintaining the temple there. On the day he died he called a large gathering of his students and they collectively recited Amitabha's name before Hanshan said:Be not disturbed. You must act according to the Buddhist regulations. Do not [when I die] wear hempen cloth or mourning garment [as secular people do]. Do not weep or cry. Recite Amitabha's name with all your heart.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), p. 98. At 4pm on 5 November 1623, Hanshan died at age 78, seated upright. His body was enshrined at Nanhua temple (right next to Huineng's) where it continued to be venerated until the present day with various offerings.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), pp. 98-101.The autobiography of Master Han Shan, pp.6-39
Teaching
Hanshan Deqing is regarded as one of the great scholars and reformers of Chinese Buddhism during the later Ming dynasty. He is renowned as a lecturer and commentator and was admired for his strict adherence to the precepts. Hanshan drew on the Chan and Huayan doctrine of the "One Mind" (drawn from the Awakening of Faith) as a way to unify all Buddhist schools and all of the three teachings (Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism). While Hanshan saw the Huayan teachings and the Avatamsaka sutra as the most fundamental and supreme teaching of the Buddhadharma, he also drew on the teachings of the Tiantai and Weishi schools.Hsu Sung-Peng (1979), pp. 145-149.