This Indian Dharma Master had two names: “Gunabhadra,” and “Mahayana.” In 435 A.D., he went to China where, because of past conditions, he felt he could not teach and transform the living beings there. Such was his determination that he even made a vow to cross over the people of China.
In his early years, this Dharma Master had been somewhat stupid. After studying the Buddhadharma, however, he became wiser and more intelligent than everyone else. He mastered the Tripitaka, the Sutras, the Shastras, and the Vinaya, and cultivated Dhyana with such a singleminded effort that he could attain deep Dhyana samadhi.
Dharma Master Gunabhadra had been stupid when young because his family believed in an “outside way”; that is, another religion.
What kind of outside way was it?
They were so far removed from true principle that they would not allow anyone in the household to draw near Bhikshus or believe in Shramanas. When they saw a Bhikshu coming, they considered him to be fiercer than a tiger and more deadly than a poisonous snake, “If you get near one, you’ll lose your life,” they warned each other. “Whatever you do, don’t get near a Shramana.” Because these were the rules of their household, their child was very stupid. He did not even know the difference between a four and a five!
But eventually Gunabhadra became extremely intelligent. The causes and conditions behind this were very peculiar. On one occasion he saw a copy of The Nirvana Sutra, read it, and experienced an enlightenment. He said, “Buddhism is so wonderful and the Buddhadharma is so high.” Then he ran away from home. He walked right out the door of his outside way home. From inside his outside way home he drilled his way out, and ran away to find a Good Knowing Advisor. His causes and conditions must have been fairly good because, right away, he encountered what his family had called a “tiger” or “snake,” He met a Bhikshu! This Bhikshu spoke the Dharma for him saying, “Leaving the home life is not easy. Not even leaving home yourself, just being able to see people who have left the home life means your roots are good.”
Now all of you young Americans have good roots, and so you have been able to see people who have left home life. Some of you who have travelled around a lot on vacations might have seen Bhikshus, or you might have seen their pictures in books, but rarely could you have seen Bhikshus in America. Moreover, the number of people who have genuinely drawn near them is still less. But the roots of all you youngsters have now matured, and so there are Bhikshus and Bhikshunis in this country.
So the Bhikshu said to him, “Encountering the Triple Jewel is difficult and very rare; leaving the home life to become a Bhikshu is even more inconceivable.” Gunabhadra immediately asked the Dharma Master to shave his head, and he left the home life to become a Shramanera. Later he received the complete Precepts of a Bhikshu.
Gunabhadra means “Worthy One of Merit and Virtue.” Someone asked me if he is the same Gunabhadra mentioned in Fa Hai’s introduction to the Sixth Patriarch Sutra (《 六祖壇經》). Since the text says that Gunabhadra was also from the Liu-Song Dynasty, it is likely that they are one and the same person. However, you should keep in mind that many Indian people had the same name. It is similar in America. Take the name Steve, for instance. How many Steves are there? In the same way, many Indians had the same name. Also, if two Sanskrit names were spelled slightly differently, both could have been transliterated by the same Chinese characters, since the translators would sometimes say, “Just get it more or less sounding right. It doesn’t matter if it is off by a little, Steve is just Steve, let’s not bother with the last name,” was their attitude. So there could be two Gunabhadras, a hundred, or even a thousand. There’s no way to figure out exactly what went on. Anyway, it is not that important. After all, it is just a person’s name; you don’t have to go to a lot of trouble over it and waste valuable time.
Historians just ask for trouble by continually doing research to find out when that person lived, and when this person lived. It is a case of them not having anything to do, and just twiddling their thumbs. They get involved in doing meaningless research. It seems that the more they investigate, the more trouble there is, since they investigate absolutes. “This is false; is this true?” In this world, really, what is “false” and what is “true”? Nothing. If you think something is true, it is true. For instance, if a country says they have Mr. Smith as their President, yet you haven’t seen him yourself, you could draw the conclusion that this is false. On the other hand, if he wasn’t President, you could go ahead and say he was. There is no way to be fixed about it. Originally Master Gunabhadra was stupid because people in his household believed in an outside way, another religion. But he became intelligent as soon as he believed in the Buddhadharma. So you see, there is nothing fixed. After Master Gunabhadra became a monk, he propagated the doctrine of the Dhyana School in India for many years. One day he had a false thought and said, “The root-nature of the Great Vehicle Dharma has matured in China. l should go there and teach living beings,” He knew that it was extremely difficult to go to China and teach; for one thing, the languages were not the same. Then, too, the road was very long. He said, “Oh! It’s too much suffering to walk from India to China. That’s three and a half thousand miles on foot! I’ll take a boat. This way, gradually, every day I’ll get nearer to China and it will be easier.” This was his plan. Now is it a good one or not? If he had been stupid he would have walked, but because he was so intelligent, he thought of a way to avoid walking. He took a ship. Yet this was still no guarantee that he would make it to China. During the voyage, the ship ran aground on a sand bar. Then the tide receded and the whole ship was left high and dry. Being a big vessel, the crew and passengers combined could not budge it. There they were, in the middle of nowhere: it looked certain that they would die. There were no communications and no tow in sight. It wasn’t like the oceans of today on which there are many vessels. At that time there were very few ships. Master Gunabhadra thought, “We have encountered a demonic obstacle and the ship won’t go.”
It was an unexpected difficulty, but the Master was intelligent and didn’t get nervous or upset. He said, “I will teach all of you, passengers and crew alike, to call on the Buddhas of the Ten Directions and on Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva (觀世音菩薩). We will return our lives to the Triple Jewel of the Ten Directions and to the Greatly Compassionate Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva.” Then they all put their palms together and recited, “Homage to the Eternally Dwelling Buddhas of the Ten Directions. Homage to the Eternally Dwelling Dharma of the Ten Directions. Homage to the Eternally Dwelling Sangha of the Ten Directions. Homage to the Greatly Compassionate Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva.” They recited and recited, and Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva, who probably could not sit still said, “I have to go and rescue those people.” So Guan Yin Bodhisattva ordered a rain, and soon the ship floated free. Not only that, but imperceptibly, a gentle wind rose and blew the ship right to China. Master Gunabhadra used his intelligence; in that difficult situation he became neither agitated nor nervous, but continued to believe in the Buddhas of the Ten Directions. Because of his faith, the Buddhas of the Ten Directions escorted him to China.
He arrived in China during the Liu-Song Dynasty (in 435 A.D.), and the Prime Minister Nan Qiao Wang (南譙王), who believed in Buddhism, was very good to him. He had heard that the Avatamsaka Sutra was Master Gunabhadra’s specialty.
Dharma Master Gunabhadra had selected this Sutra just after he left home. He had drawn the Avatamsaka in a “Sutra-lottery,” which was the accepted method in those days for deciding which Sutra one would study. His draw prompted Dharma Master Gunabhadra’s teacher to remark, “You certainly must have conditions with the Great Vehicle Buddhadharma if you drew the Avatamsaka!” Then Master Gunabhadra studied, recited, learned how to explain it and at all times thought about its principles. For this reason, when he arrived in China, the Prime Minister asked him to lecture on that Sutra.
Unfortunately, although the Master knew the common expressions such as “good morning, good afternoon, good evening” and the like, he could not speak enough Chinese to lecture the Sutra. Moreover, at that time, there wasn’t anybody who could translate for him. Under such circumstances he began bowing to the Buddhas in repentance, asking them to open his wisdom and enable him to speak Chinese. His resolve was firm, and he bowed this repentance for more than a year. One day, in a dream-like samadhi, he saw a man, dressed in white, who was holding a knife in one hand and a man’s head in the other. The head of the man looked Chinese.
“What are you worried about?” asked the man in white.
Master Gunabhadra replied, “I come from India. Although someone has asked me to explain the Avatamsaka Sutra, I can’t do it because I don’t speak Chinese. That’s why I am requesting the Buddhas to help me.”
“No problem,” said the man in white. “I’ll give you a new head and you’ll be able to speak Chinese. O.K.? If you want, I’ll cut off your head and give you this one.”
Master Gunabhadra said, “Well, if you think it’s O.K., then do it…” So the man in white took the knife and sliced off Master Gunabhadra’s head and put on the one he was holding in his hand, in its place.
“Does it hurt?”
“No,” replied Dharma Master Gunabhadra, “it doesn’t hurt.” Suddenly he woke up. From then on, he didn’t know how or why, but he could speak fluent Chinese and was able to explain the Avatamsaka Sutra.
After three years of lectures, the Prime Minister kept having a recurring bad dream which he asked Master Gunabhadra to explain to him. The Master said, “l fear that within the year there will be something inauspicious and demonic which will arise in the Liu-Song Dynasty. Someone wants a revolution.” Sure enough, within the year there was a revolution. Then the Prime Minister decided that he wanted to be Emperor and laid plans to start his own revolution. Although Dharma Master Gunabhadra was worried, he didn’t say anything. Finally the Prime Minister asked him, “Gunabhadra, you are a person who cultivates the Way, why do you have such a worried expression these days?” Dhyana Master Gunabhadra began to cry bitterly and urged the Prime Minister not to revolt, warning him that the revolution would be unsuccessful. However, the Prime Minister didn’t listen. Not only did he want to revolt, but he intended to use the Master in his plan. He knew with Dharma Master Gunabhadra appearing to be on his side, many people, because they deeply believed in the Master, would support the revolution.
So the Prime Minister took Dharma Master Gunabhadra on his march from Jingzhou to Nanjing, the capital where the Emperor lived. On their way they passed through the Liang Mountains (梁山). There, the armies clashed. The Prime Minister and his troops were defeated in the battle, which ended in the middle of the Yangtze River (長江). The Master thought he would certainly be killed, so he took his staff and jumped into the river. Although he was far from shore, the water only came up to his knees; yet when he used his bamboo staff to test the depth of the water, it did not touch bottom. He was a long way from shore and thought, “I’ll certainly die now. Even though the water is only up to my knees, I’m too far from shore. There is no way to wade across this river.” Just then, a little child about seven or eight years old came up to him from behind and, tugging at his clothes, pulled the Master forward, “How can a little child like you take me across?” the Master asked. As soon as he had said those words, they reached land, even though he felt he had hardly moved. When he got on the shore he removed his clothing and turned to give it to the small child by way of thanks, but the child was nowhere to be found. Dharma Master Gunabhadra didn’t know where he had gone. Then, realizing that because of his singleminded recitation of the name of Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva while in the river, Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva had sent the Youth Good Wealth (Sudhana) to take him across and help him through that danger. But Dharma Master Gunabhadra, on reaching the shore, was captured by some of the Emperor’s troops. The Emperor had sent out his troops with these orders: “No matter who captures Dhyana Master Gunabhadra, don’t harm him. Bring him back to the capital.” They escorted him to the Emperor who, in an audience with him, said, “I have looked up to you for a long time. I have long hoped for the opportunity to meet you, but conditions have only ripened today.”
Dharma Master Gunabhadra replied, “It’s my karma that causes me to meet with this situation. I am very grateful that the Emperor spares my life.”
The Emperor then sent him to the Jeta Grove Monastery and made abundant offerings to him. He often asked him to come to the Imperial Palace to receive vegetarian banquets. The officials all took refuge, and bowed to Dhyana Master Gunabhadra as their teacher.
Once when the Emperor invited him to receive offerings at the palace, the Master did not have time to shave his beard or hair, both of which were snow white. As he was on his way to the palace, the Emperor said to his officials, “Gunabhadra has incomparable wisdom and eloquence and is noted for his humaneness and righteousness. No matter what you ask him, he gives clear and wonderful answers. I’ll question him today and we’ll see what he says.” When he arrived at the Palace, the Emperor and officials welcomed the Master. The Emperor said, “Master Gunabhadra, you have come from afar, but now, there is only one matter remaining.” The Emperor had in mind the matter of death, but he didn’t say a word. Thus the Master replied, “This old Sangha member has come from afar to draw near the Emperor and has been here some thirty years now. There isn’t anything else; there is only death remaining.” It made the Emperor very happy and he asked Dharma Master Gunabhadra to sit next to him. The reply had amazed all the officials, and they became particularly attentive to Dharma Master Gunabhadra.
Afterwards, the Master dwelt at the Phoenix Pavilion. To the west of it he built a monastery which, on its completion, housed a lot of Bhikshus. However, during the night there was a continual knocking on the Bhikshus’ doors. But if a Bhikshu went to see who was at the door, nobody could be seen. People began to think that demonic ghosts were bothering the place, keeping the Bodhimanda in an uproar.
Dharma Master Gunabhadra heard gossip about this, and one evening lit some incense. Then he made the following statement: “All of you have lived here a long time and we have many conditions together. Now I have built this monastery and if you can live here, you can be the Dharma protectors and good spirits of this monastery. If you cannot live here, then do whatever you want, but don’t hang around giving people who cultivate the Way a lot of trouble.” That night, more than ten monks and laymen had the same dream in which they saw many ghosts pack up their bags and move out. After that, there was no more knocking on doors.
In the first month of 468 A.D., the Master had a slight illness. After saying “goodbye” to the Emperor and the officials, he sat in full lotus and entered Nirvana. He was seventy-five years old.
Originally, the Master came from a family which bеlieved in an outside way. After he became a monk his parents would often write and ask him to come home for a visit. He was fully ordained at the time, having taken the Shramanera Precepts, the Bhikshu Precepts, and the Bodhisattva Precepts. Finally he wrote them a letter in which he said, “If you are still holding on to your religion, it would be useless for me to come and see you. But if you were to take refuge with the Triple Jewel, then we could see each other quite often.” His parents were so moved by his letter that they changed from the deviant and returned to the proper. They renounced the outside way, took refuge with the Triple Jewel and became Buddhist disciples. Think it over. Originally this Dharma Master didn’t have any wisdom. But then, through cultivation, he became wise and was able to convert his parents. It should be clear that Dharma Master Gunabhadra is worth emulating.
People who cultivate the Way should find a good model to follow. If someone is not a good model you should not follow him; only follow the good. You should see which of these virtuous High Masters you admire and respect the most. Then study his life and imitate him. Don’t just listen to these stories and then forget them. You should be particularly attentive to each of them. Confucius said,
Seeing a worthy one, you should resolve to be like him.
Seeing one who is not worthy, you should examine yourself.
This means that what is good you can accept as the Dharma; what is not good you should realize as violation of the Precepts. If we see something good we can attempt to imitate it, but we should not try to be like those who set a bad example.
Before you understood the Buddhadharma, you could do whatever you felt like doing. But now that you have come to understand it, you cannot do whatever you please. You should be extremely careful at all times. Be as cautious as if you were standing on the edge of an abyss or walking on thin ice. You should be as if you are in deep water where, if you don’t watch out, you’ll drown. That is how you should cultivate.
These High Masters rose up from lowly positions. They did not become High Monks as soon as they left the home life, but accomplished the Way gradually, through steady cultivation. You too who cultivate the Way should progress little by little. Don’t follow your own inclinations and say, “I’m going to be whatever I like.” That won’t work. It is necessary to continually examine yourself, and continually make the vows, “I shall not be lazy today. I shall not follow my own inclinations. I shall not be greedy, hateful, or stupid.” Having made such vows in the morning then, in the evening, take stock and say to yourself, “This morning I made vows. Have l acted in accord with them? Or did I make the vow not to be greedy only to end up greedier than usual; and the vow not to get angry only to end up even more angry; and the vow not to be stupid, only to find that no matter what I did, I got confused?”
At all times you should see if you are able to subdue yourself and return to propriety. Always watch yourself. So it is said, “Mahasattva, don’t pay attention to others. Amitabha Buddha, every man looks after himself,” If you don’t wish to sincerely advance in your cultivation toward the true, then the Bodhisattvas won’t pay any attention to you. But if you wish to tend toward the true, the Bodhisattvas will help you.