Míng Bǎo & Jǐng​ Huì Lǎo​-Hé

Background

In the fall of 2003, after leaving the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun, due to disagreement concerning the American invasion or Irak, I was accepted as a disciple of Zen Nun, the Venerable Myokyo Ni of London. However, as it turned out, we didn’t match so in the spring of 2004 I began looking for another teacher. I live in Sweden, and no one was around. After a while I got in contact with a nun, Míng Qì, of American origin, in Geneva. But alas, she didn’t want to be my teacher. Instead, she invited me to come and meet her teacher in China, the Venerable Grand Master Jing Huì. I felt that the gods must be with me. So, I went to my boss and tried to explain why I would need a longer holiday than we had agreed on. When he learned the reason for it, he immediately got on friendly turns. (He was the head of the martial arts centre where I was employed).

Míng Qì

She told me her story of becoming a disciple of Grand Master Jing Huì (Pic 1). After spending some time in Japan without finding the right teacher, she went to China where she was told about him. So, she began searching for him. She was first told he used to stay at the temple where the Chinese Buddhist Association of China has its headquarters, in Běijīng, at the Guǎngjì Sì (Pic 2). After finding the office she asked for him, only to get the answer that probably he was at his monastery, the Bǎi​ Lín​ Chán Sí, in Hebei (Pic 3). So, of course she went there, but alas, now she was told that he probably would be in Beijing. So it went of for a couple of rounds until one day, to her big surprise, she found him at the Guǎngjì Sì. Suddenly, after several months of searching, she found herself sitting in fron of him. When he asked her what she wanted she couldn’t say a word. Dumbstruck she was. After a while she stuttered a few words and he smiled at her. This occasion led to a deep friendship.

So, summer came, and I went to China. After first visiting Nánhuá Sì, the temple of Huì Néng, the 6^th Patriarch, I travelled north to the city of Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei, found a bus that took me to the (then) small village of Zhàozhōu. When I entered the Bǎi​ Lín​ Chán Sí (Pic 4), I felt a deep joy in my heart. I had finally, after 45 years of searching, come home! After settling in a room, I met up with Míng Qì (Pic 5) and we decided that she would go and apply for an audience with the Grand Master. This was on a Monday, but we had to wait until Thursday.

The meeting

Came Thursday and we were allowed into his room by a secretary. There were already five or six other persons in the room. Suddenly he turned to Míng Qì with a question in his eyes. What did she want and who was this western man she had dragged with her? She began explaining who I was, my Buddhist background and that I had written two books on Buddhism, ran a small meditation group in Sweden, and that she would like me to become a disciple of his. I went up to him and showed him a lay disciple diploma issued by Grand Master Jy Din of Honolulu (Pic 6). He looked at it for some seconds and suddenly looked up with a big smile. As it turned out, Master Jy Din was his best friend, and they entered monkhood together at the age of 14. He had fled the communists in 1959. He then pointed to an old photo on the wall behind me that pictured him and Jy Din with Grand Master Xū-Yún as young boys.

Míng Qì got quite disappointed when he told us that there’s no need for a ceremony, I’m already abord the train, so to speak. She had been looking forward to this, to be the one that presented the first European male disciple in modern times. Personally, I didn’t mind. Then suddenly she got the bright(?) idea that I could become a monk! Both me and Master Jǐng​ Huì got as surprised. This was not according to the usual procedure. Usually, one must stay in a training monastery for three months before the ordination I was told. But then he began fixing his gaze on my eyes. I looked back, without a blink. The room seemed to vanish and the only thing I was aware of was his intense gaze. After a while (One minute? Twenty? I don’t know) there was a little nod in the other end of the sight corridor, and I just had to nod back. I later realized that he had shared his Mind with me. The ceremony was then set to take place the coming Sunday morning.

The tests

That same evening, I, unexpectedly, was asked (forced) to keep a lecture in front of 500 young students and 500 monks about my vue on Buddhism. I had never done that in English as my native tongue is Swedish, but after a little while I got it going. After 1 ½ hour they took the microphone away from me. It turned out they had expected like a 20-minute talk or something. Next evening as I was passing by the lecture hall where all the young students were gathered someone called me in and then I was asked to tell them the positive sides of becoming a monk. This subject I had really not thought much of, so I was caught off guard, so to speak. But any way I did manage to say a few words on the subject.

The Ordination

So, Sunday after breakfast we went to a small temple building dedicated to Grand Master Xū-Yún. Grand Master Jǐng​ Huì didn’t approve of the new yellow robe that Míng Qì had got me – it was 5 cm too short. So, an attendant run away to find a suitable one. Inside the temple there was a gathering of ten monks, Bǐ Qiū 比丘, as the ordination rules prescribe. The ceremony took maybe one hour with the help of young Miss Ouyang, my interpreter (Pic 7). The old nun, Míng Qì, got very surprised when the Grand Master said it would probably be good for her to retake the vows. The ceremony included a lot of prostrations, it was very hot (40°C) so she looked like she was going to faint after a while. (Pic 9)

After the ceremony the attendant brought out two Fúzǐ (Pic 10), one for me and one for Míng Qì, as a token of us now being Dharma Masters in our own right.

Teachings

The teachings I received from Grand Master Jǐng​ Huì that stems from his master, the Venerable Xū-Yún is only two: The teaching of Huà Tóu (话头) and the teaching of Sēng​ Huò Chán, (僧获禅) or as he called it, Zen In Daily Life. Although different in style, these two has a deep connection and are intertwined. One cannot really practice one without the other.  It’s a bit like yin and yang. Explained the easy way: if you truly are here and now, in this very moment, you will clearly see where it all comes from.

This is a brief explanation of the not so easy way: Huà Tóu means “root of the word”, or thought really, as thought precedes word. The practice is that one has to find the place in one’s Mind that is the well of thoughts. The point just before the thoughts arise. And that is really the core of Chán meditation and overall practice. Nothing less. Takes a while, probably one’s entire life.

Sēng​ Huò Chán is daily task to take care of ones Huà Tóu while walking, sitting, working, sleeping by being absolute mindful about every little detail in one’s actions, in one’s cores. Not to let the mind wander astray, even for a minute.

In my early Buddhist training I was thought to practice the Theravada way of walking meditation. Just one step at a time. Being fully observant of how the front foot touches the floor, first the toes, one by one, the palm of the foot, then the edge and finally the heel. But, at the same time one must be as mindful of how the back foot slowly raises from the floor, bit by bit, in the same manner. This is an excellent method of practicing Sēng​ Huò Chán. Then when after some time, one masters this, one may increase the speed and after some time come up to the intense speed found in Chán halls, without loosing focus. (If you do, someone may hit your legs with a “scented” board..)

Further

Next winter I got an invitation from the Abott, Ven. Míng Hǎi​, to come back to China and participate in their five-week annual Chán Qi, seven-day meditation retreat, held five times in a row so it became five weeks retreat. He even offered to pay the tickets. Our master wasn’t attending but before I returned home, I asked if I could see him. I felt obliged to do that, out of reverence and to pay my respect. They said he was in Shijiazhuang where they had a city centre. So, they drove me there and I happened to arrive just in time for lunch. The master was sitting in an ordinary dining room toghter with his lay disciples. After eating, he turned to me with a smile, happy to see me again Pic 10). The he asked what I wanted… I just couldn’t find anything to say. I recalled the meeting Míng Qì had with him in 1987. So I just folded my hands and bowed to him.

Next time I saw him was in the summer of 2008. Míng Hǎi called me up and told me that he and the Master and a few monks would go to Germany, invited by his old friend the Rev. Willigis Jaeger. Míng Hǎi said he would like me to go with them, so I did. We stayed at Willigis large centre outside Würzburg for a few days, teaching all the participants Chán meditation. Then we travelled south to the Alpine foothills, south of  Freiburg for a 3-day meditation retreat. Here I had a few moments with just Grand Master Jǐng​ Huì and an interpreter and we was able to have a private conversation.

Last time we met was in the summer of 2010. I brought six of my disciples with me to China. First we had a Chán Qī at the Bǎi​ Lín​ Chán Sí, after which we traveled south to Wuhan and the temple of the 4th Patriarch Dàoxìn, now overlooked by Grand Master Jǐng​ Huì. (Pic 12) This came to be his final abode as he sadly passed away in 2013. He was very pleased that I brought with me some of my disciples and honored us with vegetarian feast that we’ll never forget (Pic 13). He then took us to visit Wǔzǔ Sì/五祖寺 (Pic 14), the temple of the 5^th Patriarch, that is nearby and introduced us to the head monk (all abbots were at a convent in Shanghai) with whom we an interesting chat before he took us through the monastery and showed us where Grand Master Huì Néng and Grand Master Shénxiù wrote their famous Gathas on the wall.

Next day he brought us to a place that he called the Old Patriarchs Temple, just e few kilometers north (I think) of The 4^th Patriarchs (Pic 15). This beautiful monastery was the latest of the master’s renovation objects, with only a handful of monks residing there. In the distance you could see the twin peaks of Shuāngfēng Shān. We spend a few days there with meditation and participation in the various rituals, among which I specially remember blessing all the various spaces like the kitchen, the storerooms, the shop, the meditation hall as well as the various temples.

Later he organized for us to go to the temple of the 3^rd Patriarch Sēngcàn (P. 16) and from there to Zhēn Rǔ Chán Sì, the Temple Grand Master Xū-Yún lived the last part of his life. At Sēngcàn’s place they got very happy when they learned that we used to recite the Xīn Xīn Míng Jǐng/Faith In Mind Scripture in Swedish. Our last stop was the Zhēn Rǔ Chán Sì or, ”The Sugar Top Temple” as I called it, due the road winding it’s way up a small but steep mountain through the thickening clouds. When we arrived at the frontgate, the men there refused to let us in and didn’t accept the fact that Grand Master Jǐng​ Huì had send us. It took some negotiations before they let us drive through. Well across the threshold we almost drove into the rice pond as the clouds were so thick that we really couldn’t see anything (Pic 17). Finally, we found our way and was very well received by the monks and had a long, interesting conversation with them. The head monk even shook hands with the female disciple of the group, as he was so impressed with her knowledge of the Dharma and our traditions.

On the last night our Master arranged a small special ceremony for us and received us like royalty.(Pic 18). Next morning the head monk and two other monks was driving us to Wuhan where we caught the night train back to Beijing,

Pictures:

1. Jing Huì – OK

2. Guǎngjì Sì – OK

3. Gate of –“- – OK

4. Míng Qì – OK

6. Jy Din – OK

7. Miss Ouyang – OK

8. Red face of Míng Qì – OK

10. Fúzǐ – OK

11. With Jing Hui in Zhijiazhuang. – OK

12. 4^th Patriarchs – OK

13. Dining – OK

14. Wǔzǔ Sì – OK

15. Old P – OK

16. 3^rd P – OK

17. Zhēn Rǔ – OK

18. Greetings – OK

Pic 3. Bailin