Truth of Buddhadharma: Story of Master Juxing

The goal of Enlightenment is real. The Pure Land of the Buddhas is real. The Buddhadharma is real. From the time of Sakyamuni Buddha until now there are countless people who have achieved various levels of attainments or Enlightenment. Be it Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagamin, Arahant, or achieving Amitabha's Pure Land, there are stories of these people. Of course, a lot of these cases, they did not proclaim themselves as having attained such and such. Of course, not. But there are circumstantial evidence that point to them having achieved those levels. And in this blog, I am going to relate to you one true story of such a person who lived in the early 20th century. 

His name was Ah Bian. Born in Yunnan province, he was a disciple of the great Ch'an Master Hsu Yun. He was not so educated... a bit of a foolish person you might say. He came from a poor family. One day he went to Elder Master Hsu Yun's monastery to seek work saying that he needed money to feed his wife and family members. And so he was admitted into the monastery to work. He worked very hard and he did many things. He did not complain and kept mostly quiet. As he was slightly deaf, he did not bother with others' conversations. Very soon his family members come to the monastery too and asked to stay there. Out of compassion, Elder Master Hsu Yun allowed them to stay in a hut behind the monastery. After some years, Ah Bian pleaded with the Master to be accepted as a monk. Yes, he wanted to leave the home life. He told the Master that he may be dumb and could not read the scriptures but he will do whatever the Master asked him to. 

Then Elder Master Hsu Yun shave Ah Bian's head. Ah Bian is then known as Venerable Juxing. Elder Master Hsu Yun just asked Ven. Juxing to recite Amitabha Buddha's Name every time and everywhere. That is all he needed to practice. So, Master Juxing did exactly that. After sometime, Elder Master Hsu Yun asked him to venture out to see the world. He did just that, but came back to the monastery a few years thereafter. The Elder Master noted the progress his disciple had made through the years. Then the Master Juxing came to know of this pagoda project that the Elder Master had planned to build. Master Juxing asked Elder Master Hsu Yun for permission to be the pagoda's guardian. The latter knew what he meant. After the pagoda was completed, one night the local folks was awakened by a great blinding light that shot up from inside the pagoda. Everyone thought that there was a fire inside it. But there was no fire. Instead they found Master Juxing inside sitting in meditation posture. Completely still.  

Very soon many people gathered there, including many journalists and reporters from the local press. The Elder Master Hsu Yun instructed the people not to touch his body because if they do, it will just collapse into a pile of ashes. He explained that Master Juxing had just "burned" his body through the Samadhi of Fire and had achieved rebirth in Amitabha Pure Land. After a while, the Elder Master verbally said that it was time for Master Juxing to "stop his show" and he was sending him off. He struck the bell 3 times and immediately the body went up in ashes and disappeared. Everyone who was there witnessed this spectacular event and was in awe. They all went back with so much faith in the Pure Land method, but more generally, the faith in the Buddhadharma grew by leaps and bounds. This true story not just demonstrated the truth of the Pure Land of Amitabha. But more importantly, it tells us that the Buddhist Path is a true path. If you really put your heart and mind into your practice, you can achieve rebirth in the Pure Land. In fact, you can purify your delusions and attain the various levels of Enlightenment, just as the Buddha and his disciples did a long time ago. So many people have walked the path and accomplished the same. If they can do it, so can we! Have faith! Namo Amitabha Buddha!

      

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