Introduction

Venerable Master Hsuan Hua. Without going, without coming, and without attaching, he propagated and transformed in the void, according with the conditions. With compassion, with vows, with virtue, he acted as a vessel for crossing over living beings.

The Dharma name of the Elder Venerable Master Hsuan Hua was An Tzu (Peace and Compassion), also known as Tu Lun (Liberate [from the] Wheel [of Rebirth]). He was the Ninth Patriarch of the Wei-Yang Chan (Chinese Zen) School of Buddhism and was granted the Dharma Seal of the Wei-Yang lineage from the elder Venerable Master Hsu Yun. The Master's Dharma-Transmission name was Hsuan Hua (Proclaim and Transform), but he often referred to himself as "a living dead person", or "the Monk in the Grave." Throughout his life, he never wanted fame or profit, and he had no desire to contend with others even more so. Instead, he said that he would rather be "a little bug," or "a small ant" beneath the feet of all living beings, and used his body as a stepping stone for living beings who sought to transcend from commoners straight to the ground of the Buddha.