Fayun


Venerable Master Fayun was a Chinese Buddhist monk and thirteenth generation successor in the Yunmen lineage of the Chan school of Chinese Buddhism.

Early Life & Monkhood

Master Fayun was born in 1933 in Jiangxi province, China. His lay name was Yu Heng-sheng. He entered the Buddhist monastic order at thirteen years of age and received the religious name Fayun meaning Dharma Cloud.
He was a disciple of the eminent Chinese monk Hsu Yun and was also one of his personal attendants who served him, most notably during the Yunmen incident in 1951-52 when Master Hsu Yun and his monks were beaten and tortured by thugs that surrounded Yunmen Monastery in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, soon after the Communist Revolution in China.

Coming to the West

In 1969, Master Fayun came to the United States at the invitation of a Buddhist devotee to teach Chan Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism in America. In 1974, he founded the Grace Gratitude Buddhist Temple in New York City. Today, it is one of the oldest Chinese Buddhist temples in the city. Starting in 1985, he served as a liaison coordinator for the World Buddhist Sangha Council. From 1979 to 2002, he served as vice president of the American Buddhist Confederation. Master Fayun was known by all for his utmost compassion towards all people and living beings.

Passing

Master Fayun died on September 25, 2003. Soon after his cremation, many relics, round pellet-size material that look like beads, crystals, or pearls of any color that are found in the cremated ashes of those who are believed to possess advanced spiritual qualities, were discovered amongst his cremains. The cremains were brought back to Yunmen Monastery in Guangdong province, China in November 2003 and they, along with some of his relics, were finally interred into a memorial stupa there in 2004.