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The nun Shih Hui-mu (Tree of Wisdom) (in the lineage of Shākyamuni) of Chu-ko Village Convent in Liang Commandery
Hui-mu's secular surname was Fu. Her family was originally from Pei-ti [in northwest China, north of the old capital of Ch'ang-an].
Hui-mu left the household life at age 11 and undertook the ten obligatory rules [of a novice] under the instruction of Hui-ch'ao, living in Chu-ko Village Convent of Liang Commandery [in the Huai River valley some distance west of the capital of the Sung dynasty].
When she first read the Larger Perfection of Wisdom, she was able to chant from memory two chapters a day [each chapter having more than ten thousand words]. She was also able to understand the meaning of a variety of other scriptures.
Hui-mu's mother was old and sick. Because her mother had no teeth, Hui-mu first chewed the meat she gave her mother to eat. As a result, however, Hui-mu's mouth was impure. Therefore she did not take on herself the obligation to observe all the monastic rules and become a full-fledged nun [as she would have liked to do] but instead continued her zealous devotions and confession of her faults while still garbed in the dress of a householder.
Unexpectedly one day she saw that the ceremonial platform for the ritual of accepting the monastic rules and the space around it were a golden color. Raising her head and looking toward the south, she saw a man wearing a trimmed robe that was also golden in color. Appearing sometimes near and sometimes far, he said to Hui-mu, "I have already bestowed the monastic obligations on you," and thereafter he disappeared. Hui-mu told no one about this, which was like many of the other unusual things that happened to her.
Because Hui-mu's elder brother heard rumor of some of these experiences and wanted to know more about them, he tricked her, saying, "You have followed the way of religion for a number of years, but in the end it has been of no benefit to you. Because that is the case, you might as well let your hair grow, and I shall find a husband for you." When Hui-mu heard these words her heart was sorely grieved, so she revealed to him what she had seen.
Shortly thereafter Hui-mu received full admission into the Assembly of Nuns. One night not long before the ceremony was to take place she dreamed that she saw a person who recited the book of the monastic rules. After her full admission to the assembly she read that same book only twice before being able to chant it from memory.
During the yüan-chia reign period (424-453) of the Sung dynasty she had images of the Buddhas of the ten directions made and presented them together with copies of the Dharmaguptaka Monastic Rules in Four Divisions and the Rituals for Entering Monastic Life to the four Buddhist assemblies [of monk, nun, male, and female householders].
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 Published
by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003
by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia |
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