Sunday, 12/08/2024
The rebirth story
The physical body of Zen Master Ho Phach has been kept as a relic in the position of a person clasping his hands praying to Buddha
Update: 20/05/2007
Zen Master Ho Phach
The biography of Zen Master Ho Phach is written in Chinese\r\ncharacters on a memorial stele which is kept right in the temple of\r\nforefathers, where his physical body is kept in a small temple called Khanh Tho\r\nPure Abode. The biography reads, “Zen Master Ho Phach - his real name is Tran\r\nXuan Du - whose father name is Tran Chiem and his mother’s name is Lam Duc Ma.\r\nHe is the eldest son in a family with three male siblings, and born in\r\nKanchanaburi province in Buddhist calendar 2447 (lunar year of the Dragon -\r\n1904). At his 11 years old, he entered into monkhood at Khanh Tho pagoda (2*),\r\nwhere Superior Monk Bach Ngoc (3*) has been worshiped and was Ho\r\nPhach’s original teacher.†Ho Phach Zen Master led his whole life as a person\r\nwith pity and a love for human beings. He applied himself to studying and\r\ncultivation, diligently practised meditation, never kept anything as his\r\nprivate property, let down everyting including money and fame, long fast,\r\ndiligently saying prayers, often entered into meditation, always aspired to\r\nquickly attain the way and escaped the birth-death rule, determinedly gave up\r\nall lustful desires so as to obtain wisdom and ethics. As a result,\r\nfar-and-near Buddhists venerated and admired him. On February 1st of Buddhist\r\ncalendar 2493 (Dec. 15th day of lunar year of the Buffalo or 1949 solar\r\ncalendar) right in this Khanh Tho Abode, Zen Master passed away quietly like a\r\nperson who was sleeping, and enjoyed his longevity at his 46 years old and the\r\nperiod of time he spent on Buddhism reached 35 years. Seven days after his\r\ndeath, his disciples let his coffin in Khanh Tho Abode and expected that his\r\nbody would be cremated three years later. But, when the coffin was opened after\r\nthree years, his corpse was not destroyed, the skin and flesh were normally\r\ndried and his eyes were half opened - everything looked like the time he was\r\nstill alive. Buddhists coming from everywhere to visit him all admitted that it\r\nwas thanked to his well practising self-cultivation that he clearly attained\r\nthe way marvelously. Therefore, the Board of Management of Khanh Tho Abode\r\ndecided that his physical body should be covered by a thin lay of gold and\r\nworshiped right in this temple of forefathers.
Here above is the biography of Ho Phach Zen Master at Khanh\r\nTho. Such a biography is anyhow too simple because it does not let us know much\r\nabout the reason why the Zen master passed away at this pure abode instead of\r\nat Khanh Tho pagoda. It is very lucky enough that this Zen Master passed away\r\nonly 60 years from now. For there must be many people who are still alive know\r\nabout his ‘Dharma affair journey’. We managed to meet the Superior\r\nBuddhist Monk who was also the Abbot of Canh Phuoc pagoda in Bangkok, Thailand,\r\na temple which was bestowed by royal decree. This Superior Buddhist monk was\r\nZen Master’s disciple who talked about the life of his original teacher.
According to the Zen Master and abbot of Canh Phuoc pagoda,\r\nZen master Ho Phach was a native of Vietnam. Although born in Thailand, master\r\nHo Phach spoke the Vietnamese language fluently and entered monkhood at Khanh\r\nTho pagoda with Superior Buddhist Monk Bach Ngoc as his original teacher. The\r\nreligious Sect of Annam Nikaya (4*) in Thailand did not have many\r\nBuddhist temples, once the abbot of one temple passed away, the temple had to\r\ninvite a senior monk from another temple to be the abbot. Therefore, when the\r\nabbot of Hoi Khanh pagoda (5*) passed away, Zen Master Ho Phach was appointed\r\nto be the abbot of Hoi Khanh pagoda. Afterwards, the Superior Buddhists Monks\r\nappointed Zen Master Ho Phach to be the bestowed-by-royal-decree- Khanh Van\r\npagoda (where the physical body of Zen Master Pho Sai is still worshipped) as\r\nthe abbot. Then Zen Master Ho Phach was appointed to be the abbot of Long Son\r\npagoda. But Master Ho Phach refused the position of abbot at this pagoda - he\r\nrequested just to be a normal monk as other monks so that he might continued\r\npractising Buddhism. At Long Son pagoda he spent his time on reciting the\r\nBuddhist scriptures, reading his repentance and practised meditative walks. He\r\nregarded these activities as his main daily schedule. During this period of\r\ntime he also often entered a pure abode to practise meditative sitting and\r\nchant prayers. That is to say that during this time he did not get in touch\r\nwith anybody - if there was something important to be solved by him, the person\r\nconcerned had to write it on a piece of paper and then send it into his pure\r\nabode. Seeing that Long Son pagoda was not an appropriate place for his studies\r\nas well as his cultivation, he ultimately asked to move to Khanh Tho Abode.\r\nHere he entered a pure abode every day to practise saying prayers, meditative\r\nsitting and ate only one meal a day at midday bought to him by a senior bonze’s\r\nattendant. During his stay at Long Son pagoda, although he often entered his\r\npure abode, he did help many Vietnamese and Thai Buddhists in geomancy in the\r\nbuilding of their own houses or temples. For this, he just stayed inside the\r\nabode and advised those who wanted to perform the constructions by writing on a\r\npiece of paper the appropriate directions, date and time, age of the owner,\r\netc. This was a rare thing to happen; the monks and Buddhist, therefore,\r\nthought he had attained Arahanthood - 7 days after his death, his skin and\r\nflesh did not become frozen; instead, he seemed to be still alive and his body\r\nwas still in the position of a person sitting straight with his hands clasped\r\ntogether to chant prayers to Buddha. Accordingly, his disciples used a rope to\r\nfasten through his abdomen to keep him upright and this helped his physical\r\nbody stand straight (6*). Next, they made a coffin in the form of a cylinder in\r\nwhich his physical body was kept and then left the coffin at Khanh Tho Abode.\r\nTwo years later, the cylindrical coffin was opened and they saw that his\r\nphysical body was still intact in the position of a person sitting upright with\r\nhands clasped together to say prayers to Buddha. Up to now Buddhists from near\r\nand far have come to bow themselves to him at this temple of forefathers According\r\nto the two above-mentioned documents, we know that in spite of being born in\r\nThailand, Zen Master Ho Phach could speak Vietnamese fluently and he only\r\nwanted to work single-mindedly at practising the religion known as Buddhism and\r\nthat was the reason why he refused to be appointed as abbot of a few pagodas.\r\nUltimately, he chose Khanh Tho Abode as the place for his practising religion\r\nand passed away right on the spot. His physical body has been covered by a thin\r\nlay of gold (7*), partly due to the damaged part on his abdomen. But, his\r\nsitting posture differs from any other’s one that we have ever known - the\r\nsitting posture of all other eminent monks who attained the way has been in the\r\nposition called padsamana, a Sanskrit word meaning a meditative or\r\nhalf meditative posture with legs crossed and soles upright, while that of Ho\r\nPhach Zen Master shows the posture with hands clasped for saying prayers to\r\nBuddha. And this means that this Zen Master passed away while he was claping\r\nhis hands to pray to Buddha.
THICH GIAC DUNG, author.
NOTES (*)
1. In Chinese characters, Khanh Tho Abode is Khanh Tho\r\nWorship Hall. But nowadays this place has become a pagoda or temple. To\r\ndistinguish this Worship Hall with Khanh Tho pagoda, we call the place where\r\nZen Ho Phach started his monhood ‘Khanh Tho Abode’
2. Khanh Tho Pagoda, if completely mentioning this name, it\r\nis ‘Khanh Tho, a bestowed-by-royal-decree pagoda’ located in Kanchanaburi\r\nprovince, which is about 30 km away from Khanh Tho Abode, where the physical\r\nbody of Zen Master Ho Phach is kept.
3. Superor Buddhist Monk Bach Ngoc, whose picture has been\r\nworshiped at Khanh Tho pagoda and on his votive tablet at the temple of\r\nforefathers one reads that he belongs to the 43th generation of Tao Dong\r\nline. Therefore, Sir Ho Phach belongs to the 44th Tao Dong line.
4. There were only a few Vietnamse pagodas in Thailand,\r\nwhich follow Mahayana or Great Vehicle. At present, according to statictics,\r\nthere are only 17 Vietnamese pagodas but none of which is managed by a\r\nVietnamese abbot.
5. Previously, Hoi Khanh pagoda was close to Chaophraya\r\nRiver in Bangkok. According to the Superior Buddhist Monk and abbot of Canh\r\nPhuoc pagoda, almost all Vietnamese pagodas in Thailand are situated close to\r\nthe rivers. Khanh Tho pagoda is, too. And this shows that these pagodas are\r\nconvenient for their contact with Vietnam.
6. It was beacause of this that his abdomen part was damaged\r\nor no longer intact. Looking at the picture taken three years after he\r\ndeceased, we see that the abdomen section was no longer intact.
7. The physical body of Zen Master Pho Sai at Khanh Van\r\npagoda was still let intact like its original status, and that means it has not\r\nbeen covered by a thin lay of gold like that of Zen Master Ho Phach or unlike\r\nthe case of the physical bodies of Sir Vu Khac Minh and Sir Vu Khac Truong\r\nwhich are covered by a lay of paint in Vietnam.
Translated into English by Mr. Hoang Huan, layman.