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Remembering Master Xu Yun
In 1951, while I was in Hong Kong, a cadre of these thugs came to Yun Men Monastery and demanded that Xu Yun give them the temple's gold and valuables. Xu Yun tried to explain that there were no such valuables at Yun Men Monastery. But they refused to believe him and one by one, they beat the monks in an effort to force a disclosure of the treasuse's location. One monk was actually beaten to death; several monks disappeared and their bodies were never found. Many suffered serious injuries such as broken arms and ribs. During the three months the thugs occupied the monastery, they would regularly interrogate and beat Xu Yun and then throw him into a small dark room for days, depriving him of food and water. Several times he was beaten into senselessness and left for dead. But despite the numerous internal injuries and broken bones this old man of ninety- three had sustained, he exercised his enormous willpower and refused to relinquish his life until he had completed his mission. He knew that his living presence, if only to a small degree, was serving to restrain the attackers. He also knew that for so long as he remained alive, he could inspire his followers; and in those difficult times they needed all the inspiration they could get.
Determining that his will to survive must be greater than his attackers' will to destroy him, Xu Yun, though physically frail, was yet indomitable; and he recovered despite the tortures to which they had subjected him.
Though the thugs had tried to keep secret their treatment of this holy man, news of his torture soon reached the outside world, and Chinese people from around the globe complained bitterly to the Beijing government. It was unthinkable that Japanese invaders would respect the priesthood and the monasteries but that the Chinese militia would violate them.
The Beijing authorities sent a delegation immediately to Yun Men but because Xu Yun feared reprisals he refused to file any formal complaints. As soon as he had regained his strength, however, he made the difficult journey to Beijing and personally petitioned the government to restrain these cadres. He insisted that they order that all religious institutions be respected, that the clergy be left unmolested, and that the Chinese people be permitted to practice freedom of religion. The authorities, fearing perhaps the power of his now legendary reputation, relented; and for a time, at least during the remaining years of Xu Yun's life, the government's policy became more tolerant towards religion
The government would not, however, tolerate further criticism of any kind from outside sources, and so all lines of communication were severed. In Hong Kong I desperately tried to get news about Xu Yun's fate, but it was impossible to learn anything. I wrote numerous letters, but none was answered.
However, as is customary, I continued to send Xu Yun copies of all of the essays and articles on Buddhism that I had written. In happier days, according to custom, I would have received comments from him. But in those unhappy days, none of my submissions to him were acknowledged.
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