Records of the High Sanghans -
Dharma Master Dau Li

Dharma Master Dau Li lived during the Chin Dynasty. No one knows where he came from because he was quite young when he left the home life under Dharma Master Dau An. When Dharma Master Dau An went to Chang An, Dharma Master Dau Li followed him there. In his cultivation he studied the Emitting Light Prajna Sutra and sought such a level of purity that he would not accept people's offerings. He wished to live in a mountain forest and sit in meditation. Thereupon he went into seclusion on Fu-Jou (Upside-down Boat) Mountain. When he was living there, he didn't have anything to do with people and would not accept any offerings. If someone wanted to make any offering to him of some money or rice, Dharma Master Dau Li would not accept it; his personality was that unusual. He stayed in the mountain for many years without ever leaving.

Then one year he hurried down the mountain and went to Chang An where he invited all the High Masters there to a Dharma assembly. When all the Masters arrived, Dharma Master Dau Li lectured on the Prajna Sutra in Twenty-five Thousand Lines. The others left bemused about this and they asked him: "When you were on the mountain you neither wanted to see people nor to accept any offerings. What has made you now decide to come down the mountain and lecture this Sutra?"

He replied, "My name, Dau Li, means to "Establish the Way," and my teacher's name, Dau An, means "Peace in the Way." I have cultivated for many years now and have studied many Sutras. I haven't much time left. Probably I will be going next fall. For that reason I want to establish Dharma conditions with all of you by lecturing the Sutras. I am fulfillling my heart's desire by explaining the principles of the Buddhadharma I have learned." Many people came to listen to his lectures on the Sutras.

Not many days after the summer retreat had ended, in the fall as he had predicted, he went off to rebirth without any illness whatsoever. It was commonly believed that Dharma Master Dau Li knew beforehand exactly when his time had come and that he had certainly be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

This High Sanghan, because of his great skill in dhyana samadhi, was able to know six months in advance of the time when he was to leave the world. Whenever Dharma Master Dau Li would sit in meditation, he would sustain his sitting for a minimum of seven days. During that time he would neither eat nor drink anything. He was always in samadhi. He might emerge from samadhi, but then he would immediately re-enter the state again, thus never having to eat or drink. For that reason it was not necessary for him to accept other people's offerings. For him, eating was a bothersome chore. Because he did not want the trouble that eating brings, he was able to attain samadhi from his dhyana meditation. Thereupon he came to know in advance when he would be reborn.

Retold in a simplified version of the
Gau Seng Jwan (Records of High Sanghans)
by the Ven. Master Hsuan Hua
Vajra Bodhi Sea, December 1984