Puhua, a Tang Dynasty Chan master (847–859 CE), was renowned for his eccentric ways. A disciple of Panshan Baoji, he roamed streets by day and slept in graveyards by night, ringing a hand bell while singing verses or wailing. Later, he aided Master Linji in propagating the Linji school.
In 859, believing his mission complete, Puhua announced his impending parinirvana. He begged for a dharma robe in the marketplace but refused even fine kasayas offered.
When Linji heard this, he sent Puhua a coffin. Puhua laughed — “Unnecessary!” — yet accepted it gladly.
Carrying the coffin through streets, he shouted: “Puhua dies tomorrow at the East Gate!” Crowds followed him out the next day, but he declared: “Inauspicious today! I’ll die at the South Gate tomorrow.” For three days, he postponed his “death,” and the crowds dwindled.
On the fourth day, alone outside the city, he rang his bell, lay inside the coffin, and asked passersby to seal it. As they did, the bell’s chime echoed skyward — growing fainter until silence reigned.
Philosophical Notes
A Mind Unbound by Life and Death:
Chan Master Puhua’s manner expressed a detached attitude toward life and death. By postponing his departure multiple times, he demonstrated Chan Buddhism’s transcendent perspective on mortality, highlighting both the impermanence of life and its natural termination.
In his final acts, life and death were not clung to, resisted, or feared, but simply allowed to be, as seamless expressions of the Dao.
Liberation Beyond Form:
Puhua’s rejection of robes and acceptance of a coffin symbolized:
Dharma robes = Attachment to spiritual identity
Coffin = Embracing emptiness — true liberation needs no sacred props.
The Vanishing Bell:
The fading chime embodied:
Non-attachment to death ritual = mocking ceremonial obsession
Dissolution into suchness — no “Puhua” remains, only boundless resonance.
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