Princess Fayuan was a princess of the fallen Western Liang Dynasty.[1] She was also the great-niece and niece of Sui Dynasty emperors.[2] She was the cousin of the Tang Dynasty emperors.[3] Princess Fayuan is most famous for being a devout Buddhist nun.[4] She gained many disciples. She was also known for her poetry.[5]
In 601, Princess Fayuan was born in Chang’an.[6] Her surname was Xiao.[7] She was a sixth-generation descendant of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty (r. 502-549)[8]. Her father was Prince Xiao Yu (who later became the Duke of Song)[9]. Her mother was Duchess Dugu (the niece of Empress Minjing of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Empress Dugu Qieluo of the Sui Dynasty, and Empress Yuanzhen of the Tang Dynasty).[10] She was also the niece of Empress Xiao and Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty.[11] She had two older sisters and three older brothers.[12] Her sisters would also become Buddhist nuns.[13]
Princess Xiao was known for her “intelligence and sterling character.”[14] She received a classical education.[15] She was well-versed “in secular literature and was an accomplished calligrapher, capable in all eight styles of writing.”[16] It was through her father’s encouragement that Princess Xiao decided to become a Buddhist nun.[17] At the age of fifteen, Princess Xiao entered the Jidu Abbey in Chang’an.[18] She adopted the Buddhist name of Fayuan.[19]
Princess Fayuan continued her studies in the Jidu Abbey.[20] She studied The Rules in Ten Recitations.[21] She also studied Perfection of Wisdom, Lotus Sutra, Collected Commentaries, and Vimalakirti Sutra (which were all important Mahayana texts).[22] She not only could recite them, but also interpret and teach them.[23] She also meditated and gained knowledge of “the three kinds of emptiness.”[24] They were “emptiness of self, of dharmas… of everything.”[25]
Princess Fayuan gained many disciples, “all of whom lived in harmony.”[26] They revered her as if she were a “Gotami (the stepmother of the Buddha).”[27] On her deathbed, Princess Fayuan said her last words to her relatives, friends, and disciples.[28]They were:
“This body has no self,
Like duckweed floating on a pond;
This body is swept about
Like leaves in a wind
The cycle of birth and death repeats
Like morning following night.
So then, Vimalakirti urges that we have a simple burial; Shakyumi Buddha wants the rapid decay of the body. Can the gilded coffin show the changes of death; can the silver casket be a roost for the spirit? It is right to give one’s body to the birds and beasts in the hope of correcting the thoughts of others.”[29]
Princess Fayuan died in the fall of 663 in Jidu Abbey.[30] She was sixty-two years old. Against Princess Fayuan’s final wishes, her disciples did not want her body to be exposed “for the birds and animals to eat.”[31] A few weeks later, they buried her on the Plain of Shaoling (the imperial burial grounds).[32] An unknown person composed her eulogy.[33]
There is very little information known about Princess Fayuan.[34] She was known to have a love for religious texts.[35] She was a very devout Buddhist and dedicated her life to studying.[36] Princess Fayuan’s knowledge and insight into Buddhism gained her many disciples.[37] It is no wonder that she was so revered in her lifetime that her disciples believed she was a “Gotami.”[38]
Sources:
Grant, B. (2003). Daughters of Emptiness: Poems of Chinese Buddhist Nuns. Boston: MA: Wisdom Publications. pp. 26-27.
Liu, N., Tsai, K. A., & Lee, L. X. H. (trans.). (2014). “Fayuan”. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, Volume II: Tang Through Ming 618 – 1644. (Lee, L. X. H., Ed. & Wiles, S., Ed.) NY: Routledge. pp. 69-70.
[1] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[2] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[3] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[4] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[5] Grant, 2003
[6] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[7] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[8] Liu and Tsai, 2014
[9] Liu and Tsai, 2014
[10] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[11] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[12] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[13] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[14] Liu and Tsai, 2014, p. 69
[15] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[16] Liu and Tsai, 2014, p. 69
[17] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[18] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[19] Grant, 2003
[20] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[21] Liu and Tsai, 2014
[22] Liu and Tsai, 2014
[23] Liu and Tsai, 2014
[24] Liu and Tsai, 2014, p. 69
[25] Liu and Tsai, 2014, p. 69
[26] Liu and Tsai, 2014, p. 69
[27] Liu and Tsai, 2014, p. 69
[28] Liu and Tsai, 2014
[29] Liu and Tsai, 2014; p. 70
[30] Liu and Tsai, 2014
[31] Liu and Tsai, 2014, p. 70
[32] Liu and Tsai, 2014
[33] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[34] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[35] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[36] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[37] Liu and Tsai, 2014; Grant, 2003
[38] Liu and Tsai, 2014, p. 69
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