Great Master Dayu, born to the Li family of Wuhan, was given the secular name Shubei. During the era of warlord strife, he took part in governance, but witnessed warlords contending for hegemony, seizing territory, slaughtering one another, plundering the people’s wealth, and heedlessly abandoning the nation to peril and the masses to misery. Grieved and indignant, he resolved to renounce office and depart, going to Donglin Monastery on Mount Lu to enter the monastic life. He first cultivated the Pure Land Dharma gate, then practiced prostrating before the sutras. During this time he fell gravely ill and nearly died, and later encountered bandits and again nearly died. Though he suffered repeated calamities, he never slackened in the slightest. Reflecting that human life is brief and that the Buddhadharma is rare to encounter, he roused himself to practice the pratyutpanna-samadhi, also known as the “samadhi in which the Buddhas stand before one,” wherein one practices for a period of seven or nine days, walking ceaselessly day and night without sitting or lying down, able to perceive the Buddhas of the ten directions standing before one in the air. After three to five days, his legs became severely swollen and he could not move even an inch. To fulfill his original vow, he refused to retreat. Clenching his teeth, he crawled forward with his hands. After one or two more days, both hands also became swollen, and every step forward required tremendous effort. The suffering involved was truly beyond what ordinary people could endure. This is why in modern times few Pure Land practitioners cultivate this samadhi, and even those who do cannot persevere to the end. When his strength was utterly exhausted and he could crawl no longer, he vowed that he would not stop until death, and rolled his body forward. After this unsurpassed and unyielding struggle, his calculating mind died completely, and he merged deeply into great samadhi. He then had a vision of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva appearing before him, bestowing empowerment and transmitting the esoteric Dharma of the Mind Seal. The Bodhisattva also said that this Dharma exists in the Buddhist canon, that it is exceedingly skillful, and that he should search it out and study it. The Master searched and found it to be so. He then practiced according to the six mudras and one mantra as taught in the Secret Ritual Manual of the Great Canon and the Buddha Mind Sutra, Also Penetrating the Great Dharani of the Wish-Fulfilling One, in two fascicles, translated by Bodhiruci of the Tang dynasty. After seven years of ascetic practice, he attained accomplishment and descended from the mountain, establishing the Dharma gate of the Mind Seal and becoming the founding patriarch of the Mind Seal school.

After the Master descended from the mountain, in order to make known to the world this skillful and expedient Dharma gate, he displayed minor spiritual powers wherever he went, causing a great stir throughout both sides of the Yangtze River. Those who sought the Dharma at that time numbered no fewer than fifty or sixty thousand, and his inner disciples numbered nearly two hundred. Later, seeing that the vast assembly of believers valued spiritual powers rather than the Way, the Master changed his appearance and retired to Chengdu in Sichuan, entrusting the Dharma transmission to the lay elder Wang Xianglu, who had received the essence of his teaching. Later generations honor Wang as the second patriarch of the Mind Seal school.

Around the 1950s, the Master left a poem at the home of a disciple in Chengdu:

How is the flower held up to be transmitted?
Why not both esoteric and Chan?
At the moment of raising the eyebrows, he retired into concealment;
At the meeting, all was conveyed in a fleeting glance.
Since ancient times, the boat has ferried beings from the first age onward;
Across the three realms, let it rest wherever it may.
At departure, no words remain,
Only one sound of utmost regard: ○.

He placed it by the inkstone and left without farewell. To this day, his whereabouts remain unknown. The Master’s teaching prized direct pointing to the essence of mind, establishing no words. Of the works he left for later generations, apart from the early Song of Liberation, only this parting poem remains.

(Note: “○” is pronounced “yuan,” meaning complete, perfect, or the unconditioned.)

大愚阿阇黎，武汉李氏子，俗名叔倍。参政于军阀割据时期，目睹诸军阀为争霸称王，抢夺地盘，互相残杀，掳掠民财，置国家危亡，生灵荼炭于不顾，于痛心疾首之余，乃奋而弃官出走，至庐山东林寺出家。初修净土法门，后拜经，大病几死，继遇盗又几死，虽屡遭厄难，曾不稍懈。嗣感人生苦短，佛法难遇，乃发奋修“般舟三昧”（译为“佛立三昧”，修法以七日或九日为一期，日夜经行，不可坐卧，能于空中感十方诸佛在其前立。）三、五日后，双腿浮肿，寸步难移，师为贯彻初衷，决不后退，咬紧牙关，用手爬行。一、二日后，两手也相继浮肿，每进一步，须付莫大艰巨的努力，个中苦难实非常人所堪忍受。故近代净宗行人绝少修此三昧，即修亦不能坚持到底，师于力尽爬不动时，立誓除死方休，以身滚动前进，经此一番艰苦卓绝的奋斗，偷心死尽，泯然深入大定，感普贤菩萨现身，为之灌顶，授以心中心密法。并谓《大藏经》中原有此法，甚为善巧，可检而参学。师检之果然，乃按菩萨所授与《大藏经秘密仪轨佛心经品亦通大随求陀罗尼》（二卷，唐菩提流志译）所说之六印一咒修持。经七年苦行，成就下山，开印心法门，为印心宗之初祖。
　　师下山后，为使世知有此善巧方便法门，所到之处，略显神通，大江南北无不为之轰动，当时求法者不下五、六万人，入室弟子近二百人。嗣之广大信众重神通而不重道，师乃易装归隐四川成都，嘱得其心髓之弟子王骧陆老居士嗣法传道，后人尊为印心宗第二祖。
　　师约于50年代在其成都弟子家留诗一首：

　　拈花怎么传，不妨密且禅，
　　归隐扬眉际，相逢瞬目边。
　　一期从古棹，三界任横眠，
　　临行无剩语，珍重一声○。

　　置于砚间，不辞而别，至今不知所终。师说法，贵直指心要，不立文字，其留传后世之著述，除早期所著《解脱歌》外，只此告别诗一首。

　　（注：“○”读音同“圆”）