Wu Zeheng

STAND TOGETHER FOR LIBERTY.

Learn About Wu

"The value of life is measured in love." - Wu Zeheng

Who is Wu Zeheng ?

 

 

Read below about Wu or click to watch a video about him.(请阅读下面介绍或者点击视频)    

 

                  

                                          

 

   "Fallen in mud and ground to dust, she seems no more. But her fragrance is still the same."

                                                   

                                                        零落成泥碾作塵,只有香如故。

 

This is a very famous poem from the Chinese Song dynasty to praise the spirit of the plum tree blossom, which blooms in the depths of winter when most other flowers have fallen off. The author borrowed the character of this blossom to express his unwavering patriotic stance and life philosophy. The patriotic spirit of the author is positiveWu likes to use this famous old Chinese verse to express his feelings and attitude towards this world. It symbolizes beauty even in the depths of adversity  (much like Wu in China).  

 

Wu Zeheng is a remarkable Buddhist spiritual leader, educator and founder of a number of educational and philanthropic organizations. He put the Buddhadharma into practice in person, calling together more people to share the same aspirations and goals, in the hope of spreading the beneficial message of Chan ideology to every corner on Earth. In this way, everyone may have easy access to the Dharma, try to learn it, and benefit from it.

 

Born in Huilai, Guangdong Province, China, in 1967, his Buddhist name is Zen Master Shi Xingwu (法名釋行武) and the current holder of the Mantle and Alms passed to him in a direct line of descent from the Supreme Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. He is the 88th Patriarch of Buddhism (大乘禪門八十八世法裔), the 61st Patriarch of the Chan Sect (禪宗第六十一世), the 51st Patriarch of the Caodong Sect (曹洞宗第五十一世), and the 32nd Patriarch of the Sangha Sect (孫僧系第三十二世). 

 

During the period of 1990-1998, Wu lived in isolation in the Wuyi mountains, where he grew spiritually under the tutelage of two Masters until he reached personal enlightenment and came to understand his mission in life, which is to serve his country and her people by working to achieve peace and an improved standard of living. Following this period he began to travel, carrying out his Buddhist practice.

 

Wu's amusing and cordial talks comfort and inspire people through his unique ability to make audiences feel accepted and understood. His inimitable insights bring clarity, like a ray of light penetrating the darkness. His unhindered and unbounded wisdom is evident to all who meet him. Carrying a mission in his heart, he has been seizing every chance to lead people to inner liberation, guiding them through life's turning points and towards a meaningful life of transcendence and compassion.

 

Out of a sense of patriotism, on November 20, 1998, Wu wrote the Chinese authorities a letter warning that the image of the Chinese Communist Party was “marred greatly” and that the people’s “discontent with their government continues to worsen.” He offered a series of suggestions for improving the Chinese government.  His intent was to express his concern about perceived mistakes on the part of the government of his homeland. He concluded with a prescient observation: Throughout Chinese history, most civilians who commented on politics did not have peaceful endings. Here I express my feelings to end this letter by quoting a verse from a famous Chinese poem: ‘Fear not death, my body and mind are embedded in the mountains and rivers’.”

 

Wu’s predictions about his future proved accurate. Once the letter was received, he was immediately placed under surveillance and his colleagues and friends were interrogated. Ultimately, he and two colleagues were charged under the pretext of having committed “economic crimes,” as were many dissidents in the past who had come under the purview of the Chinese “justice” system.

They were summarily convicted and Wu received an 11-year prison sentence. Wu suffered immensely in prison, facing horrific torture. Indeed, despite his having been convicted of economic crimes, the torture increased after he helped plan a Buddhist conversion ceremony for his followers outside the prison. He was repeatly told that if he did not denounce his Buddhist teachings, he would not receive sentence reductions usually granted to prisoners who met their forced-labor quotas.  Wu was even told in prison he had been classified as a “security threat” because of his “evil” religious teachings.  After having earned five years of reductions based on his meeting work quotas over five different calendar years, he only received a five-month reduction over the entire length of his sentence.

   

Upon his release from prison in February 2010, Wu returned to his teaching and practice of Buddhism. He continues to be closely monitored, and has been arrested and mistreated on two occasions. Even his students have faced harassment and arrest for continuing to associate with him.  Wu still uses the number 12841* in his Chinese blog and other network online teaching as a nickname, symbolizing his continued virtual “imprisonment” with his travel and activities closely monitored and curtailed by the Chinese government.

 

Altogether, the Chinese government’s detention, torture, and ongoing mistreatment of Wu is in flagrant violation of numerous provisions of the Chinese Constitution, Chinese law, and international law. In an open letter that he made public after his release from prison Wu explained his basic desire: "To all friends who are suspicious, oppress, and humiliate me: May we engage in dialogue, based on equality, even-handedness, and mutual understanding, so that I may be accorded the basic legal rights and dignity granted by law."  Only in a spirit of openness can communication begin. 

 

Despite Wu’s honest endeavors to help his people as well as people throughout the world with his teachings and philanthropic organizations, he has been oppressed, wrongfully imprisoned, forcibly removed from his home, beaten and tortured with no recourse to the law.

 

The Chinese government and other tyrannies would like nothing better than to advance their organizations and methods to the peoples of the free world as well. But those on the front line – like Wu Zeheng – stand to oppose such action and help safeguard the liberty of all peoples despite beatings, torture and imprisonment.

 

But Wu can’t do it alone. If the peoples of the free world don’t stand together to support people like Wu, they stand to lose all they hold most dear. Here we would like to express our appreciation for you, our friends and supporters.

 

Thank you for joining us and helping us to assist Wu in receiving his just rights and liberty.

 

* Footnote:  Each prisoner entering China’s correctional system is assigned a unique identifying number. Thereafter, all communications concerning the prisoner are made using that number -- rather than the individual’s name. The number is used extensively throughout the system by everyone, from top level administrators to the guards, for the duration of the prisoner’s sentence. The number assigned to Wu was “12841,” which represented his life for the 11 years he spent in China’ prison system. Through the eyes of 12841, Wu recounts the brutalities and abuses inflicted by prison administrators, guards, and fellow inmates; the inhumane conditions in which he lived, including the vile food he received; the forms of punishment imposed for even the slightest of transgressions; the arduous workload that was his burden to meet; and all other aspects of his life while in prison. 

 

 

Click to read Chinese version on this page (点击阅读此页中文版)