Nona Hutuktu (诺那呼图克图)
Introduction
Nona Hutuktu (Chinese: 诺那呼图克图) was a Buddhist lama from the Western Kham / Sichuan region, who became quite famous in China during the 1920s and 1930s. Dr Shen occasionally spoke about him as he was the root master of Madame Wang (Chinese: 王太师母 / Wang Tai Shimu). Madame Wang's maiden name was Chen Guanghuan (Chinese: 陈光幻). She was Professor Yao's Buddhist root master, Professor Yao (Chinese: 乐奂之 Pinyin: Yue Huanzhi) being Dr Shen's main Taijiquan teacher.
I decided to do a bit of research on Nona Hutuktu and his link to Professor Yao, and here is what I discovered...
Nona Hutuktu was actually a title rather than a name. The Nona part (sometimes written as Nuona), denotes that he was the holder of the 'Nona' lineage. His root master was known in China as Pema Döndrup, the first Nona Hutuktu.
The Hutuktu part of the title is the Chinese pronunciation of the Mongolian honourific: Khutugt (ᠬᠤᠲᠤᠭᠲᠤ). It is derived from the Tibetan word 'tulku' (སྤྲུལ་སྐུ), which is not a title or name, but a word meaning reincarnate Buddha.
During the time of the Qing dynasty, 'Hutuktu' was more than just a title, it was actually a rank. The Qing government had basically given positions of governance to lamas in Chinese Tibet, systematised into ranks. The Hutuktu rank was a lama who governed a County, and the Nona Hutuktu was governor of Leiqui County (Chinese: 类乌齐, Tibetan: ལས་བུ་ཆེ), in Western Kham.
The original Dharma name of our Nona Hutuktu, was Chinlé Gyatso (Tibetan: ན་ལས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་). He was born in May 1864, in Enda County, Sichuan; his mother was Han Chinese, and his father was Tibetan. He was identified as the reincarnated Buddha of Kala Temple from an early age, taking office at the age of seven, when he was given the Nona title. As he was already speaking Chinese and Tibetan at that age, he easily learned to read and write in these languages as well as Sanskrit. He studied the classics of the Nyingma school, and became a senior monk of this school.
Geopolitics
As Nona Hutuktu held a political office, he became entangled in the unstable geopolitics that snowballed in the wake of the 1911 Chinese revolution. There was an ongoing dispute left-over from the late Qing era, between Tibet and China, over the Western Kham region. Nona had played a pivotal role in leading Sichuan troops to repel the Tibetan troops from Western Kham.
Nona Hutuktu was loyal to the new Chinese government and wanted his region to remain under Chinese control. However, the instability of Chinese military leadership in the aftermath of the revolution offered Tibet an opportunity to regain ground. The Chinese suffered many strategic defeats, and also lost many troops. Nona Hutuktu was eventually captured by the Tibetan and British troops in 1918.
Escape from Imprisonment
Due to the reverence and respect held for Nona Hutuktu by the people of Western Kham, the Tibetan government wanted him to pledge allegiance, but he refused. Nona was therefore sentenced to life imprisonment.
There are several versions of the story of his escape, here is one of them:
Nona Hutuktu was held in the dungeon of Gushan Castle, under 24 hour guard. He spent his time there meditating and chanting mantra, treating it like a kind of 'dark retreat'.
After more than 5 years in the dungeon, Nona mastered what we might call '5th breath' or 'turtle breathing', which causes the metabolism to slow down so much that the breath and heartbeat can not be detected, somewhat like hibernation. He used the technique to fein death, and, believing that Nona really was dead, the Tibetans entombed him under a bell tower. Over the course of two days, Nona escaped by digging a tunnel with his bare hands.
Nona then travelled by foot through Tibet, Nepal, and India, in the guise of a traveller on a pilgrimage to India. While in Katmandu, he responded to a call to heal one of the daughters of the Nepalese king (King Tribhuvan). The king was so impressed by his daughter's recovery he invited Nona to stay. However, Nona explained that he was on pilgrimage, and so the king rewarded him with clothing and expenses so that he might travel more comfortably.
Eventually, Nona arrived in Mumbai, and from there, he travelled by boat to Shanghai. After arriving in Shanghai, he travelled across land to Beijing, arriving in the autumn of 1925. After overcoming the initial language barriers, he was welcomed at the Tibetan and Mongolian Institute.
Shortly after his arrival in Beijing, Nona Hutuktu was spotted by a (very shocked) Tibetan official. The official sent a photograph of Nona to the Dalai Lama as evidence that Nona Hutuktu was clearly very much alive!
Peace
I believe that Nona's initial aim in travelling to Beijing, was to convince the Chinese government to send troops to Western Kham and regain control of the region. Ultimately, he wanted to bring peace to China and surrounding regions. He was well aware of the fragility of China's defences, and of the past issues with the foreign powers that were already present in China (eg Britain, France, Germany, USA, and Japan). However, the post-revolution government in Beijing had no real power, with the warlords independently controlling (and fighting over) the various regions.
In 1926, Nona Hutuktu accepted an invitation to stay in Chongqing in Sichuan, by the warlord controlling that region. I suspect that, having found that the government in Beijing no longer had control, Nona wanted to appeal to the warlord to help him re-take control of Western Kham. Perhaps the warlord politely refused, perhaps the warlord did not have the resources for such a campaign to succeed.
Over the period of around 3 years, Nona performed a number of Peace Dharma Assemblies, teachings, and empowerments in Chongqing, with the main aim of supporting peace for China. He also spoke about The Perfect Enlightenment Sutra, which gives a synthesis of Chan and Vajrayana Buddhism, and started drafting a practice manual called 'The Essential Teachings of the Perfect Enlightenment School'.
In 1929, after the warlords had been defeated by the new Nationalist government, there was a new chance for Nona, so he went to meet with Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing - presumably on a political as much as a spiritual mission. The new government gave Nona Hutuktu a post within the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.
More importantly from a spiritual lineage perspective, it was in Nanjing that the lay Buddhist scholar, Wang Licheng 王理成 (usually written Wang Lecheng 王乐成 in Nona-related sources) met with Nona and began following him as a lay disciple. Wang, together with other key disciples, edited and published the practice manual that Nona had drafted in Chongqing, and in so doing, The Perfect Enlightenment School 圓覺宗 was founded. The various study groups that had sprung-up around China became branches of this school.
Nona then returned to Beijing and continued spreading the Dharma by giving teachings and healing the sick. By this time, the civil war between the Nationalists and Communists was in full swing. With Chinese military forces focused on this, Japanese forces were able to invade and occupy Manchuria with ease in 1931. With so much turmoil unfolding, Nona felt that the people of China needed widespread spiritual support in living through this situation, and so he instructed Wang Licheng to begin translating key Tibetan Buddhist texts to Chinese.
In 1933, Nona was invited to Shanghai. It was here that Wang Licheng brought his family and close friends from Shanghai to receive empowerments from Nona. This included his chronically ill wife, her private nurse (Chen Guanghuan), and Professor Yao.
For the next three years, Chen Guanghuan was able to learn, study, and practice under Nona Hutuktu, as she accompanied Wang Licheng and his wife as part of Nona's entourage. On the other hand, Professor Yao had to remain in Shanghai to fulfill his duties as a University Professor and father.
In 1936, Nona Hutuktu travelled back to his homeland of Western Kham to give support to the Nationalist army command in their fight with the Communist army there, perhaps drawing on his reputation to give diplomatic support. Meanwhile, Wang Licheng and family returned to Shanghai, and it was then that the highly accomplished Chen Guanghuan became Professor Yao's root master.
Nona Hutuktu died shortly after his arrival home. A range of theories are put forward about his cause of death. Some say he died of illness in the captivity of the Red Army. Another very detailed account describes how he was killed whilst trying to settle a dispute between neighbouring tribesmen. However, these details are of little significance compared with the story of his life.
Nona's remains were transported back to China, and he was laid to rest on Mount Lushan, where a stupa and memorial buildings were erected in his honour.
Nona's lineage survived the Cultural Revolution through his many disciples. Some who moved away from mainland China openly continued the 'Perfect Enlightenment School'. Others, including those who remained at home, continued their practice 'quietly'. Remaining in Shanghai, Professor Yao continued his self cultivation for the rest of his life, integrating aspects of Daoist and Confucianist practices as well - I hope to reveal more details about him in a future post.
However, in my next post, I will reveal all that I have discovered about Chen Guanghuan, a very interesting character indeed!
Further Reading
- Wikipedia article on Nona Hutuktu
- The Chinese version of Yogi Chen's biography (Chen Jianmin 陳健民)
- The Perfect Enlightenment School's biography of Nona Hutuktu (Chinese)
Acknowledgement
Photographs copyright Nona Huazang Jing She (諾那華藏精舍), reproduced here with thanks.
