Wansong was born into the Cai family from Jie county in Hezhong. At the age of fifteen he went to Xingzhou where he became a monk, taking the religious name Xingxiu. He then travelled to Cizhou to study under Chan Master Xueyan Huiman . Later he returned to Xingzhou where he lived in the Wansong Studio, and called himself the "Old Man of Ten Thousand Pines". In 1193 Wansong came to the attention of Emperor Zhangzong of Jin, who invited him to court in order to expound Buddhist teaching. Impressed by his knowledge the emperor presented Wansong with a brocade monk's robe, and asked him to move to the central capital Zhongdu. In 1197 Wansong moved to Bao'en Temple to the west of the central capital, where he resided in the Congrong hermitage. In 1215 the Jin capital of Zhongdu was sacked by the Mongols, and the Jin capital was relocated to Kaifeng. However, Wansong remained at Bao'en Temple, outside the city now renamed Yanjing. In 1223 the Khitan statesman Yelü Chucai, who had surrendered to the Mongols in 1218, visited Wansong to receive Buddhist instruction from him, and thereafter he frequently visited Wansong to ask his advice. In 1230 Wansong was made abbot of Wanshou Temple in Yanjjing. Wansong died at the age of 81. Just before his death he composed a gatha: "Eighty-one years old, only this one saying; cherish and value all people, and never make a false move". He was succeeded as master of Bao'en Temple by Linquan Conglun.
Works
Wansong wrote two important commentaries on kōan compiled by Hongzhi Zhengjue. In 1224, at the urging of Yelü Chucai, he published a commentary to a collection of one hundredsonggukōan by Hongzhi under the titleCongrong Lu, known in English as the Book of Equanimity or the Encouragement Record. Wansong's commentary edition ensured the survival of Hongzhi's kōan, and came to be regarded as one of the seminal texts of the Caodong school. Wansong also wrote a commentary on Hongzhi's niangukōan, entitled Qingyi Lu, known in English as Record of Seeking Additional Instruction. He also wrote a collection of sayings entitled Wanshou Yulu, with a preface dated 1235.
After the death of Wansong, his disciples built an octagonal seven-storeyed brick pagoda, in height, in Yanjing to house his remains. In 1753, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty, a new nine-storeyed brick pagoda, in height, was built around the original pagoda, and it was not until 1986 that the original Yuan dynasty pagoda was rediscovered to be still intact inside the later pagoda. The pagoda now stands near the Xisi intersection in the Xicheng District of Beijing, next to Brick Pagoda Hutong. Until 2010 the pagoda was largely hidden by shops and residential buildings, but after redevelopment of the area for the construction of Xisi Underground Station and restoration of the pagoda it is now open to the public.
