Yogi Chen (1906–1987) was a hermit living in Kalimpong when Sangharakshita came to know him. At first he lived in a small room in the High Street but later moved to a bungalow below the bazaar which he named the ‘The Five Leguminous Tree Hermitage’. In all, he spent seventeen years in the hermitage, only stepping outside on the occasion of moving his residence. He spent most of his time involved in various meditations but he also devoted thirty minutes each day to writing. By this method he produced quite a number of volumes of teachings and poetry in both English and Mandarin. He permitted visitors for an hour or so on a specific day of the week. Coming to know Sangharakshita over three or four years, he decided in the summer of 1962 to give a series of talks on the whole field of Buddhist meditation to Sangharakshita and his friend Bhikkhu Khantipālo (who later wrote about his experiences in Noble Friendship, Windhorse Publications, Birmingham 2002). These talks were later published in book form as Buddhist Meditation, Systematic and Practical, which has been in print ever since.
“Yogi Chen, as he came to be known, bore no resemblance to the austere, emaciated yogi of the Buddhist and Hindu tradition. He was short and stout, with a chubby face that frequently wore a broad smile, and though no longer young he gave an impression of health and vigour.… I learned that he never left the ‘Five Leguminous Tree Hermitage’, as he called his tiny bungalow … he spent the whole day meditating, except for the half-hour he devoted to literary work.”
Precious Teachers in The Complete Works of Sangharakshita, vol. 22, p.532-3
First edition of ‘Buddhist Meditation: Systematic and Practical’
“Occasionally, with his permission, I would take someone to see him, and thus it was that late one afternoon in the summer of 1962 I made my way to the Five Leguminous Tree Hermitage not alone but accompanied by Khantipālo.
“The three of us probably discussed meditation, for it was either on this occasion, or shortly afterwards, that Yogi Chen undertook to give Khantipālo and me a talk on the subject. Whether this was his own idea, or the result of a request by his two yellow-robed visitors, I no longer recollect. Whichever it was, the talk proved to be a long one. It was given in weekly instalments, over a period of more than four months, and five years later it came out in book form as Buddhist Meditation, Systematic and Practical. A Talk by the Buddhist Yogi C. M. Chen.”
Precious Teachers in The Complete Works of Sangharakshita, vol.22, p.533
Yogi Chen’s notes for Sangharakshita
When Sangharakshita met with Yogi Chen during the years they were in Kalimpong, their conversations were almost always solely concerned with the Dharma, with Yogi Chen often trying to clarify and connect various points in the sūtras with meditation. Even after discussions had finished, Yogi Chen would often write pages of notes elaborating and expanding on his theme. This is one such page.
Yogi Chen’s beads
Yogi Chen gave Sangharakshita a gift of his own mālā. Many years later the mālā broke and some of the beads were separated and given to two of Sangharakshita’s disciples in the Triratna Buddhist Order. He kept five beads in a glass jar and gave them to Suvajra sometime in the late 1980s. The remainder were strung together to make this mālā, which Sangharakshita gave as a gift to Paramartha on New Year’s Day 1990. Suvajra and Paramartha only found out by chance that they both have beads that came originally from Yogi Chen’s mālā.
Letter from Yogi Chen, June 1961
“My dear Brother in the Dharma Rev. Sangharakshita
Have your trouble on throat recovered? Were you back alone in that night very safely?…”
In this touching little letter, written in the monsoon season of 1961, Yogi Chen recommends reading the Sūtra of Golden Light, citing the Japanese practice of reading it aloud and praying for fine weather. He also expresses his regret that on their last meeting, due to the lateness of time and his worry that Sangharakshita might get back home too late, he, Mr Chen, did not fully complete his discourse on the subject of preaching the Dharma.
