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Hierarchs of Rock Buddha Temple
The cultural spirit of a temple won't keep developing without masters'
understand and promotion of Zen.
Rock Buddha Temple is a temple with both religious and cultural background.
In the sense of culture, it is the most outstanding one among all
the temples in Jiaxing. There were a lot of monk literati appearing
in Rock Buddha Temple's history. Rock Buddha 'Temple produces honest
monks and it is peaceful and literal.' These words concluded by Lee
Rihua are exactly what Rock Buddha Temple's characteristic is. So,
when talking about Rock Buddha Temple, we must have more sentences
about all the monks with noticeable performance. |
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Yuncai
He is from Yuan Dynasty. He is called Yuncai in Xia Wenyan's 'Appreciation
of paintings' and Yuancai in Zhao Wenhua's 'Pictures of Jiaxing'.
His courtesy name is Xuecen. He is monk of Rock Buddha Temple and
a well-known painter in Yuan dynasty. The black plum blossom, bamboo
and pine painted by him look vivid.
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Zijing
He is monk of Rock Buddha Temple. The temple was severely damaged
in battles of late Yuan Dynasty. Zijing rebuilt the temple during
Emperor Zhengtong's Reign in Ming Dynasty (A.D 1439-1449).
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Yuanfang
He is monk of Rock Buddha Temple. The eight sights, which Rock Buddha
Temple was famous of, were dilapidated and lost their attraction.
In the 42nd year of Emperor Jiajing's Reign (A.D 1563), Yuanfang redecorated
the temple and renewed eight sights.
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Yunchong
Yunchong (? - 1625), is also called Yunchong and his courtesy name
is Zhenmi. He is from Haining and his real surname is Gu. He took
Monk Lee Yizhou as his teacher and became a monk of Rock Buddha Temple.
He concentrated himself into Tripitaka. He was an outstanding person
in Jiaxing Buddhist community with great influence among literati
and officialdom. Xu Bida, Yue Yuansheng and Lee Ri all have built
network with him. Under his urging, meditation room was built and
the main hall, Langfang, Great Mercy Hall and Jialan Hall were repaired.
He was admired as the forefather of this temple. He is also the first
one to collect Jiaxing Sutra after Master Zibo in Jiaxing Buddhist
community. To that end, he repaired the scripture storage room. The
contribution of Yunchong didn't only restrict to setting Rock Buddha
Temple's leading status in Jiaxing Buddhist community but also reflected
in the reputation he won. In the eyes of Buddhist, Rock Buddha Temple
is comparable to famous Buddhist mountains such as Emei and Putuo.
Thus, Rock Buddha Temple have achieved an important transmit. Master
Yunchong is definitely a great contributor to Rock Buddha Temple.
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Faji
Faji's courtesy name is Cihang and he is from Jiaxing. He is monk
of Rock Buddha Temple in late Ming Dynasty. The book called 'Whispers
in Bamboos' was written by him .He is a friend of Lee Rihua's. The
poem of Lee Rihua, 'I can still hear the whisper in bamboos, and it
sounds like Luneng's (Luneng is a famous poetry)' was talking about
Faji. Faji was also good at poem. His poem called 'Hear from Brother
Yangxing' said, 'my old friend sent me a sincere letter. In his dream
we were talking about our common ideal. When the journey ended I left
as a sea gull. But my friend cannot stop thinking of me. Seating on
the mountain, look at the moon when dusk come. Standing at high land,
stare at the sky in the autumn. Now I have already taste the experience
on society. Wait for me to come back and share drinking with you.'
Benzhong's courtesy name is Yangxing. He was monk of Rock Buddha Temple
in late Ming Dynasty. He wrote the poem called 'Passing by Benjue
Temple and Wander in the Main Hall'. It said, 'a few orchids are followed
by a village. On both sides of path, there are wormwoods with ages.
The tower is well decorated and there is Buddhist relics placed. Numbers
of Lotus keep afloat on a pool of clean water. The only sounds you
can hear is bird's whisper and silvery Blessing reading. Old wall
is continued with calligraphy on it. Such an empty hall who knows
anyone has ever come. History and future are all mortal flauntiness.'
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Yuancheng
Yuancheng (1564-1626) has Zhanran as his courtesy name. He is also
called Sanmu and from Shaoxing. His real surname is Xia. Yuancheng
took Master Lianchi, one of the top four masters in late Ming Dynasty,
as his teacher and became a monk. Later he inherited Mahabodhi Fangnian's
place. Master Lianchi expected a lot on Yuancheng, even he wanted
Yuancheng to achieve the level of ancient Buddha. At first, Yuancheng
had no literacy, just like the sixth ancestor. But he made great efforts.
After six years' concentrating study, he grasped the spirit of Buddhism
and became an influential hierarch following top four masters. His
masterpieces include 'Imaging of Lengyan', 'Meaningful Words of Fahua',
'Explanation of Jingangsanmei Sutra', 'Niepanhuishu', 'Recalls of
History', 'Zongmenhuowen', 'Quotations of Zhanran Yuancheng', etc.
He has written a well-known Buddhist poem implying ingenious ideas,
'White cloud knows me best. It also follows me even when I live in
the mountain. In the morning, it runs at wind. In the night, it still
comes to keep the campfire.
Master Yuanchen Zhanran is Lee Rihua's Buddhist friend. During the
Emperor Yijun's Reign in Ming Dynasty, at the invitation of Lee Rihua
and monks of Rock Buddha Temple, Yunchong and Yunsong, master went
to Rock Buddha Temple holding a conference explaining Miaofalianhua
Sutra. There were thousands of audiences and this became a story told
for generations. Besides, Lee Rihua wrote 'Article of Conference of
Thousands explaining Miaofalianhua Sutra at Rock Buddha Temple.'
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