Chengyuan, Tang Dynasty (Three Ancestor of the Lotus Sect) Chengyuan. He was not sure about his origin. He first learned the Dharma in Chengdu, Sichuan, and later followed Duke Wu from Zichuan (now Ziyang County, Sichuan). Then he went to Jingzhou to serve as the Zhengong of Yuqu

Tang Chengyuan (Three Ancestors of the Lotus Sect)

Chengyuan. I don’t know his origin. I first learned the Dharma in Chengdu, Sichuan, and later followed Duke of Duke (now Ziyang County, Sichuan) in . Then go to Jingzhou to serve as the Zhengong who studied in Yuquan Temple, Hubei. Zhen Gong instructed him to live in Hengshan to educate sentient beings, and later there were tens of thousands of sentient beings who followed Chengyuan and were educated by him. Chengyuan first lived under the rocks in the southwest of Hengshan. He would eat someone who offered him food. If no one came to offer him food, he would eat soil, stone, mud and sand. Chengyuan was thin and had a dirt look, so he went to pick up firewood and came back to use it. Anyone who teaches sentient beings must first establish the concept of the middle way, and then teaches them with clever and convenient means. At the same time, in order to enable people to achieve rapid practice, they will teach sentient beings to practice the method of chanting Buddha's name. And he wrote it in the alley and carved it on the stones in the valley, so he diligently induces and encourages sentient beings to chant Buddha's name. People nearby carried cloth and clothes, chopped wood and picked up stones to accumulate it at the entrance of Chengyuan's cave, and gave it to him to build a temple. Chengyuan did not deliberately refuse or pursue it. After the temple is completed, it is named Amitabha Temple. The remaining materials for building temples are given to hungry and sick people. Dong Dezong 8th year of Zhenyuan (802 AD) On July 19, he died at the Amitabha Temple at the age of 91.

　At this time, a monk named Fazhao lived in Mount Lu. He went to Pure Land in Samadhi . He saw a man wearing shabby clothes serving Amitabha Buddha. Amitabha Buddha said to Fazhao: "This is Master Chengyuan from Hengshan." After Fazhao came out of samadhi, he searched everywhere. Later, he met Chengyuan and saw his appearance very similar to the master he saw in samadhi, so he followed him to learn Buddhism and spread the Dharma extensively. Fazhao was the national teacher at the time of Emperor Daizong of Tang Dynasty (763-779 AD). He once told the emperor that his master Chengyuan had extremely high virtues, so the emperor bowed to the south from afar. At the same time, he thought and guessed: With Master Chengyuan's highest virtues, he could not be recruited to the capital at will. Therefore, Chengyuan's residence is called "Banzhou Temple". The great writer Liu Zongyuan once wrote an inscription praising for Master Chengyuan, and erected a stone tablet to the right of the gate of Amitabha Temple. (Liu Zihou Collection)