January 13, 1953 is the thirty-year-old year. On the inner courtyard of Maitreya on Xizhi Xiufeng Mountain in Taiwan Province, a kind-hearted monk said to the monks who returned from all sides: "My old house ( physical body, that is, physical body ) is broken, and I will change to a new house. I will not leave in February and March next year, and I will leave in March and April at the latest. "
As expected, on May 6 of the second year ( fourth day of the fourth lunar month of the lunar calendar, this monk suddenly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and fell silent in the Zen temple. According to his will during his lifetime, the disciple organized a "sitting ceremony" for him, and his body was buried in the tomb tower of the back mountain of Maitreya's inner courtyard.
html After 2005, when the disciples opened the jar to inspect, they found that the mage's body was not damaged at all, with distinct facial features, purple face, and translucent brown skin.
According to Buddhism, those who practice the Bodhisattva level with the body born to their parents are called " Body Bodhisattva ". After the Body Bodhisattva enters silence, they can obtain "full body relics". "Although has been changed over time and time and space, it has not decayed and festered, and it is always preserved and vividly vivid ".
is obvious. This master is also a "body bodhisattva". According to Buddhism, he is a person with great merits. So, who is this mage and what contributions has he made? Why does the body last for 5 years without decay?
Master Cihang
In Jianning, Fujian at the beginning of the last century, there was a child named Ai Jirong . His father was Imperial College student , and his mother Xie came from a local famous family.
However, Ai Jirong's childhood was unfortunate. His mother passed away at the age of 11, and his younger brother died prematurely at the age of 13. The family conditions were getting worse day by day. Ai Jirong also dropped out of school in the same year his younger brother died and worked as a tailor in a tailor shop. Four years later, his father died, and he was the only one left in the family.
Master Cihang
After his father passed away, Ai Jirong was taken to his grandfather's house to live. When his cousin saw him alone, he felt very pity. He took out 40 silver dollars and to Ai Jirong and said, "Take this money and go back to get a wife."
After leaving the house, Ai Jirong took the silver dollars and rushed directly to Qingyun Temple in Emei Peak, Taining, and found the abbot, Monk Zizhong, and asked to be ordained and become a monk. Monk Zizhong gave him the name of Cihang.
The second year after Master Cihang became a monk, he rushed to Jiujiang Nengren Temple and received Three Halls of Great Rings , and then began to travel around the world to visit famous mountains and temples. He has visited Jiuhua Mountain in Anhui, Chongfa Temple in Changzhou, Tianning Temple in , Jiezhuanglu Temple in Suzhou, Guanzong Temple in Tiantai Mountain, Xianglin Temple in Nanjing and other temples, and followed many famous teachers to practice Buddhism.
Master Taixu
In 1927, Master Cihang came to the Minnan Buddhist College located in Nanputuo Temple in Xiamen to study. The then dean of the Buddhist College was no one else. He officially advocated the " with the spirit of "sacrificing oneself and benefiting others" and "benefiting sentient beings" in Mahayana Buddhism to improve society and mankind to establish and improve personality and monk ".
Although Master Cihang has been studying for 7 years, he has only read " Three Character Classic ", "Six Character Magazine", and the "Analects of Confucius" that he has not finished learning, and his cultural foundation is very weak. During his time in school, because he couldn't recognize many words, he was criticized by the academic affairs director Master Daxing.
Master of Daxing
Faced with criticism, Mater Cihang chose to accept it humbly. After Master Taixu learned about this, he admired it very much and said: "'Faithful words are good for action', "Yu bows when he hears good words, and Zilu is happy when he hears mistakes.' Cihang is intelligent and straightforward. Be good at accepting other people's opinions, be brave to advance, and be solemn in image. As long as you continue to improve, you will have a bright future. ”
Master Cihang only stayed in Fujian Academy for three months and was forced to leave because of the student tide. Although the time was short, he only heard Master Taixu give a few lessons. However, this period of study completely changed Master Cihang's life. He agreed with Master Taixu's "Buddhist Revolutionary Spirit" and "Human Buddhism" concepts and became a loyal disciple of Master Taixu.
Master Cihang was invited to Hong Kong to preach the Dharma, and then transferred to Myanmar to preach. Theravada Buddhism is prevalent in Myanmar, and Mahayana Buddhism does not have much presence in the local area.After Master Cihang arrived, he spent five years spreading Master Taixu’s “Human Buddhism” thought and established a large number of Buddhist organizations, which were praised by Master Taixu as “a great faith in Myanmar”.
The great monk who promoted the anti-Japanese war
Although Master Cihang is a monk, he is also a firm patriot. In 1936, when he visited Master Yuanying, then president of the Chinese Buddhist Association, in Shanghai, he once said passionately: " The country is in danger, and monks are responsible. Every monk should remember a sentence from Master Hongyi, of Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou: 'Reciting Buddha's name will not forget to save the country, and saving the country will not forget to recite the Buddha'! "
Master Hongyi
After he was invited by Master Yuanying to go to Dizang Temple to watch the training of the Shanghai monk rescue team. After the training, Master Cihang, who was deeply moved, sighed:
"My country is fighting to the death against Japan. Everyone as a citizen should devote their own everything, even their own life, and fight for the country and nation! Although I do not encourage monks to join the army and kill the enemy, I participate in the ranks of saving lives and helping the wounded. This is the active spirit of Mahayana Buddhism to enter the world."
Master Cihang believes that Buddhists cannot just pursue their own practice and liberation "self-destruction". He once created an article titled "I love my religion and my country", indicating that Buddhism saves all living beings, should go to society, care for the masses, breathe with the country and the people, and share the destiny.
1937 After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War of , in order to avoid the military disaster caused by the "August 13" incident in , Master Cihang and several disciples fled to Hong Kong after several twists and turns.
At that time, in order to realize what they called the "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Circle", the Japanese used various despicable means to destroy our country from an ideological and cultural perspective. They also sent a large number of Japanese monks to spread rumors throughout China, saying: "The Chinese government intends to destroy Buddhism. The reason why Japan launched a war was to allow Buddhism to continue to survive in China."
Faced with the shameless behavior of Japanese monks who did not try to save sentient beings, but instead helped the evil to swear flags and shout for the Japanese invaders' invasion, Master Taixu decided in 1939 to organize a "China Buddhist International Visiting Group" to visit Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia. While promoting Buddhism, the Chinese people's Anti-Japanese War cause. Considering that Master Cihang has a certain influence in Southeast Asia, Master Taixu also issued a special invitation to Master Cihang.
Master Cihang
When Master Cihang, who was stationed in Amitabha Temple in Hong Kong, was very moved after receiving the invitation and was happily invited to , Yangon, Myanmar, and followed Master Taixu to promote Buddhism in Southeast Asia. He also delivered a speech: "·····All believers in Mahayana Buddhism should have the determination to resist and eradicate worms that harm humans. By the same token, if the Japanese dare to invade China, we must resist if we want to fulfill our national duties. This is the development of the spirit of compassion. "
In his speech, Master Cihang also publicly revealed that Japanese invaders killed and set fire on the land of China and traitors. The crime of lust and looting was promoted to local Chinese and believers that Master Yuanying was arrested and questioned by the Japanese military police for advocating the anti-Japanese and national salvation. He called on believers to " uphold the Dharma of Sakyamuni, save the country and abide by the religion, and uphold justice. He called on the Chinese to "all people, have money and contribute money, and work hard to strive for the final victory of the War of Resistance. "
Cihang Mage
In the months-long tour speech, the delegation members such as the delegation were widely welcomed wherever they went, and the people of many countries expressed their support for China's anti-Japanese war cause. It can be said that this tour speech perfectly achieved the expected results.
In May 1940, the visiting delegation was preparing to return to China. Master Cihang was strongly retained by local believers, hoping that he could stay and continue to spread the Dharma. After Master Taixu's approval, Master Cihang continued to stay in Malaysia and created many Buddhist societies.
Taiwan spread the Dharma, but it was gone.
Since Taiwan Island was ceded to Japan in 1895, the people on Taiwan Island were colonized by Japanese invaders for half a century, and even Taiwanese Buddhism was influenced by Japanese Buddhism . After Taiwan's return, in order to regain the orthodox Chinese Buddhism, knowledgeable people in the Taiwanese Buddhist community invited mainland monks to Taiwan Island to preach the Dharma.
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1948, Master Cihang, who was spreading the Dharma in Singapore , received an invitation from the abbot of Master Miaoguo from Taiwan's Yuanguang Temple in Taiwan to run a Buddhist college, and resolutely gave up the favorable conditions in the local area to go to Taiwan Island. In the letter written by Master Cihang to his friend, it clearly stated: " I want to take this opportunity to do something for Chinese Buddhist education and cultivate more talents for future Buddhism. "
Master Cihang first came to Taiwan to live in a miserable place, and even the monks could not find many monks. For this reason, he had to go to various parts of Taiwan Province to teach teachings and promote educational concepts and school planning. Through his unremitting efforts, he finally recruited dozens of monks.
But at this time I encountered new problems. At that time, Taiwan Province was backward in its economy, and the Buddhist colleges did not have much money, and the conditions were simple. Not to mention teaching equipment, they even lacked the most basic teaching staff. Faced with this situation, Master Cihang took on all the teaching tasks alone and paid for the monks to buy pens, ink, paper and inkstone for them out of his own pocket.
In addition to studying, Master Cihang also visited various temples in Taiwan Province to recruit students many times. Most of his disciples have become the backbone of the promotion of human Buddhism on Taiwan Island.
In the summer of 1949, after the joint graduation ceremony of monks from Lingquan, Shishan and Taiwan Buddhist College, Master Cihang brought 20 mainland monks to Lingyin Temple in Hsinchu to prepare for the construction of Lingyin Buddhist College. However, at this moment, the Taiwan Security Command, which was full of plants and trees, suddenly sent someone to surround the temple, saying that "a large number of spies pretended to be monks and sneaked into Taiwan, and Cihang had close 'collusion' with these spies." In this way, Master Cihang and others were all arrested by the reactionaries and were in prison.
In fact, before the reactionaries came to arrest him, Master Cihang received the news. However, facing the monks who advised him to escape quickly, Master Cihang said: " I am old, and I am not willing to die. I can't bear to run away alone, but let you suffer and wander... As long as it is beneficial to you, you can work hard for the Dharma with peace of mind, even if you encounter misfortune, I will smile with this body! "
Sun Liren and his wife
After Master Cihang was arrested, it immediately caused shock in the religious circle in Taiwan. A large number of religious people ran around to rescue him. Even General Sun Liren's wife, Sun Zhang Qingyang, found many connections to rescue him, and successfully rescued Master Cihang.
After Master Cihang was released from prison, with the help of people from all walks of life, he built a Maitreya inner courtyard for teaching, and recruited a large number of monks. It was crowded with people for a while and was very lively.
During his time in Taiwan, Master Cihang's greatest wish was to go back to the mainland of the motherland to take a look. When he heard the news of Master Yuanying's death, he was very sad and said to his disciples: " The sea and the sky are blocked, and the flesh and blood are separated. This is the greatest misfortune of the Chinese nation... In this life, my only wish is to pray to return to the mainland, seek the roots and pay homage to the ancestors, worship the masters, and talk about repaying the grace of the Dharma breasts. "
Master Yuanying
It's a pity that in the rest of his life, there is no chance to return to the mainland of the motherland.
The Body Bodhisattva
On New Year's Eve of 1953, Master Cihang suddenly felt something and told the monks that he would leave between February and April next year ( Lunar ). Most of the monks thought he was joking. After all, Master Cihang was only 60 years old in 1954. He was always healthy, so how could he go to silence so quickly?
On the second day of the first lunar month of the second year, when the two monks Daoyuan and Bai Sheng went to Maitreya's inner courtyard, Master Cihang said to them: " Two brothers, you need to preside over the future Dharma, and I will soon be on a long vacation. ." Seeing that the two monks did not believe it, he said seriously: " I am not kidding, I have only lived in the world for a few more months.”
Master Baisheng
As he said, Master Cihang took out an envelope with the words "Cihang Will" and entrusted it to them.
Half a month before Master Cihang passed away, he wrote another letter to the guardian of Dharma Lin Xiyue, which stated: " I want to make a good show that everyone applauds. ”
On May 6, 1954 ( The fourth day of the fourth lunar month ), Master Cihang suddenly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage due to excessive fatigue, and his lifetime was 60.
In Article 7 of the will made by the monk before his life, it clearly stated: " The body does not use a coffin, does not need to be cremated, and uses a jar, sit cross-legged in the back mountain, and open the jar after three years. If it is dispersed, it will still remain unmoved, hidden in the soil, like the whole body, and put gold into the pagoda courtyard. "
The steps in this will of Master Cihang are the "sitting a tank" method in Buddhism. If the Dharma body is not damaged or damaged after three years of sitting on the tank, it means that he has cultivated into a "body bodhisattva" and is worshipped by others.
Master Huineng
For example, Zen Sixth Patriarch Master Huineng's body is still immortal and untiring for more than 1,300 years. It is said that when the Japanese invaders invaded China, several Japanese invaders suspected that his body was fake. A medical practitioner with a military officer cut off the back of Master Huineng's body with a scalpel. After opening a small hole, the Japanese invaders saw the well-preserved bones and internal organs. The Japanese invaders were so scared that they worshiped the master's body and retreated in a hurry.
After Master Cihang entered silence, the monks followed his will to sit cross-legged in the jar and buried them in the inner courtyard of Maitreya . However, due to the changes in the situation, it was not until 1959 that the monks opened the jar five years later. They were surprised to find that Master Cihang " has a body that is not broken, the cassock is intact, the face is purple, the eyes are shiny, the ears, nose and mouth are complete, the lips are soft, the body and muscles are still elastic, and the hair and moustache are grown, and the eyebrows are also much longer. ”
Master Cihang
After Magister Cihang
,Magi Cihang's body was filled with gold and welcomed into the inner courtyard to provide for offering, becoming the first physical bodhisattva in history in Taiwan Province.
The scientific community has explained the cause of the "Flesh Bodhisattva" not rotting for thousands of years. During the "sitting" ceremony, the bottom of the cylinder will be covered with lime, charcoal, and sandalwood. is used to absorb the water from the body and sterilize it. After the "Master Body" is placed, the tank is sealed so that the "Master Body" no longer comes into contact with air and moisture, so that it can "not rot".
Because Master Cihang had been hoping to return to his roots after he entered silence, the Taiwanese Buddhist community donated a "wooden carving and simulated statue of Master Cihang" to the ancestral courtyard of Qingyun Temple in 2007. After many years, Master Cihang finally returned to his hometown as he wished.
