Chapter 15 Chapter Fourteen: Zen Master Yinyuan——the Founder of Obaku Zen in Japan

In Japan, lentils are called Yinyuan beans, and it is said that they were introduced to Japan by the Chinese Zen master Yinyuan in the early Qing Dynasty.This Zen master Yinyuan is the founder of Huangbo (bobo) sect, one of the three major schools of Zen in Japan, and Yinyuan Longqi who was bestowed the title of "National Master of Great Light and Universal Illumination" by the Japanese Emperor. Yinyuan, whose common surname was Lin and named Longqi, was born in Fuqing County, Fujian Province in 1592.When he was six years old, his father went out and never returned. When he was a teenager, he dropped out of school due to family poverty and made a living by farming woodcutters. At the age of 21, he went out to find his father and came to Putuo Mountain in the South China Sea (now Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province), praying for the blessing of Guanyin, and came up with the idea of ​​joining Buddhism. In 1620, he finally entered the Huangbo Mountain Zen Temple in Fuqing, where he became a teacher of Zen Master Jianyuan, and became a monk with the Buddhist name Yinyuan Longqi.Since then, he traveled to famous temples in various parts of Zhejiang Province, visiting teachers to learn Taoism.He once learned the Zen method of Linji School from the eminent Zen monks Miyun Yuanwu and Fei Yintongrong. In 1637, he served as the abbot of Wanfu Temple in Huangbo Mountain.Yinyuan rebuilt the temple, built the Daxiong Hall and the Zhaitang, inherited the behest of the ancestors, and realized the great cause of the revival of Huangbo Mountain.After that, he traveled around the world to preach, and was invited to preside over Chongfu Temple, Fuyan Temple, Longquan Temple and other temples. In 1646, he returned to Wanfu Temple in Huangbo Mountain as the abbot, recruited many disciples, and wrote books.Yinyuan was not only proficient in Buddhism but also knowledgeable and talented. He was good at poetry, prose and calligraphy. He wrote books such as "Huangbo Quotations" and "Huangbo Mountain Records". He was well-known in the Buddhist and cultural circles of China at that time.

At that time, Zen Buddhism in Japan was in a state of stagnation.In Nagasaki, the only port open to Chinese trade in the Edo period, because many Chinese businessmen and overseas Chinese lived together, and in order to pray for gods and Buddhas to bless the safety of ships between China and Japan, three Buddhist temples were raised in the local area, namely Xingfu Temple (Nanjing Temple), Fuji Temple (Zhangzhou Temple), Chongfu Temple (Fuzhou Temple), known as Tang San Temple.The three temples all hired Chinese monks to serve as hosts, but before Yinyuan, no well-known eminent monks were invited.Yiran, the abbot of Xingfu Temple, admired Yinyuan's reputation for a long time. After discussing with the monks of the three temples and approved by the Tokugawa shogunate, he sent people to Huangbo Mountain in Fujian Province in 1652 to invite Yinyuan to travel eastward to teach the Dharma.He declined the first three invitations, until Yiran sent Monk Gushi to invite again for the fourth time, Yinyuan was finally moved by his sincerity, and agreed to travel east to Japan.

On May 10, 1654, the 63-year-old Zen Master Yinyuan, regardless of the persuasion and persuasion of the monks, handed Huangbo Mountain over to his disciple Huimen, and resolutely went down the mountain to embark on a journey. On May 21, he led more than 30 followers and disciples from Quanzhou to the east.On the way, the waves were turbulent, and the boatman lost his face, but Yinyuan was still talking and laughing freely.After a 15-day voyage, it finally arrived in Nagasaki on July 5.Yinyuan was warmly welcomed by Zen Master Yiran and the monks of Tangsan Temple. The monks and people in Nagasaki also gathered on both sides of the street to pay respects to him.After Yinyuan and his party were welcomed into Xingfu Temple, they performed Dharma in the temple that day.Due to the arrival of this eminent Chinese monk, the Japanese Zen forest, which had been silent for many years, was revived, and there was an upsurge of promoting Zen and worshiping Buddha in Tangsan Temple in Nagasaki.

In 1655, Yinyuan was invited by a famous Japanese Zen monk to open a hall at Fumen Temple in Ciyun Mountain in Settsu, Honshu (now Osaka Prefecture), and communicated with Zen monks from various temples and nobles in Kyoto.When Yinyuan traveled to the east, he planned to return to China after only staying in Japan for three years. The monks in Huangbo Mountain in Fujian also wrote repeatedly to urge him to return to the west.However, the earnest persuasion of the Japanese monks made him reluctant to leave easily. In the winter of 1658, Yinyuan came to Edo (today's Tokyo), and was personally received by Tokugawa Ietsuna, the fourth general of the Tokugawa shogunate, and senior officials including Tadakatsu Sakai also came to ask him about Zen.The shogunate tried their best to keep him, and finally Yinyuan made up his mind to devote the rest of his life to promoting Buddhism in Dongying, like the monk Jianzhen in the Tang Dynasty.

In 1659, the Emperor granted Yinyuan land in Uji near Kyoto to build a new temple.He decided to follow the example of China's Huangboshan Wanfu Temple and build Japan's Huangboshan Wanfu Temple. In 1661, Uji Manpuku-ji Temple was completed, and Yin Yuan served as the first abbot.From then on, a new sect of Huangbo sect emerged in Japanese Zen Buddhism, and even the Zen monks of Caodong sect and Linji sect of other Zen sects also joined him to practice Zen and ask Dharma.The shogunate donated gold and wood to build Buddhist temples.The pagodas, pagodas, pagodas, sculptures, pagoda configurations, ritual regulations, etc. of Uji Obakusan Manfuku Temple are all modeled after the style of Chinese Ming Dynasty Zen temples. Chinese accents are even used for Zen meditation and Buddhist chanting, and the food and life also maintains the Chinese style.Therefore, the Huangbo sect, which was introduced the latest, is richer in Chinese Zen flavor than other Japanese Buddhist sects.

In 1664, 73-year-old Yinyuan served as the abbot of Wanfu Temple in Huangbo Mountain, Japan for three years. He felt that he was old and weak, and his energy was low. In 1673, Emperor Houshuiwei bestowed on Yinyuan the title of "National Teacher of Great Light Universally Shining".He died of illness soon at the age of 82.Yinyuan is regarded as the founder of Huangbo Zen Buddhism in Japan. From the second ancestor Mu'an to the 13th ancestor Li'an, they were all eminent monks from China. From the 14th ancestor Longtong, most of them were succeeded by Japanese monks.Yinyuan wrote many works in his life, with a total of more than 40 kinds.The main works after Duri include 30 volumes of "Puzhao Guoshi Guangji", 20 volumes of "Showing Quotations", and one volume of "Huangbo Qinggui", as well as many poems and essays.It has been compiled into 12 volumes of "The Complete Works of Yin Yuan" and published in Japan.

Yinyuan and his disciples’ journey to the east made many contributions to the promotion of cultural exchanges between China and Japan, especially the development of Zen Buddhism in Japan and the spread of Chinese cultural and artistic achievements in calligraphy, painting, seal cutting, sculpture, architecture, and medicine during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. . When Huangbo monks such as Yinyuan traveled eastward, they brought a large number of authentic calligraphy and painting works by famous Ming and Qing masters, all of which were collected in Wanfu Temple as treasures of Huangbo culture, making Mount Huangbo in Uji a treasure house of fine Chinese cultural relics.For example, Yinyuan hung a plaque made by his mentor Fei Yin in the Kaishan Hall of Wanfu Temple.At that time, some Japanese literati who could not go abroad often went to Huangbo Mountain to see it quickly, fulfill their life wishes and get enlightened from it.Moreover, Yinyuan and many of his disciples are masters of calligraphy.The calligraphy of Yinyuan and Mu'an, namely Fei, is characterized by large-character cursive script and powerful strokes. It is called "the three strokes of Huangbo", and established the Japanese calligraphy school of Huangbo.His disciples are independent and good at seal and official script. He taught calligraphy and seal cutting in Japan. Kitajima Snow Mountain, who is known as the first person of Tang-like calligraphy (Chinese style calligraphy) in modern Japan, is his student.

The Chinese painting style of Ming and Qing Dynasties also spread to Japan through the introduction of Yinyuan and his disciples.Among Huangbo monks, there are many painters, and Huangbo's painting style is mainly portraits. From the second half of the 17th century to the first half of the 18th century, portraits of people called obaku-gaku were popular in Nagasaki.These portraits focus on portraiture, with light and dark shadows on the face, with three-dimensional vividness and artistic conception of Western realistic techniques, which are unique in the history of Japanese painting. Along with the development of calligraphy and painting, it also promoted the progress of Japanese seal cutting and printing industry.Yinyuan's apprentices Lili and Gao Quan were good at seal cutting and taught the techniques to Nagasaki Gao Tianyi and other disciples.The 15th Dapeng Zhengkun of Huangbo wrote "Shuo on Seals and Seals", which was widely spread in Japan.The various Buddha statues engraved by Huangbo monks are also very exquisite, such as "Avalokitesvara", "Ksitigarbha", and "Five Hundred Arhats", all of which are lifelike.Yinyuan's disciple Tieyan Daoguang also raised funds to print 6956 volumes of the Tripitaka in 1681, which is the so-called Huangbo version of the Tripitaka.

In terms of architectural sculpture art, Uji Obakusan Manfuku Temple, Nagasaki Tangsan Temple, and the Obaku Temple in various places were all designed and supervised by Chinese monks who lived in Japan, and adopted pure Ming and Qing architectural styles.The majestic and majestic Uji Manfuku-ji Temple can be called a pearl in the history of Japanese architecture.According to records, the three gates of Sofukuji Temple in Nagasaki were carved by craftsmen in China and then shipped to Japan for assembly.Most of the Buddha statues enshrined in the temples of the Huangbo Sect are also made by Chinese sculptors.For example, the Bodhidharma and other Buddha statues sculpted by Ying Yinyuan, a native of Quanzhou, Fujian, who was recruited by Ying Yinyuan to cross Japan for Wanfu Temple, are regarded as national treasures by the Japanese.The eighteen arhat statues on Mount Huangbo also have a typical Chinese sculpture style. In 1663, when Yinyuan was 72 years old, his disciples asked Fan Daosheng to carve a seated statue of Yinyuan out of Western Region wood, which is now preserved in the Kaishan Hall of Wanfu Temple.For example, Fang Sanguan, a native of Zhangzhou, Fujian, also carved many Buddha statues. He is known as the ancestor of Buddhist crafts in the Tang Dynasty in Japan.

Yinyuan and his disciples also contributed to the exchange of Chinese and Japanese medicine.For example, Yinyuan's high-ranking apprentice was independent, with a common surname of Dai, surname Li, and style name Mangong. He was born in Hangzhou. He used to be a famous medical doctor.His medical skills are very good, especially in acne, and he is regarded as a miracle doctor by the Japanese.He also imparted his medical skills to his Japanese disciple Masao Ikeda and others. He passed on seven medical books including "Physiological and Pathological Diagrams" and six volumes including "Apocosis Key".In addition, Huangbo monks Hualin, Xinyue, Chengyi and others were also familiar with medicine and passed on their medical skills to Japanese doctors.

Yinyuan also brought some Chinese plant seeds with him when he traveled eastward, such as "Yinyuan beans" (lentils), "Yinyuan lotus" (lotus flowers), "Yinyuan cowpea" and so on.The daily life of the monks of Huangbo has maintained the Chinese way for a long time, and it has also exerted a subtle influence on the Japanese way of life.The Chinese-style foods they often eat, such as flax tofu, Yinyuan tofu, and barberry steamed buns, have also been introduced to Japanese temples and folks.Baiyunan in front of Uji Manfuku-ji Temple is also the birthplace of the Chinese-style pure vegetarian cuisine "Pucha Cuisine" that has spread throughout Japan. Chinese monks traveling to the east, representative figures who had a great impact on Japanese culture, there was Monk Jianzhen in the Tang Dynasty, and Zen Master Yinyuan in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Yinyuan is revered and commemorated by the people of China and Japan.As praised by Du Lide in the "Puzhao Guoshi Tower Inscription": "The master opened the yellow bark and should transform the west and the east. It took forty years to show his own experience. From the emperor's prime minister, to the east kings and ministers, to the common people, businessmen, monks and laymen. , I don’t admire and look up to it, and I love it. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, it has never been as prosperous as it is.”