Zhu Hong

Zhu Hong 祩 宏 Chinese Buddhist leader and anti-Jesuit. He was known as the “Master of Yunqi” , after a monastery restored in his honor. He was born in Hangzhou into a family with the surname Shen. Zhu was an excellent student, although he never succeeded along the path of officialdom. His first connection to Buddhism was that of the Pure Land variety. After failure in the official examinations he became a monk at thirty-one despite the existence of his second wife, who later became a nun. Zhu Hong died at the age of eighty-one. Zhu Hong is best remembered for his persistent hostility to Roman Catholicism. Zhu’s writings are a direct rebuttal to the Jesuit Matteo Ricci 利瑪竇. Traditional Buddhist monasticism had declined by Zhu Hong’s age. The English translation of heshang 和尚 as “monk” by the late Ming is perhaps inappropriate. A better rendition might be “priest” as it is often used in Japan to describe those specialist practitioners of funeral rites and memorial services. Zhu Hong himself complained that “Monks are also geomancers, diviners, physiognomists, physicians, gynecologists, potion makers, spirit healers and alchemists. All of the above entail the extreme demise of Buddhism .” The Jesuit entry into sixteenth century China placed them in the middle of such conditions. For Zhu Hong and other Buddhists the Jesuits were an additional headache to a long list of serious problems. Zhu Hong’s rebuttal of Catholicism was the first of a longer and ever-growing response. At the first stage of anti-Catholicism the Buddhists had a weak grasp of the religion. Zhu’s ''Tianshuo'' 天说 appeared in his ''Sanbi'' collection in 1615. Matteo Ricci’s monumental theological work ''Tienzhu shiyi'' 天主實義　　had already appeared in 1596. Zhu Hongs polemic coincided with the political appointment of Shen Que 沈隺 as vice minister of rites in Nanking and his initiation of an anti-Catholic campaign from official circles in 1616. Zhu Hongs collected essays, the ''Zhuzhuang suibi'' was written and published in three sections, the ''Chubi'' 初笔, ''Erbi'' 二笔 and the ''Sanbi'' 三笔, modeled after the classic Song period collection ''Rongzhai suibi''. Zhu Hong’s first collection was published in 1600 at age 70, the second and third at age 81 in 1615.

BOOKS

*Chun-Fang, ''Renewal of Buddhism in China: Chu-Hung & the Late Ming Synthesis'', Columbia University Press, 1981, ISBN 0231049722

ARTICLES

*Carpenter, Bruce, E. 'Buddhism and the Seventeenth Century Anti-Catholic Movement in China,'''Tezukayama University Review'' , no. 54, 1986, pp. 17-26. ISSN 0385-7743
*Yu Chun-fang in Goodrich and Fang ed., ''Dictionary of Ming Biography'', Columbia University Press, New York, 1976, vol. 1, 322-324. ISBN 0-231-03801-1

Yiduan

Yīduàn was a 12th century monk of the school of Buddhism.

Yiduan is notable for the saying "Language is a sham, silence a lie, but beyond language and silence a road goes by" .

Shi Yongxin

Shi Yongxin is the current principle abbot of the Shaolin Temple. He is the thirteenth successor after Buddhist abbot Xue Ting Fu Yu. Yongxin is not a martial abbot, but a clerical one, and his duties are scholarly; martial abbot Shi De Li is responsible for training monks at the Shaolin Temple.

A Dharma gathering was held between August 19 and 20, 1999, in the Shaolin Monastery, , China, for Buddhist Master Shi Yongxin to take office as abbot.

Yongxin wears the robes of the abbot, a yellow robe with a red sash, called a patriarch's robe. It is strictly forbidden to wear if one is not a high ranking monastic, which is applicable in all Chinese Buddhist sects. Though it is not illegal, wearing such a robe without proper training is considered offensive towards the Buddhist community.

Sengyou

Sengyou 445-518AD was a Buddhist monk, hailing from Nanjing, then called Jiankang . He became a monk at 14 at which time he studied and eventually taught the Vinaya. He is the author of the “Collected Records on the Making of the Tripitaka” a history of the early Buddhist texts.

Sanghapala

Sanghapala was a famous - monk who travelled to Southern and Northern Dynasties China to translate a lot of scriptures to .

Muqi Fachang

Muqi Fachang was a Zen Buddhist and renowned who lived in the -, around the end of the Southern Song dynasty. His surname is thought to be Xue; Muqi was a '''' or pseudonym, and Fachang a monastic name. Muqi was perhaps from the city of Kaifeng in Hunan Province. Likewise, a possibility is Sichuan. A painting bears the inscription "monk from Shu." He originally studied at the Wan-nian Monastery on Mt. Wutai. Muqi was doubtlessly drawn to the beauty of the West Lake in Hangzhou and refounded the abandoned monastery, Liutong Temple there in 1215. He is said to have been the disciple of Wujun Shifan . The monastery would have its place in the subsequent golden age of Chinese monochrome ink painting inspired by Chan Buddhism. Muqi's masterpiece was the White-robed Guanyin preserved in the temple in Kyoto, Japan. This painting and others were to have a profound influence on the subsequent development of ink painting in Japan itself. Muqi's artwork covered a wide range of subjects, including portraits, s, and still lifes. The aesthetic ideals of Muqi and other Zen Buddhist artists were overshadowed by the emerging litetati ideals of painting.　Yet even in the early Ming period his works were copied as evidenced by the c. 1400s copy of the `White Robed Guanyin` reproduced with this article and now preserved in Japan.

BOOKS

*Toda Tadasuke, ''Mokkei and Gyokkan'', Great Compendium of India Ink Paintings, vol. 3, Kodansha, 1973.

ARTICLES

*Shen Moujian, ''Encyclopedia of Chinese Artists'' , Shanghai, p.540.
*Sickman and Soper, ''The Pelican History of Art, Middlesex'', 1956, pp. 260-3.

*Jane Turner ed., ''The Dictionary of Art'', Macmillan, 1996, vol. 22, pp. 325-6.

Hai Deng

Venerable Hai Deng was a Buddhist monk, martial artist and 32nd abbot of Shaolin Temple during the 20th century. He was born Fan Wubing in Jiangyou County, Sichuan province.

At the age of 19, Fan Wubing was accepted into Sichuan University, but did not attend due to financial difficulties. Instead, he attended Sichuan Police Academy, but later dropped out in pursuit of martial arts training.

Hai Deng was famous for his ''one-finger '', one of the 72 Shaolin Arts where he supposedly supported his entire body weight on one finger.
The video of that act is considered to be fake by most western observers with knowledge of anatomy, gymnastics or power-lifting, as there are many abnormalities, and the video quality is extremely poor, which in turn would allow greater opportunity to conceal the fake. One of the most popular observations of independent observers is the fact that the fingertip during the act does not turn white, as it should invariably do, as the applied pressure would cause blood to leave the fingertip area.