High-virtue Monk Of Fawang Temple ShiYanfo Buddhist
From common citizens to high-rank leaders,from the south and north of Yangtze River to the outsirde,and in side of Gread Wall,thousands of people seek for him. Like the angel of the Heaven, he pours the dews to the world; like a living Buddha and Bodhisattva, he redeems all haman beings with a kind heart, thus he is worshiped and belved by all people. His touching deeds can even shake the heaven and land as well as make the ghosts tear. He is reputed as ‘the most marvelous person of Songshan Mountains’.
Songshan Great Fawang Temple was founded in the Yongrian 14th year(A.D.71)in the reign of Ming Emperor of Easten Han Dynasty, and now more than 1900 years has passed. It is the earliest temple to be established since the introduction of Buddhism, which was constructed by the imperial order abd used as the place for the scripture translation and missionary work by two lndian high-rank Buddhists, Kashyapamtanga and Gobharana. Thus it became the first Bodhi Buddhist rite in China, and imperally given the name ‘Great Fawang temple’. In the long history.Great Fawang temple were conferred for seven times; during Eastern Han Dynasty it was called ‘Great Fawang Temple’, and renamed as ‘huguo Temple’ in the era of ‘Fawang Temple’; in SuiDynasty, called ‘Sheli Temple’; and in Song Dynasty, ‘Eastern Capital Great Fawang Temple’s, which lasts up to now.
Fawang Temple, in its prime during Tang and Song Dynasties, now was the key cultural protection site un henna province, an open place for religious activities home and abroad. Today, the Great Fawang Temple lokks gigantic and majestic with a sound structure and vigorous halls, halls and pavilions. The temple occupiesan area of 64000m2, with a structure area of 5500m2. There are 7 yards from the front to the end, including Mountain Gate, Warrior Attendant Hall, Heaven King Hall, Grand Lord Hall, Memorial hall, Saint Hall on both sides, Lying Buddha Hall and Buddhist Scripture Collection pavilion as well as Heart Purification River, Buddha Worship Bridge, Merit Pavilion,Gold Melting Platform, Bekk and Drum Tower, Vairocanahall.109Gods are repaired and the virescence area of the temple accounts for 60%of the total, decorated with pines dan cypresses, halls and vilions, glittering and shining. What a graceful and picturesque place. The scene of ‘Waiting for the moon at Songshan gate’, one of the eight great scenes of DengFeng, refers to this place, reputed as ‘the top of eight scenes of Songshan Mountains’.
The original name of Master Shiyanfo is Shang Liango, and his name in religion is Yango, born in Mazhuang of DengFeng county in Henan Province. He was very smart and study-loving from his childhood, and stood out for his excellent performance. After the graduation from the junior middle school, he had to stop his school learning for poverty of this family, and then he became an electrician. He did his job in an earnest way, and was always ready to help others regardless of the bad weather or poor road complaining the heavy workload and charged no money, thus he was popularly praised by the villagers. But one day, when he was working on the wrie pole, he was shocked by the high-level paraplegia, due to the poverty and untimely care. From that on, he experienced the falseness of friendship of friendship as well as hardships of the human world, and the only one accompanying him was his mother.
In 1978 , the Master Shiyanfo reached Lotus Flower Temple under the guidance of a lotus flower. Here he worshiped the God piously and studied the Buddhist scriptures and wonderful books every day,.
On April 8(lunar calendar ,the birthday of Sakyamuni Buddha,the Master converted to yongshan ,a great monk of shaolin temple yongshan enjoined him to cultivate his morality and improve his nature and carry forward the justice .he was given the name ‘yanfo and the name is in religion is jingkong as the wards of I keeping a pure land in the mind and pursuiting for nothing to obtain an empty. He followed the order of his master, and carefully studied the Buddhist scriptures like ‘po jo po lo mi to hsin ching’. He worshipped the Buddha earnestly without being disturbed by other irrelevant thoughts. He sat stilly in mediation, pondering upon profound theories. He was proved to be a talent in doing such things evidenced by theat he became quite acquainted with ‘The yellow emperor’s canon of intermal Medicine’ and ‘Treatise on cold-induced Febride Diseases’. From that on he conducted Buddhist ceremonies to redeem human beings supported by the power of Buddha. Thus it was ordinary job to help and redeem people. On July 13 1986 (lunar calendar), the saint birth day of Memorial King Bodhisattva, the red sun hung on the sky and shined the vast land, then suddenly the rain poured down, and Master Shiyanfo led his followers to climb onto the ancient temple, finding that Fawang temple was so wonderful to be located among steep cliffs and gigantic mountains. Without thinking , he said that what a wonderful place. However, when walked close to it only to find that his temple remained as a relic, with collapsed halls, broken walls, deserted yards, thickset weeds, fallen ancient steles, flabby gingko trees. Moreover, the Zijin Lotus Pond did not exeit any longer and the Grand Lord Hall and animals seeking for food and defilement crossing all over. At seeing this, the master shed tears. What a tragic! Songshan Mountain was one of the five greatest mountains in China, and the Great Fawang Temple, as the first Buddhist temple to be constructed in China, collapsed such an extent. The Buddhist disciples were ashamed to face the Buddha. Then he took a vow to restore the ancient brilliance and resplendence of Fawang Temple. He declined the invitation of monks in Shaolin Temple for a long stay, and resolutely left Shaolin Temple which was advantaged, starting hia hardship to promote and carry out the Buddha theories here.
In1987, Master Shiyanfo began to live in Great Fawang Temple. He lived a thrifty life to save money in order to recover the ancient brilliance of Fawang Temple. He got up very early and preach the Law to remove Puzzles for the visitors. He drew magic figures and conduceted Buddhist ceremonies to expel ill fortunes, and all visitors were sincerely convinced. Meanwhile , he wrote prescriptions for patients who recovered their health later. Then very important persons in the political circle, celebrities and literati, overseas rich merchants, came to him for worship and donation. It was commendable for Fawang Temple to collect nearly 100 million Yuan without asking any money from the State, creating a miracle of constructing and maintaining the temple by itself. With the great efforts of master Shiyanfo, the Buddhist activities and tourism are thriving. the Great Fawang Temple has been listed one of the best resorts for sightseeing and touring in central China. And Master Shiyanfo was highly praised by leaders at various levels, religious people hone and abroad as well as visitors for his patriotism. For dozens of years, Master Shiyanfo lives in the meditation temple and cares for the word by always keeping all human beings and the society in mind. He has donated 2.18 million Yuan to the ‘hope project’, and other 3 million Yuan for the construction of 5 schools and disaster and poverty relief as well as property worth 1.8 million Yuan to the laid-off employees. In 2002, he collected 0.91 million Yuan construct the home of respect for the aged, adopting 25 old people without asking for payments. In all, he contributes much to the development and construction of Dengfeng City.
On November 5, 1996,the related departments at provincial and municipal levels held a red-carpet seat-assuming ceremony for the first abbot of Fawang Temple of Songshan mountains since the establishment of new China for Master Shiyanfo. And Dengfeng government set a large stele for the temple with the epigraph of ‘reconstruct Fawang Temple’ written by Tian Jiyun, the assistant chief commissioner of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Ma wangqi, the deputy chairman of CPPCC, wrote ‘Great Fawang Temple’ on the stele at the mountain gate, and zhao Puchu, the deputy chairman of CPPCC and director of Chinese Buddhist Association, wrote” Western Saint Hall”. And Master Shiyanfo was selected as the deputy chairman of CPPCC and director of Chinese Buddhist Association.
Today, the Great Fawang Temple is decorated by green pines and cypresses, with tall ancient trees, majestic halls and pavilions, which restores the past brilliance and resplendence.
Now
Master Shiyanfo has set up 5 temples In china (Henan Songshan mountains Great
Fawang Temple,guangdong Yinxian Temple, Xuchang tiefo Temple, Henan Lushan
Foquan Temple and Yunnan simai puxian Temple), and he takes the post as abbot.
There is too much to say about the wonders Master Shiyanfo.
