1September, 1993, when Professor Luo Ying from China Academy of Social Sciences and his party were investigating South Shaolin and Heaven and Earth Society in Dongshan County, Fujian Province, Master Yudao, the abbot of Dongming Temple, presented him with a copy of "The Secret Code of the Fragrant Flower Monk" (hereinafter referred to as the secret code) in the 23rd year of Qing Jiaqing (A.D. 18 18). The contents of this book surprised him, because they were much more original and important than the authoritative materials used to study the heaven and earth society.
This Code has 34 pages, and there are many little-known things in it. "Tracing to the Source" begins: "Fugulai Temple originated from Xinghua Qingyuan Nine Temple. During the period of Xian Tong, Tang Yizong, Zhengjue Zen Master called Master Guang Zhi to advocate construction. The nine halls are connected, so it is called the nine halls. At that time, Yan Weiyi was advocated, and the vegetarian method was used. He inherited the ancestor of Linyi Xuanbo Zen Master from the south, and spread the authenticity of Lin Ji widely. There were more than 500 monks, and he was known as South Shaolin. After Nanshan spread widely, four people stood in the class and gave lectures that Puli was a heaven and man.
Tomorrow, Shun Jian, Dade presided over Suiyuan, went to feel the flowers bloom, realized the goal, and personally sent the temple ancestor Ming Xi Xuexian to spread the Dharma to the south. When I lived in Longtan mountain stream, I wore humiliating armor, lying on a fearless bed and sitting on an empty seat. The righteous people praised his virtue and invited him to the Kucai Temple as a teacher, which became more and more popular, making friends with literati and celebrities and discussing poetry, books, rituals and music. Considering that it is not the place of birth, please choose a temple in Tongkeng, Wudu (note: the ancient name of Dongshan County) and give more than 50 believers. Strict discipline, the same way of civil and military affairs, the mastery of wonderful principles, and the growth of legal pulse. "
Because what they saw at that time was a copy of the secret language, in order to prove the reliability and historical value of the secret language, Professor Luo Ying and Mr. Pan Yijing, the secretary general of China Wushu Society, went to great lengths to find the collector of the secret language, Mr. Zhou Binghui, studied the original secret language from many angles and took photos page by page. At the same time, in Dongshan, Xianyou, Zhao 'an, Xiao Yun, Zhangpu and other places, the words "Nine Religions" or "Nine Seats" were found engraved on the tombstones of many deceased monks. Its tomb dates from Kangxi, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Guangxu to the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and it has been well preserved so far. They found Gulai Temple in Dongkeng, Tongling Town, Dongshan. In the Guobao Temple in Zhao 'an, I found a tombstone, which was erected by Ze 'an, a fragrant monk who copied the secret method, for his master. The name and time on the tombstone are consistent with the code. In many places, temples and relics closely related to the nine major temples have been found, many related historical documents have been excavated, and more than 1500 photos of various historical materials have been taken, which provides rich materials for studying the cultural phenomenon of South Shaolin.
Xianyou was called Qingyuan County when it was founded in the second year of Tang Dynasty (AD 699), and was renamed in the first year of Tang Tianbao (AD 742), which was under the jurisdiction of Xinghua Prefecture. Located in the mountainous area of central Fujian. According to the Records of Xianxi in the Southern Song Dynasty and the Records of Eight People Governing Together in the Ming Dynasty, there are nine temples in Xianyou jiusan (also known as Fengshan). The temple was built in Xian Tong in the Tang Dynasty for six years (AD 868), and was founded by Zhengjue Zen Master (Master Zhikuan). Zhengjue Zen master once went to Shaolin Temple in Songshan, Henan Province to be ordained, and lived in Shaolin Temple in Songshan for more than ten years. Lin Zhenning, a villager in Ding Feng village where Jiu Si Temple is located and secretary-general of the South Shaolin Research Association in Xianyou County, has collected a copy of the fifty-first year of Qingganlong (AD 1786) by the county magistrate Yi Shitang, which contains the Preface to Rebuild the founder of Tang Zhengjue, and records that the Zen master Zhengjue was born on the 9th day of the first month in the second year of Tang Yuanhe (AD 808) and died in the second year of Guangqi (AD 808). He became a monk at eighteen and became a Buddhist at thirty-one. Later, he went to Songshan to be ordained, and then went to Ezhou, Hubei Province to meet Master Wu. 15 years later, he returned to Fujian and moved to Jiuxian Mountain in Xianyou, and later moved to Gaowang Mountain through many disciples. At the age of 59 in six years, Tang Xiantong finally built nine temples on nine mountains through divination. This can be confirmed from Xi 'an Xi Zhi. It is also recorded in Xianxi Record that after the death of Master Guang Zhi, besides paying tribute to Zen Master Zheng Jue, he was also given a kind name, and Chen Wuta was given a forehead.
Jiu Si Temple is located at the south foot of Fengshan Town, which has a high sea level in the northwest of Xianyou County. Behind the temple, it is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and there are mountains in Jiu Feng. The two mountains behind the temple are like phoenix, and the clear Jiuxi River extends from the front of the temple. The existing temples were built in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty. There are more than 50 acres of homestead left in front of the temple destroyed by the fire. Judging from the underground remains, the remnants of the courtyard wall and the release pond, the nine temples are connected and the layout is clear, so you can imagine the grandeur of that year. On the ruins of the courtyard in front of the temple, there are still two quite complete stone buildings in the Song Dynasty, which seem to tell people the ancient history of this temple. The contents recorded in the inscriptions of the late Qing Dynasty preserved in the temple are consistent with those in the secret language. A long couplet on the pillar of the Hall of the Great Hero reads: "Create and build ten dynasties like golden dragons, and carry three thousand towering halls of phoenix." It is also exactly the same as recorded in the password. About 400 meters west of the temple, there is a stone pagoda (Chen Wuta) built by Zen master Zu Zhengjue of Kaishan Temple in the Northern Song Dynasty, which has been well preserved so far. According to the quotations of Kaike Zen master, the Buddhist relics of the monk Zhengjue Zen master in the Tang Dynasty are stored in the tower. In the temple, you can also see the stone trough where monks bathe and the stone shoulders where they practice. On the mountain in the northwest of the temple, there is Jiuwan Village, which is called "thief camp" by local villagers, and the "first wall" grottoes for practicing martial arts. There are many places around the grottoes to make holes for cattle.
The Secret Code is an ancient document in which the word "South Shaolin" first appeared, and it also says that monks are "civil and military alike", which shows the close relationship between temples and martial arts. Previously, academic circles had different views on the source and definition of the term "South Shaolin". Some experts and scholars believe that this refers to the Shaolin Temple in the south of the Yangtze River, which is different from the Shaolin Temple in Songshan Mountain in the north. More people think that this is the common name or general name of Shaolin Temple in Fujian after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Others hold a negative view that there is no "South Shaolin" at all, but the result of folklore and novelist's rendering. The secret language shows that there was a saying of "South Shaolin" before Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty, and it has been 190 years. This is a new discovery.
Jiusi Temple is also the ancestral home of Guanghua Temple in Nanshan, Putian, and has been recognized by the Secretary General of the Chinese Buddhist Association and Master Xuecheng, the abbot of Guanghua Temple in Putian.
No matter from the years when the temples were built, from the fame of their founders, from the source of Buddhism, and from the influence of temple styles, the nine temples really have the reputation of "South Shaolin".