Master Yuanying, whose common surname is Wu, was given the Buddhist name Hongwu after becoming a monk, with the courtesy name Yuanying, his nickname Taoguang, and his nickname the Master of Yihou Hall. He was a native of Gutian County, Fujian Province. His father's name was Yuanyun and his mother's name was Que. He prayed to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and dreamed that Avalokitesvara sent her son to him. The son was born in the fourth year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1878).
When he was five or six years old, his parents died one after another, and his uncle took care of his life. He entered a private school and became very enlightened. As I grew older, I felt lonely and my life was illusory. I wanted to become a monk, but my uncle refused. When he was nineteen years old, he suffered from a serious illness. During his illness, he made a vow that if he was cured, he would become a monk and practice Buddhism. Later, after recovering from his illness, he went to Gushan, Fuzhou to worship the Master Zengxi of Xinghua Meifeng Temple and became a monk. The next year, he went to Yongquan Temple to receive full ordination from Monk Yi Miaolian and learned religious rituals from him. Not long after, he went to Daxuefeng Temple in Fuzhou to practice asceticism with Monk Dagong. He worked as a meal starter and worked hard without complaining.
At the age of twenty-one, I decided to visit. He first went to Tianning Temple in Changzhou and studied Zen Buddhism with the old monk Yi Yekai. The old monk had a strict Taoism and was not lenient to his disciples, so many people benefited from it. Yuanying studied in Tianning Temple for four years, and then went to Tiantong Temple in Ningbo to study meditation under Bazhidoutuo Jing'an Zen Master, and devoted herself to research. During this period, he also studied Tiantai Buddhism with masters such as Daojie, Dixian, Zuyin and Huiming for six years. Because of his love for enlightenment and his diligent study, he had a profound foundation and achievements in Buddhism and practice.
The period when he practiced Zen from Jing'an monk in Tiantong Temple was from the 27th to the 33rd year of Guangxu. In the 30th year of Guangxu's reign, Taixu, who was only 16 years old, became a monk according to Monk Da, the superintendent of Xiaojiuhua Temple. At the age of 18, he went to Tiantong Temple and served as a Zen monk in the temple. He listened to Master Daojie's lecture on the Lotus Sutra. Because of Taixu's natural talent and enlightenment, he stood out among the monks like a chicken. He was highly valued by the Taoist hierarchy and was approved as a magical weapon. In this way, Yuanying and Taixu also became good friends. The two became brothers in the Royal Library of Tiantong Temple on the "Waiting for Zizi Day" in July of that year. Yuanying was twenty-nine years old and was already known for being good at writing. He wrote a letter of alliance with considerable literary talent. The letter of the alliance said:
There is nothing greater than the five moral principles of a husband, and brothers and friends. , is the second of the five ethics. There are no brothers in this world. Brothers and sisters of the opposite sex are tied to each other, and they are divided into friends. That is to say, we have formed a sworn alliance in a secret garden, managed the wealth, shared peace and happiness, and maintained a sense of loyalty for thousands of years.
But we, our friends, are living outside the country, leaving no trace in the dust. Although it is said that we part with love and say goodbye to relatives, we especially respect teachers and friends, but there are some good ones and some evil ones; Good things can certainly be beneficial to the body and mind, but bad things will inevitably turn into hindrances to Taoism. After realizing that he devoted himself to the Dharma Garden and visited the Taoist Zen Forest, he saw his compatriots like this. It is rare to find a young man like him who is smart and aspiring to further his studies.
In the sentence "Wu himself threw himself into the Dharma Garden" in the article, Wu means "Hongwu", which is his Dharma name.
When Yuanying was at Tiantong Temple, she met two other friends. One was Hui Quan, the later abbot of Nanputuo in Xiamen, and the other was a transfer to Nanyang in the early years of the Republic of China. Due to the inheritance relationship, he later went to Nanyang to promote Buddhism and worked with him to rebuild the thousand-year-old Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou.
In 1908, he returned to southern Fujian from the south of the Yangtze River. He first gave a lecture at Yongquan Temple in Quanzhou. Because of his comprehensive knowledge of sects and his eloquence, he was very popular among the quiet audience. From then on, His reputation in southern Fujian and Jiangnan gradually increased.
In 1909, Yuanying presided over the reception temple in Ningbo. The reception temple was an ancient temple from all dynasties. After he took over the throne, he demolished and built a new one and rebuilt it for Zhongxing. He also established a Buddhist training center in the temple to cultivate talents for spreading Buddhism. In the third year of Xuantong, the Revolution of 1911 began and the Republic of China was founded. At that time, there were many troubles in Buddhism. In order to protect temple properties across the country, Master Bazhidoutuo Jing'an united with monk representatives from seventeen provinces in Shanghai to establish the "China Buddhist Federation". Yuan Ying also participated in this movement and was selected as a member of the Federation. long.
In 1917, he was elected as the president of the Ningbo Buddhist Association in Ningbo, and founded two "monk schools" to provide compulsory education to the students. Then he founded the "Ningbo Buddhist Orphanage" to take in helpless orphans and provide them with work-study education. All provinces followed suit. During this period, he gave lectures in Jiangsu and Zhejiang from time to time. In 1920, he lectured on the Shurangama Sutra and the Lotus Sutra in Beijing, and his relationship with the Dharma was very strong. At that time, there was a drought in the five provinces of North China, and mourning was everywhere.
He participated in the organization of Buddhist disaster relief meetings, raised funds for disaster relief, and saved countless victims. At that time, Xu Shichang, the president of the Beiyang Communist Party, got it, presented him with a copy of the Tripitaka, and sent people to escort him to the reception temple in Ningbo.
In 1922, he went to Nanyang to promote Buddhism and gave lectures in Singapore, Penang and other places. At this time, Master Tongshen Zhuandao, who had been in Tiantong Temple in his early years, presided over Putuo Temple in Singapore. Later, he built Puchue Temple in Guangming Mountain. Yuanying lectured on "The Theory of Belief in the Mahayana" at Puchue Temple and discussed with Zhuandao. Plan to rebuild Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. He left Singapore and moved to Honghua, Taiwan. He once lectured in Tainan and returned to Quanzhou in the autumn of 1923. At this time, two masters, Zhuan Dao and Zhuan Wu, were established, and Kaiyuan Temple was rebuilt. It was rebuilt in 1924. In 1925, the Kaiyuan Children's Home was founded in the temple. He served as the director and successively adopted more than 200 orphans. In 1926, he returned to Southeast Asia to raise funds for the Children’s Home. He used the money raised to organize a fund board of directors in Malacca. The board of directors would keep the principal and interest and allocate expenses to the Children's Home based on actual needs.
After the Northern Expedition was successful and the Kuomintang established its capital in Nanjing, it established an internal policy of "eliminating superstition." It is a good thing to get rid of superstition, but Buddhism, which is not superstitious, is also included in the superstitious group. In 1928, the Communist Party promulgated the "Temple Management Regulations". Local party cadres and academic circles wanted to take the opportunity to confiscate temple properties and increase local education funds, which set off a wave of destroying Buddhist temple properties and establishing schools.
In May 1929, in order to protect itself, Buddhism, with the promotion of masters Yuanying, Taixu, Dixian and lay practitioners Wang Yiting, Xie Zhuchen and Huang Chanhua, held a "National Conference" in Shanghai. "Buddhist Representative Conference" established the "Buddhist Association of China", Yuanying was elected as the president, petitioned the Communist Party of China, and opposed the "Temple Management Regulations". Later, the Communist Party revised the "Management Regulations" of Article 21 of the treaty to the "Regulations on Supervision of Temples" of Article 13, and the incident of confiscation of temple properties was eased.
Yuanying presided over the Chinese Buddhist Association, actively promoted Buddhism's participation in social undertakings, and encouraged monasteries to establish sales homes, hospitals, and factories to share social responsibilities, so as to reduce the excuse for external attacks.
In 1930, the abbot of Tiantong Temple in Ningbo was re-elected, and he was elected to succeed him. Because he had visited here for six years when he was young, Abbot Tentong was revisiting his old place this time. Tiantong Temple is an ancient temple from the Six Dynasties, the ancestral home of Zen Buddhism, with more than a thousand monks. It is a routine to attend lectures in the winter and in the summer. He entered the hospital in May of that year and announced in public his principle as the abbot of Tendo: "For the law and for people, do your best." He also put forward the "Twelve Don's" to encourage the public: "Don't be greedy for fame, don't seek profit, don't cheat, don't be content, don't let loose, don't be afraid of the strong, don't bully the weak, don't take credit, don't shirk responsibility, don't show favoritism. , Don't go against the grain." After entering the hospital, he immediately began to lecture on the Shurangama Sutra, and scholars from all over the world gathered. From then on, he taught the three great precepts every winter and promoted the sect's style.
In 1931, the aftermath of the "Temple Property to Promote School" incident was rippled and the turmoil arose again. At this time, there was a professor at Central University, Yi Shuangqiu, who had a master's degree in education from Columbia University in the United States. He returned to China to teach at Central University. He put forward four propositions - "Overthrow the monks, dissolve the monks, appropriate temple property, and revitalize education." Xue Weibi, the then Minister of the Interior, was a Christian and sang in harmony with Yi Shuangqiu. This was better than the "Temple Management Regulations" of 1928. Because it is thorough. Yuan Ying stepped forward and Buddhist groups across the country called in to respond, and the trend gradually subsided. This summer, floods in the Yangtze River spread to several provinces. Yuanying was busy raising funds for disaster relief all summer. In the autumn, after the September 18th Incident and the fall of the three eastern provinces, he notified Buddhist groups across the country to build national monasteries. He once wrote a couplet to express his feelings:
When he was born, he still shed tears of worry about the country, and he lived in the mountains and wrote poems expressing his feelings.
In 1932, he was summoned by Chairman Lin Zichao of the National Government to discuss the construction of a scripture collection building in Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. In the winter of that year, a fire broke out in Tiantong Temple, and 9 parts of the palace and pavilions, totaling more than 50 rooms, were burned. The temple residents were extremely sad and believed that it would take 20 years to recover. Yuanying personally raised funds, and within three years, it was completely rebuilt, making it even more solemn than before. At the same time, within a few years, he went to various places in Guinan and Changsha to give lectures, and his relationship with the Dharma was extremely prosperous. In 1935, he built his own Yuanming Lecture Hall in Shanghai, which was completed in the autumn of that year. In 1936, after serving as the abbot of Tiantong Temple for six years, he resolutely resigned and followed the example of monk Dabei as his successor.
In the first month of 1937, he took over as the abbot of Yongquan Temple in Gushan. This year was his sixtieth birthday, and the two groups took the Thousand Buddhas Ordination for fifty-two days. Since 1929, he has been re-elected as the president of the Chinese Buddhist Association and leads national Buddhism.
In July 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out, and following the August 13 War in Shanghai, Yuan Ying actively participated in the anti-Japanese war and national salvation, calling on young monks in the Jiangsu and Shanghai areas to organize a monk rescue team to participate in the battlefield. Rescue work. The rescue team used trucks to transport refugees from disaster areas and wounded soldiers on the battlefield to various shelters and hospitals in Shanghai. The rescue team worked in the battlefield for more than two months, and only two members were killed in the battle. After the fall of Shanghai, Yuan Ying led the rescue team to retreat with the army. They arrived in Hankou from Shanghai and Nanjing and continued to engage in rescue work.
The war situation was tense at that time, and the rescue team and various shelters had no funds. In October, Yuan Ying received a letter from Chairman Lin Zichao of the National Government, instructing him to entrust other masters to handle the affairs of the rescue team and shelter, and hoped that he could go to Malay Niu Island in Nanyang to raise medical expenses. He took three personal letters of introduction from Chairman Lin and went abroad with Master Mingyang. First, he went to Singapore, where he visited a general briefing and asked overseas Chinese leaders and Buddhists to organize an organization to raise funds to support various shelters and the Second Chinese Monk Rescue Team. Then he went to Kuala Lumpur and Penang to visit overseas Chinese leaders and lay people, and formed an organization similar to that in Singapore. In the spring of 1938, he was invited by the Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang to serve as the abbot. Kek Lok Temple is the lower courtyard of Yongquan Temple in Gushan. It is a famous temple in Nanyang and has a good reputation in Xingzhou. After Yuan Ying became the abbot, he worked hard and the Kek Lok Temple became more and more solemn. In the summer of that year, he returned to China to inspect the rescue team and the shelter, and then returned to Nanyang to report to various donation organizations and continue to raise funds.
In the autumn of 1939, he and his disciple Mingyang returned to Shanghai. Unexpectedly, they were accused of being an anti-Japanese element and had raised huge sums of money in Nanyang to support the Chongqing Communist Party. On September 1st of the lunar calendar, when he was worshiping Buddha in the Yuanming Lecture Hall, he was arrested by the Japanese military police. Master Mingyang was also arrested. He was first detained in the military police and then escorted to the Japanese military police headquarters in Nanjing the next day. When faced with threats of torture, Yuan Ying calmly argued her case and refused to give in. People from all walks of life in Shanghai also tried their best to rescue her. On September 28, the Japanese army had no choice but to release her. At this point, the Japanese army still refused to give up. They used Japanese monks as lobbyists to induce him to "cooperate", but he was also refused.
After Yuan Ying returned to Shanghai, he still stayed in the Yuanming Lecture Hall in Xi. He thanked guests behind closed doors and devoted himself to writing. During those years, he wrote books such as "Encouraging the Practice of Chanting the Buddha's Dharma", "Lecture Notes on the Aspiration of Bodhicitta", "Lecture Notes on the Amitabha Sutra", "Lecture Notes on the Eight Great Awakening Sutras Said by the Buddha", and "Compendium of Surangama". He was not only proficient in sexual appearance, but also good at poetry and prose, and he was also good at calligraphy. He wrote letters to those who came to ask for calligraphy, and made friends with them one by one.
In 1943, the old layman Zhan Yunpeng, who was the Prime Minister of the Beiyang Communist Party, sent representatives to Tianjin several times to tell him that he could not help but come to Tianjin to lecture on Buddhism. After being invited to Tianjin, he went to Guangji Temple in Peiping to lecture for two months. After returning to Shanghai, he was invited by believers from Wuxi and Nanjing to give lectures. In those two years, countless believers converted to him.
In the spring of 1945, in view of the lack of talents for propagating Dharma, he founded the "Yuanming Shurangama Academy" and selected 32 outstanding young scholar monks at home and abroad. "Strict", compiled handouts. In addition, two masters, Ying Ci and Xingci, were also hired to teach.
In February 1946, he suffered a stroke and was in a coma for a week before he woke up. After two years of recuperation, he gradually recovered.
After 1949, he was still preaching Buddhism in Shanghai. In 1952, he represented the Buddhist community at the "Asian and Pacific Regional Peace Conference" held in Beijing. In 1953, Chen Zhiru, Zhao Puchu, Zhou Shujia and others prepared the Chinese Buddhist Association in Beijing. He participated on behalf of Shanghai and was elected as the first president. After the meeting, he returned south and went to Ningbo Tiantong Temple to recuperate. He died soon after. His life span is 76 years, and he is 57 years old.
Yuanying wrote many works throughout his life, the main ones such as "Lecture Notes on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana", "Lecture Notes on the First Surangama Sutra", "Lecture Notes on the Yuan Enlighten Sutra", "Lecture Notes on the Diamond Sutra", "Yi Roar" There are nearly 20 kinds of "Collected Poems of Yihoutang" and "Collected Works of Yihoutang", which were compiled by disciples of the disciples into "Yuanying Fahui" and circulated in the world.