Yixian Room, Wenling Sanatorium, Quanzhou, Fujian.
Anyone who is familiar with Master Hongyi knows that Master Hongyi died in the Yat Sen Room of Wenling Nursing Home in Quanzhou, and wrote "Sorrow and Joy". However, there are still many people who don't know the specific place where Master Hongyi died. Some people think it is in Chengtian Temple in Quanzhou, while others think it is in Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou. In fact, neither is correct.
Chengtian Temple is the earliest temple where the master lived in Wuxi, Quanzhou. Here, he helped Master Xingsu to set up a Buddhist research society, taught Buddhist teachings and calligraphy to monks, sorted out ancient Buddhist scriptures in the temple, and became attached to another hospital on the platform. After the death of Master Hongyi, it was a tea ceremony held in Chengtian Temple, and Chengtian Temple specially set up a stone tablet for this purpose.
Later, the master went to Minnan, and Master Xingyuan arranged to go to Kaiyuan Temple, where the master explained Nanshan Dharma and Buddhism-related remarks and sorted out legal materials. In order to commemorate Master Hongyi, Kaiyuan Temple changed the main hall where the master gave lectures to "Master Hongyi Memorial Hall", which became a landmark place in Quanzhou to commemorate Master Hongyi.
In addition, some people, especially tourists, mistakenly think that Qingyuan Cave on Qingyuan Mountain in Quanzhou is the place where Master Hongyi died, which is also a rumor. This may be because there is a pagoda of Master Hongyi on Qingyuan Mountain.
From these confusing statements, we will know that although Master Hongyi is well-known and there are frequent publicity and commemorative activities about Master Hongyi every year, the location of Master Hongyi's death is still not widely known. I think this has a lot to do with the publicity of famous scenic spots such as Kaiyuan Temple, Chengtian Temple and Qingyuan Mountain, and many commemorative activities are also held in the temple where Master Hongyi lived in Wuxi, which weakens people's understanding of the real death place of Master Hongyi (the yat sen villa room of Wenling Nursing Home in Quanzhou).
In order to understand why Master Hongyi died in a nursing home, we must first understand the state of Master Hongyi after he became a monk.
For most monks, they will stay in the temple, but some will choose to travel around and become attached to all beings. Master Hongyi chose to live and walk with his destiny because of his personal motivation and will. The mage was invited to give lectures, write in seclusion or study and visit all his life. It can be said that the lotus blossoms everywhere.
For the place of death, monks must of course choose a suitable place before the deadline. It is generally believed that monks will die in their usual place, that is, the temple. But whether the final location is in a temple or not cannot be used as a reason to criticize monks, not to mention that many eminent monks have their own reasons to be silent.
Buddha's practice all his life means that he has no fixed place to live. He wandered around the Ganges River, and the place where he often lived was also a beautiful house donated by exorcist. The Buddha learned about it three months before nirvana, and finally he died silently between two Miluo trees on the detained river bank.
Master Hongyi didn't intend to live in Wenling Sanatorium at first, for many complicated reasons.
In May of A.D. 1942, Master Hongyi came back from Ling Rui, Hui 'an to preach the Dharma. The original plan was to go to Fukurinji, Jinjiang, but when the Japanese invasion of China was the most rampant, the coastal war was tight. Moreover, the mage is in poor health at this time, so many dharma protectors advised the mage to live in Quanzhou City.
At that time, Julia, the dean of Wenling Nursing Home, respectfully invited the master to live in the nursing home, so the master temporarily stayed in Wenling Nursing Home, which was the third time for the master to live in Wenling Nursing Home. However, at that time, Master Hongyi did not intend to live in Wenling Sanatorium. He always had the idea of moving to a temple.
Because of the mage's physical condition, he did not choose a temple too far away, so he declined the invitation of Yongchun Fosaiji and Zhangzhou fellow practitioners. The first consideration is the Fu Lin Temple in Jinjiang. The Master lived in Fukurinji for more than ten months, where he completed the Notes on Fa Chao, Yi Xian Ji, and Classic Analysis of Pharmacists. Moreover, the mage left the temple at the invitation of Ruishan in Anling, not because of the war. Therefore, Master Hongyi first thought of Fukurinji. Unfortunately, Master was shocked to hear that Fu Lin Temple Prison failed to follow Buddhist rituals when handling the death of Master Guangqian, so she gave up and returned to Fu Lin Temple.
The mage immediately wanted to go to Fujian to invite lay people to Fuzhou, but it was also because of the coastal war that he could not make it. Later, the mage planned to move to Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, but he could not get a satisfactory answer about how to deal with it after death. After all these twists and turns, Master Hongyi no longer has any plans to move. Maybe the master knew that he was going to the Western Heaven soon, so he didn't insist. This may be a kind of karma.
What kind of place is Wenling Nursing Home?
I believe that even most people who are familiar with Master Hongyi can't explain why Master Hongyi wanted to live in a nursing home, but ended up here. Then the most important question came up. Is Wenling Nursing Home an ordinary nursing home in our imagination?
That's not true.
In the late Republic of China, many people were killed due to social changes, warlord wars and Japanese aggression. At this time, many patriotic overseas Chinese, including Quanzhou businessmen, spontaneously organized charitable projects and donated money to build many yiguang, nurseries and nursing homes. For example, Kaiyuan Temple Ci 'er Hospital, Jinsu Temple Nursing Home and Chongfu Temple Clinic.
Wenling Nursing Home was donated by Wu Zemin, a businessman living in Shanghai. Most of the founders were Buddhist laymen in Quanzhou. Ms. Yan, Dean of Wenling Nursing Home, is a disciple of the master. As a matter of fact, Wenling Nursing Home supports the sick monks and the elderly who have no family or children.
Wenling nursing home is a compassionate and solemn place.
Knowing this, you will know the answer to the question.
Wenling nursing home, a place that bears the care of the world during the war years, once had a monk who moved with the fate.
An ordinary brick house "Sun Yat-sen Room" in Wenling Nursing Home witnessed the Sun Yat-sen era of Master Hongyi.