Buddhism Group 1 Blog 1
Tsing
Shan Monastery, as one of the three most historical temples in Hong Kong, has a
history over 1600 years. According to the introduction, Master Pei Tu, the
founder of Tsing Shan Monastery, had travelled and arrived at the position of
this monastery in the middle of 5th century A.D. There is a fairy
tale about Master Pei Tu said that he had some superpower which made him could
cross the channel by wood cup and that is why he is called Pei Tu which mean
sailing the sea by cup in Chinese. He lived in a small cave in the mountain and
stayed in Tuen Mun until he left the mountain in his old age. Besides, Tsing
Shan Monastery is also one of the biggest temple in Hong Kong. It is said that
in the middle of 20th century, one third of the Buddhist monks in
Hong Kong came from Tsing Shan Monastery. There have also been a lot of famous
people visiting here, such as Han Yu and Damo founder, which made Tsing Shan
Monastery more known by others.
One of the interesting points is that the Buddhism and Daoism in Hong Kong is combined in a lot of places. In terms of architecture and decoration, there are some embodiment of this idea. For example, the Buddhism Main Hall (Da Xiong Bao Diao) is generally for the worship of the sacred people such as Gautama Buddha in. However, the Main Hall in Tsing Shan Monastery are decorated with some Daoism engravings which tell the story of eight immortals (八仙) and seven sages (七賢) in its beams. Besides, the Tsing Wan Kwun, which was built in 1892 as a Daoist institute, also lives in a balance with the Buddhism Tsing Shan Monastery. These evidences show an interesting relationship between Buddhism and Daoism in Hong Kong: it seems that they can live in harmony with each other. The idea could be proved in Wong Tai Sin Temple, a well-known Daoism temple. In Wong Tai Sin Temple, which is aimed at worshipping one important Daoist people, believers also enshrine some Buddhist immortals. Since that, Wong Tai Sin Temple also became a famous Buddhism place. In a word, Hong Kong witnesses the harmony relationship between Daoism and Buddhism.
Historical change of Erlang Shen (中文︰二郎神): from imported god to localized God
回覆刪除Hi! My name is Lam Tsz Ki from Group 4. I find your blog writing stated that there is the Daoism decoration in the Buddhism’s temple. In fact, there is a lot of example to show that the Buddhism collide with Taoism or Daoism with harmony. In my series of my response, I will use Erlang Shen (中文︰二郎神) as a testimony to show you what the Taoism mix with Buddhism in China. My series of my response can be titled “Historical Change of Erlang Shen (中文︰二郎神): From Imported God To Localized God”. Please follow my response below.
作者已經移除這則留言。
回覆刪除First of all, Erlang Shen show the Buddhism as a external religious force to try to enter China. Erlang Shen’s preliminary archetype (中文︰原型) is a man from foreign ethnic. This man called du jian(中文︰獨健). He is the second son of Vaiśravaṇa (中文︰多聞天王 or 毗沙門天王). Vaiśravaṇa is one of the Dharmapala or Defenders of the Law (中文︰護法神) in Buddhism. According to a Chinese journal, the author extract the classic text called Xing Tang Si Pi Sha Men Tian Wang Ji (中文︰興唐寺毗沙門天王記) and the extraction is below:
回覆刪除……毗沙門天王者，佛之臂指也……
(干樹德. 1995. P.75)
This extraction call Vaiśravaṇa is “佛之臂指”. “臂指”mean you can command a thing and that command resemble that your arm can easily control your finger. “佛之臂指”mean Vaiśravaṇa is the people commanded by Buddha. The extract show the relationship between Vaiśravaṇa and Erlang Shen and Buddhism. The beginning of that mythology start from Tang dynasty that du jian, as Erlang Shen save the life of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang(中文︰唐玄宗李隆基) in 742 A.D. As we know, the emperor of Tang dynasty is the ethnic minority different from the main ethnic group, Han. Therefore, du jian as one of the external Erlang Shen’s preliminary archetype from Buddhism enter China and spread over China first. However, this Erlang Shen’s preliminary archetype change to another Taoism archetype.
Reference:
干樹德. (1995). 二郎神信仰的嬗變. 文史知識. 1995 (06). P. 75
作者已經移除這則留言。
回覆刪除However, Erlang Shen’s archetype change over time and intergrate into Taoism. Until Song dynasty (中文︰宋朝), there is the man called Wang Zhi (中文︰王銍) writing a collection called LongCheng Lu (中文︰龍城錄). This book conclude the Erlang Shen’s archetype, pointing out that Erlang Shen’s archetype is Zhao Yu (中文︰趙昱). According to a Chinese journal, the extraction is here:
回覆刪除……趙昱字仲明，與兄冕俱隱青城山，從事道士李鈺……
(干樹德. 1995. P.76)
This extraction show that, one of the Erlang Shen’s archetypes, Zhao Yu, followed Daoshi (中文︰道士) that is the priest in Taoism. It show the mythology of Erlang Shen is localized with Taoism as the Chinese local religion. Another point is that Wang Zhi experienced Southern Song dynasty that is the empire suffer from the invasion of foreign ethnic group. Therefore, Wang Zhi apply the Chinese people that have surname, Zhao, the same surname of the emperor of Song dynasty, partly because of the nationalism fighting back the foreign ethnic group. The main interesting relation is that Zhao Yu in LongCheng Lu is descripted to kill flood dragon (中文: 蛟) that is one of the totem (中文︰圖騰) signifying the emperor of Southern Song dynasty. That show another reason proving that the linking between national Taoism by deification of emperor and the development of Erlang Shen’s archetypes from Buddhism. Therefore, that part show that Erlang Shen’s archetype is the localized development and one of the example of the mixture between Buddhism and Taoism rather than just decoration of the Buddhist temple with Taoist God.
Reference:
干樹德. (1995). 二郎神信仰的嬗變. 文史知識. 1995 (06). P. 76
作者已經移除這則留言。
回覆刪除From Yuan dynasty (中文︰元朝) to Qing dynasty (中文︰清朝), basically, Erlang Shen’s archetype of the people from Han ethnic group and Erlang Shen’s archetype localized with Taoism at the same time had been rooted in China. The fact that Zhao Yu, as the Erlang Shen’s archetype, named as Erlang Shen only spread for a short time (干樹德. 1995.) However, this localized Taoist archetype with the relatively new one, Li ErLang(中文︰李二郎) , another localized Taoist archetype is deeply rooted in the people’s mind. Also, this archetype also spread across the civil society in China so that the newest Taoist archetype, Yang Jian (中文︰楊戩), as the son of the sister of Jade Emperor (中文︰玉帝) that is the great god of Taoism, always appear as a Character in the Chinese opera (中文︰戲曲). For example, Yang Jian appear in Qing Dynasty’s Guci(中文︰鼓词)called Chen Xiang Jiu Mu Ci Xiong Jian(中文︰沉香救母雌雄劍) Yang Jing Xian(中文︰楊景賢)wrote a Zaju in Yuan Dynasty(中文︰元雜劇) . That Zaju also had a character called Yang Jian. Therefore, we can see that, through the external Buddhist mythology of Erlang Shen developing to the more localized Taoist Erlang Shen’s archetypes, the influence of one of the God in China is strengthened
回覆刪除Lastly, through, this four blogs writing I wrote, I am inspired by your blog writing that you all claim that there are the Buddhist temple with Taoist decoration. By writing the series of my response in your blog, you may notice one of the situation that Buddhism mix with Taoism by the example of Erlang Shen from external Buddhist image to localized Taoist image and thus having greater influence in China rather than just decoration. I hope that may supplent your blog. Thanks
回覆刪除Qingshan temple has a long history and beautiful environment. Its unique characteristic is completed by Hongkong. Its history is a unique example of the coexistence of Anglican culture, Buddhism and Taoism, because it integrate all of their features. The judicial decision about Qingshan temple has reflected the characteristic of the collaborative development of religion in Hongkong. Since religious harmony is the characteristic of Hongkong, so the Council recommended that the Qingshan temple could be developed into a tourist spot, such as the Po Lin monastery on Lantau Island, which has space for monks to cultivate themselves and for Hongkong-style tourism.
回覆刪除Hi! I am Qiu Yi Jin from group 6. It is interested to find Tsing Shan temple is the combination of both Buddhism and Taoism. I have also been to visit Tsing Shan Temple and listened monks chanting scriptures for a while. I found there were many people coming here for watching the Buddhism ceremony and joining the ceremony. I believe they have their own belief in mind and the religion make people become unswerving and devout.
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