Yunqi Zhuhong

Zhuhong was also an avid editor of Buddhist liturgical texts, and he recodified the manuals of various rituals such as the Yujia Yankou rite and the Shuilu Fahui ceremony, which remain widely performed in contemporary Chinese Buddhism. Zhuhong's contributions also extend to the other Buddhist traditions besides Pure Land, such as Chan and Esoteric Buddhism, which is reflective of the historically non-sectarian nature of Chinese Buddhism. For instance, he wrote the Chan Whip Anthology (禪關策進; Chánguān Cèjìn), a survey of Chan Buddhist literature from the Tang dynasty to the Ming dynasty, which has served as a Chan handbook in both China and Japan since its publication in 1600. Another example is his recodification of the tantric Yujia Yankou rite, where he incorporated and made commentary regarding various esoteric Buddhist material, including the offering of a maṇḍala during the rite and the invocation or presence of various esoteric deities such as the maṇḍala of the Thirty-seven Deities (三十七尊; Sānshíqī zūn) in the Diamond Realm. He was also recorded as having performed the rite himself numerous times. Furthermore, Yunqi Zhuhong rebuilt the local monastery on Mount Yunqi, and earned a reputation as a reformer and disciplinarian.

In contemporary western sources, Yunqi Zhuhong is also remembered for his rebuttal to Roman Catholicism, with his writings a direct rebuttal to the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (利瑪竇).

Biography

Yunqi Zhuhong was born in 1535 in Hangzhou Province into a well-educated family with the surname Shen. Zhuhong was reportedly an excellent student, and passed the first level of the Imperial civil-service exams, and continued studying to the age of 32. However, Zhuhong did not pass any further exams. His first encounter with Buddhism, especially the Pure Land tradition, reputedly began after he heard his neighbor intoning the nianfo.

After series of personal misfortunes, starting with the death of his infant son, followed by his wife, other family losses, and failure to advance any further in the civil-service exams, Zhuhong took up the monastic life in 1566. His second wife took up lay Buddhist precepts in support. One story recounts how Zhuhong, after seeing a teacup fall and shatter, pondered the intransience of life, and decide then and there to become a monk.

By 1571, after several years of traveling and studying under one teacher or another, Zhuhong returned to his native province and started residing on Mount Yunqi (雲棲山). Earlier, during the Song dynasty (960-1279), the monk Zhifeng (志逢; 909-985) was said to have been famous for living on the mountain and taming the region's infamously populous tigers, which earned him the title of "Tiger-taming Chan Master" (伏虎禪師; pinyin: Fúhǔ Chánshī). A monastery known as Yunqi Temple (雲棲寺; pinyin: Yúnqī sì) was built on the mountain for Zhifeng in 967 by Qian Liu, the founding king of Wuyue (907-978), but it had fallen into ruin by the time Zhuhong arrived to reside on the mountain in 1571. According to sources, the area was still infested with tigers which often attacked the local villagers. To curb the attacks without killing the tigers, Zhuhong led a pacification ceremony for five days and nights where monks were instructed to perform twelve complete sessions of the Repentance Ritual of the Emperor of Liang (梁皇懺法; pinyin: Liánghuáng Chànfǎ) as well as conduct the Yujia Yankou rite (瑜伽燄口; pinyin: Yújiā Yànkǒu; lit: "Yoga Flaming Mouth Food Bestowal Rite") to pacify the tigers, after which the attacks subsided. Another famous account mentions an incident when, during a year where severe drought struck the area, the local villagers petitioned Zhuhong for help in praying for rain. When Zhuhong replied that he did not know any rain-making magic and only knew the nianfo, the villagers insisted. Unable to refuse, Zhuhong went out, reciting the nianfo and striking a wooden fish while walking through the fields, whereupon rain began to fall wherever he passed. Records mention other similar feats by Zhuhong, including an instance in 1588 when he managed to lift a plague that had struck Hangzhou after being invited by the magistrate Yu Liangshu (余良樞) to Lingzhi Temple (靈芝寺) to perform a ritual to avert calamity.

Due to his miraculous interventions for the benefit of the local community, Zhuhong eventually restored Yunqi Temple with local sponsorship and assumed leadership of the local religious community. Due to his educated background, he assisted when official matters required someone who could speak Mandarin Chinese, and developed a network of gentlemen who sought his advice on spiritual matters as well.