广东英文南华寺导游词

[Introduction] --- [The Cao Gate] --- [The Hall of Heavenly Kings] --- [The Skyamuni Hall] --- [The Vegetarian Hall] --- [The Scripture House] --- [The Sixth Patriarch Hall ] --- [The Lingzhao Pagoda]

The Nanhua Temple

(Ladies and Gentlemen :

We are now on our way to a Buddhist monastery-the Nanhua may have visited some other Buddhist temples elsewhere in China,but i can assure that no knowledge of Chinese Buddhism is complete without a visit to the Nanhua Temple because it is the ancestral home of Chan Buddhism,which is the dominant Buddhist sect in ,the temple’s imposing old structure ,its Buddhist statues that are made of real human bodies ,and its pervading religious atmosphere,are sure to strike you as more than worth a visit .What’s more,it is located in a quiet and serene hill-side ,absolutely secluded from the busting world .You will find it great to forget all the worldly troubles - though not for long-and feel closer to Mother Nature.) [Introduction]

The Nanhua Temple is situated 24 kilometers to the south of

Shaoguan City is a 1500-year-old Buddhist monastery dating back to 504 AD during China’s Southern and Northern Dynasties Period.

Buddhism wad introduced into China from india in 67 AD during the Eastern Han Dynasty(25-220AD).In the course of its long-term coexistence and mutual permeation with Confucianism and Daoism, it gradually evolved into many branches in China and, down to the 7th century during the Tang Dynasty , Chan Buddhism became the dominant sect of Chinese Buddhism after Hui Neng preached his Chan Buddhist doctrine and established the south sect of Chan Buddhism .Hui Neng Buddhist doctine spread throughout the country and was disseminated to Japan ,Korea ,South East Asia and even to America and Europe ;therefore the Nanhua Temple has been reputed ad the “ancestral home”of Chan Buddhism and occupies an important place in the history Chinese Buddhism.

Hui Neng was born into a poor farmer’s family in Xinxing Country of Guangdong Province in 638AD during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty .He never learned to read and write but wad born a Buddhist genius .At the age of 24 he became a disciple of Hong Ren ,the fifth patriarch of Chan Buddhist Sect , and was first assigned to work as an odd-jobber in the temple .Eight months later ,the fifth patriarch,considering himself getting too old ,

ordered that catch of his disciples should hand in a piece of Buddhist libretto ,by which he would choose the best as successor to the patriarchate . His eldest disciple ,Shen Xiu by name , was determined to win .He wrote :”My body is a pipal tree and mu mind is as clear and clean as a mirror ;I will often wipe them to keep them away from dust .”The patriarch was not satisfied with his libretto , saying that it was not the point and was just “walking with only one foot in and the other still out of the Buddhist house”.Hui Neng also objected to Shen Xiu ‘s idea :”The pipal is not an actual existence and neither is the mirror ;since nothing is existence where can the dust rest on ?”The Fifth Patriarch thought highly of Hui Neng’s Buddhist nature and so secretly passed the Buddhist vestment and alms bowl on to Hui Neng,which was a symbol that Hui Neng would become the sixth patriarch of the Chan Buddhist Sect.

Hui Neng had stayed and preached Buddhist doctrine in the Nanhua Temple for 36 years (677-713AD).He passed away in 713 AD and his dead body was made into a Buddhist statue,which is still enshrined in the temple now .

You may wonder what and how Hui Neng’s Chan Buddhist doctrine to Buddhist dogmas,sufferings and miseries exist everywhere in this

world and evils are caused by people’s desire and attachment . Life , as well as time , is cyclical and all beings are subject to the sufferings of changes in different incarnations. The soul may endure many lies but the conditions of the new life depend on the behavior of the soul in its previous an individual ignores opportunities for right thinking and right action, in its next life it will have to pay for its past ,in order to escape the wheel of life and to escape from suffering and misery ,human beings must eliminate all desires and attachments , such as those for money and sex,which are the causes of all evils .The way to achieve this goal may differ with different sects of Buddhists deemed that , in order to escape the wheel of life and to be delivered to the Western Paradise in the next life , one must follow the Buddhist dogmas to cultivate oneself and accumulate beneficence all one’s life .But Hui Neng made it very simple .He discarded all red-tapes and claimed that , to achieve this goal , one should only practice umbilicular contemplation , this is , to restrain oneself from any desire and emotions by quietly sitting cross-legged to concentrate one’s mind on the umbilicus of one’s own , in a posture like that of his statue in the temple .The south sect Chan Buddhists believe that everybody has an inherent Buddhist nature ,that is , a peaceful and undistracted state of mind that was originally free from evil

intention and anxiety ;that this Buddhist nature in his own mind can be realize as long as he gives up all desire and attachment and ,once he has come to realize it , he will instantly become a Buddha;and that even a butcher who used to kill living beings everyday can become a Buddhist nature .(Later on ,this theory by Hui Neng was even extended to assert that ,under certain conditions ,a heavy beating with a stick or a sudden loud shout at somebody could also break his obstinacy in mind and make him instantly realize his Buddhist nature to become a Buddha.) Hui Neng’s doctrine of “instant realization”not only had exerted a great impact on the Buddhist circles , making the Chan Sect the mainstream of Chinese Buddhist circles, but also had produced a significant influence on China’s philosophical ,Hui Neng ,together with Confucius and Laozi(a Chinese philosopher in the late Spring and Autumn Period and founder of Daoism),was known as one of the three sages in China and was once referred to by European educational circles as one of the great thinkers of the world.

(We are now getting near to the temple,we’ll stay here for two hours and our bus will stay where it will be can leave your odds and end in the bus but be sure to take your valuables with hope

everybody will stay together and keep moving with the group,so that i may tell you something more in detail about the any of you should get separated from the group, you should try to come back to the bus by twelve,so that we could leave on time for lunch in a nearby restaurant .Here we is the you.)

[The Caoxi Gate]

This is the main entrance to the two Chinese characters “Cao Xi” on the gate structure ,meaning “Cao Brook” in English,are the name of the gate,which is named after the small stream in front of the temple .

According to historical accounts ,in 502 AD during the Southern and Northern Dynasties Period , an Indian Buddhist missionary passed through here and noticed that the water in the stream was clear and sweet, old trees were growing everywhere and the soundings were beautiful .He thought that the place was extremely similar to the Baolin Mountain in the Pure Land that was described in the Buddhist scripture,so he proposed that a Buddhist temple should be built Wu of the Liang Dynasty,who was a crazy Buddhist disciple,soon consented to the proposal and bestowed an inscribed board to name

the temple as Baolin present name ,Nanhua Temple , was given by Zhao Kuangyin,first emperor of the Song Dynasty , in the middle of the 10th century.

[The Hall of Heavenly Kings]

This hall is called The Hall of Heavenly King and is the shrine for Mile (Maitreya)Buddha and the Heavenly Kings .The statue in the middle is Mile Buddha or the laughing Buddha as is often called by the to the Buddhist scripture ,he will descend to the earth from Heaven to take over Sakyamuni’s missions when Sakyamuni’s Buddhist power is exhausted in the future, and so he is also known as the Future Buddha.

On either side of the hall we can see two are the four Heavenly Kings who are protectors of Buddhist doctrines, with each taking care of one side the east,west,north and south. It is thrie joint efforts that ensure harmony ,peace and prosperity of the world. The four objects they are holdind a sword, a “pipa” (a chinese pluck instrument), an umbrella and a snake combine to mean that Buddha will ensure a favorable weather for the crops sa that people may live a happy life. (Individually, the one playinga pipa takes charge

of the affairs in the east and is associated with harmony,as are all musicians; the one holding an umbrella, which is a symbol of rain that nourishes the crops, is in charge of the northern affairs; the third protector ,holding a snake in his hand and taking charge of the affairs in the west, is believed to be able to tame all evil-doers and keep themunder control ;the sword carrier, who looks after the southern affairs, is supposed to be able to bring wind.) The statue behind the Laughing Buddha is the patron of the temple, wei tuo or Veda by name, who is number one among the 32 generals under the four Heavenly Kings.

[The Sakyamuni Hall]

The Sakyamuni Hall is situated in the middle of the temple, with the bell tower to its east and the drum tower to its west. Inside the hall, three Buddhist statue are enshrined. They are meters tall and are all gilded with gold. The statue in the middle is Sakyamuni, Buddha of the Central World and founder of Buddhism. The one on his left is known as the Pharmacist Buddha (called Bhaisajya-guru in Sabskrit), who is the master Buddha of the Eastern World and is said to be able to relieve all living creatures from illness. The one

on the right hand side of Sakyamuni is Amitabha Buddga, the master Buddha of the Western Paradise. These three Buddha are referred to as the “Three Master Buddha” of the three worlds existing in space. (There is another Three Master Buddha in relaton to time: the Past Buddha called Randeng in Chinese, the Present Buddha Sakyamuni and the Future Buddha, who is commonly known as the Laughing Buddha in China.)

The colored clay sculpture figures on the walls are the 500 “arhats”. They are Buddhist disciples who have eventually attained consummation in practicing Buddhism and have become Buddhas.

The bronze bell in the hall, weighing over 1000 kilos, was cast 964 AD during the Southern Han Dynasty.

The statue at the back of theh three Buddhas is able to relieve people from trouble and disater. People in distress only need to pray by silently repeating her name and she will come to their rescue.

[The Vegetarian Hall]

This is the dining-hall for the monks. The two Chinese characters over the entrance, meaning Vegetarian Hall, are a facsimile of the handwriting by Su Dongpo, who was a celebrated writer and calligrapher of the Northern So Dynasty(960-1127AD). Story has it that, one day when Su Dongpo came for a visit, the obbot of the temple requested him to have a piece of calligraphy in the temple. But, in their hurry, they couldn’t find a big brushpen and had to get him a brush for cleaning cooking pot from the kicchen as a substitute for a pen. So, these two Chinese characters were writern with a kitchen brush.

In the dining-hall ther is a large cooking pot, meters high and 2 meters in diameter. It was cast during the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368) and was used for cooking rice porridge to give alms to the poor.

[The Scripture House]

This building is where Buddhist scriptures are kept and is usually closed to visitors. B eside a collection of seceral thousand copies of Buddhist scripture, some other cultural relics are also preserved in it, such as imperial edicts of past dynasties and over

400 wood-carving of arhat figures left over by the Northern Song Dynasty.

[The Sixth Patriarch Hall]

This hall is the shrine for Hui Neng,the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism. In 713AD, Hui Neng felt his health exhausted and thougut he was dying soon. On July 1 st in the Chinese lunar caledar, he went back to his birthplace in Xinxing County, accompanied by his followers. On August 3 rd the same year, he passed away at night while sitting contemlation in the Guo En Temple there. After he died, his body was taken to the Nahua Temple and was made into a statue. His real body statue has been en shrined in this temple for over 1300 years and is now sitting here inside the glass cover in the middle of the hall. The other two statues beside him are also “real body” statues. They were Dan Tian and Han Shan, abbots of the Nanhua Temple in times of the Ming Dynasty.

Visitors to the temple are always curious about how Hui Neng’s dead body was made into a statue. According to historical records, the way they did is like this: First, they put the dead body in posture of sitting cross-legged and fixed it with an iron bar on

its back to support it from reclining, and then applied lacquer mixed with gypsum powder all over it, layer upon layer, until the coating became 5-6 millimeters thick. When the coating became very hard when dry, they put it into a big vat and covered it with quick lime. The body fluids slowly leaked out through the hole at the bottom. Several years later, the dead body inside the lacquer coating became a mummy and the statue was made ready for finishing touches.

In the show case in the hall, there is a Buddhist vestment that is woven of gold threads, a crystal alms bowl and a copy of imperial edict issued by Empress Wu Zatian of the Tang Dynasty . Wu Zetian(624-705 AD) was formally the wife of Emperor Gaozong who was on the throne 650-683 AD. When Emperor passed away, the queen dowager proclained herself emperor and thus became the only women emperor throughout China’s history. She was a Buddhist discriple and had issued edicts to recruit Hui Neng into the imperial palace in Chang’an (the present-day xi’an) to take up the post of “State Master”. But Hui Neng resolutely refused. She then ordered that Hui Nneg must surrender the Buddhist vestment and alms bowl that were brought to China from India by Dharma, the first patriarch of Chan Buddhism. The Buddhist vestment and alms bowl on display here now are rewards the empress bestowed upon Hui Nneg afterwards.

[The Lingzhao Pagoda]

The Buddhist pagoda at the back of the Sixth Patriarch Hall is called Lingzhao Pagoda. The original pagoda was a wooden structure built during the Tang Dynasty(618-907) and was destroyed by fire. The present pagoda, a brick and stone structure, was rebuilt during the Song(960-1279) and is the oldest structure in the temple,. Before the Sixth Patriarch Hall was built, Hui Neng real-body statue was enshrined here.