Master Koichi
Twenty-nine years ago, when I was seventeen years old, I first met Mr. Li Shutong, later Master Hongyi, in the Zhejiang Provincial First Normal School in Hangzhou. I was a prep student at the time and he was our music teacher.
When we went to his music class, we had a special feeling: seriousness. After shaking the preparatory bell, we walked to the music classroom, pushed through the door, and were surprised: Mr. Li was already sitting on the podium. The students who thought that mr. He was always going to be late and casually sang and shouted in his mouth, or laughed and scolded and pushed into the door, was even more surprised. Their singing, shouting, laughter, and scolding suddenly disappeared by the threshold. Then he bowed his head, blushed, and went to sit in his seat. Sitting in his seat, he secretly looked up and saw Mr. Li's tall, thin upper body dressed in a neat black cloth coat, exposed on the lectern, a forehead that was wide enough to walk a horse, slender phoenix eyes, and a raised nose bridge, forming a majestic expression. Flat and broad lips often have deep swirls at both ends, showing a kind expression. This look, described in three words of gentleness and strength, is probably almost the same.
On the lectern was a roll call book, lecture notes, as well as his teaching notebook and chalk. The piano robe is undone, the lid is open, the sheet is swinging, and there is a time watch on the head, and the shining golden light shines directly into our eyes. On the blackboard, it is already clear what should be written in this lesson. On the podium thus arranged, Mr. Li sat upright. Sit down until the bell rings in class (later we know that he has this temper, and he must arrive early for music class.) Therefore, when the class bell rang, the classmates had already arrived), he stood up, bowed deeply, and the class began. In such a class, the air is very serious.
There is a person who reads other books without singing in music class, and there is a person who spits on the floor when he goes to music, thinking that Mr. Li can't see it, but in fact he knows it. But he did not immediately rebuke, and when the class was over, he solemnly said in a very light and serious voice: So-and-so wait and go out. So the so-and-so classmate had to stand. When the other students were all out, he said in a light and serious voice to the so-and-so classmates: Don't read other books in the next class. Or: don't spit on the floor next time. After saying that, he bowed slightly, indicating that you should go out. Most of the people who came out were red in the face. Another time after a music lesson, the last person who went out inadvertently pulled the door open, touched it too hard, and made a loud noise. After he had taken dozens of steps, Mr. Li came out the door and told him to turn around with a kind face. When he arrived, Mr. Li asked him to come into the classroom again. Entering the classroom, Mr. Li said to him in a very light and serious voice: Next time you walk out of the classroom, close the door gently. He bowed to him, sent him out the door, and gently closed the door himself.
The most memorable thing is when I was in piano lessons. We were teacher training students, each of us had to learn to play the piano, and there were fifty or sixty organs and two pianos in the school. Two organs per room for students to practice; one piano in the singing classroom and one in the playing room. When I was playing the piano, a dozen people stood in groups next to the piano to watch Mr. Li play. Once, when I was playing in Fan, a classmate let go of a fart, there was no sound, but it was very smelly. Piano and Mr. Lee's dozen classmates were all immersed in the Yamanya gas. Most of my classmates covered their noses or made nasty noises. Mr. Li frowned and played the piano by himself (I think he must have held his breath). Later, Armonia's qi was scattered, and his brow was stretched. After the lesson, the bell rang at the end of class. Mr. Li stood up and bowed, indicating that the class was adjourned. After the class, the students had not yet gone out, and Mr. Li solemnly declared: Everyone wait and go, there is still a word. Everyone stood solemn again. Mr. Li said in a very light and serious voice: After farting, go outside the door, don't put it indoors. Then he bowed again, indicating that he was telling us to go out. The classmates all laughed, and as soon as they went out, everyone ran fast and ran to the distance to laugh.
Mr. Lee teaches us music with this attitude, so when we take music lessons, we feel more serious than all other lessons. At the same time, for Mr. Li Shutong, a music teacher, he has more respect than other teachers. At that time, the school was first and foremost the so-called English, Chinese, and arithmetic, that is, English, Chinese language and arithmetic. In other schools, the teacher of these three subjects is the most authoritative; in our normal school, the music teacher is the most authoritative, because he is Mr. Li Shutong.
Why can Mr. Li Shutong have such authority? Not only for his good learning, not only for his good music, but mainly for his serious attitude. The biggest feature of Mr. Li's life is seriousness. For one thing, if he does not do it, he has to do it thoroughly.
Li Shutong, the Prince of Fei
He came from a wealthy family, and his father was a famous banker in Tianjin. He was born to the fifth aunt. His father was seventy-two years old when he gave birth to him. After he fell to the ground, he was killed by his father, and when his family changed, he accompanied his birth mother to move south to Shanghai when he was young. When he was studying at Nanyang College in Shanghai, he was a gentleman. At that time, there was a famous Shanghai Society in the Shanghai literary circle, and Mr. Li was invited to write by the Shanghai Society, and his name was repeatedly ranked first. Since then, he has been valued by the celebrities in Shanghai, and his friends have become more and more extensive, and he is finally famous for his talents in Shanghai at that time.
So later, when his mother died, when he went to Japan to study, he composed a "Golden Wisp Song", with the lyrics:
"Cloak your hair and go wild. Mang Zhongyuan, twilight crows, a few fading willows. Who cleans up the broken rivers and mountains? The scattered westerly winds are still there. It caused people to lose weight. Line up to the flow of heavy breath, say acacia, carved double red beans. Melancholy, thicker than wine. Emotions keep rippling. Hate every year, cover up the difficulty of looking back. Twenty articles shocked the sea, after all, empty talk! Listen to the roar of the dragon at the bottom of the box. The long night was miserable and the wind could not sleep, and the degree of qunsheng was a pity for the heart and liver section. Is it the motherland, bear with loneliness? ”
Reading this poem, you can imagine that he was full of pride and patriotic enthusiasm at that time. When he left home, he sent me all the photos of the past, and I once saw him in Shanghai at that time: a velvet bowl hat, a white jade in the middle, a curved waistcoat, a floral satin robe, a fat braid hanging behind him, a ribbon tie foot tube at the bottom, a pair of thick-soled shoes, a head raised high, handsome, and revealed between the eyebrows. It was really a first-class dancing prince in Shanghai at that time. This is his characteristic that was originally expressed: seriousness in everything. He decided to be a dancing boy, so he was a dancing boy completely.
On February 11, 1907, Haryusha performed a new drama "La Traviata" at the Tokyo International Student Association. Li Shutong and Zeng Yannian played the male and female protagonists and took a group photo after removing their makeup.
Later, when he came to Japan, he saw the culture of the Meiji Restoration and longed for Western civilization. He immediately gave up his attitude of a flying boy and became an international student. He attended the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and at the same time entered the Music School. These schools are all imitating the West, and all they teach is Western painting and Western music. Mr. Li learned English very well at Nanyang College; when he arrived in Japan, he bought many Western literature books. When he was a monk, he gave me a fragment of the original Shakespeare, and he said to me: I have read this book carefully before, and there are many notes on it, although incomplete, it is also a souvenir. It is conceivable that when he was in Japan, he attacked Western art in an all-round way, and studied painting, music, literature, and drama. Later, he founded the Chunliu Drama Company in Japan, gathered comrades studying abroad, and acted in the famous Western tragedy "La Traviata" at that time. He himself tied his waist small, dressed as a traviata, and appeared in pink. This photograph, which he also gave to me when he left home, has always been kept by me; until it was destroyed by fire during the War of Resistance.
I still remember this picture: curly hair, white blouse, white long skirt dragging the ground, waist small to a handful, hands raised to support the back of the head, the head tilted to the right, eyebrows tightened, eyes squinting, it is the traviata woman's self-injurious and thin look. In addition, there are many photos of the play, which is incomparable. This Chunliu Drama Society later moved back to China, and Mr. Li got out of the way and was run by another group of people, which was the original Drama Club in China. It can be imagined that when Mr. Li was in Japan, he was a complete international student. I've seen pictures of him at the time: a high hat, a hard collar, hard sleeves, a tuxedo, A Stiq, pointed leather shoes, plus a long body, a high nose, and glasses without feet clipped to the bridge of the nose, like a Westerner. This is the second time that he expresses his characteristics: everything is serious. Learn the same, like the same. To be an international student, be an international student thoroughly.
Graduation photo of Li Shutong at the Tokyo Art School (the person in the center is Li Shutong)
After his return to China, he worked as an editor at the Shanghai Pacific newspaper. Soon, he was invited by the Nanjing Higher Normal School to teach drawing and music. Later, he was hired by the Hangzhou Normal School, and concurrently held the classes of two schools, living in Nanjing for half a month and hangzhou for half a month. Both schools asked for teaching assistants, who were substituted in his absence. I am a student of Hangzhou Normal School. At this time, Mr. Li had changed from an international student to a teacher. This change became really thorough: the beautiful dress was no longer worn, but replaced by a gray coarse cloth robe, a black cloth coat, and cloth-soled shoes. Gold-rimmed glasses were also replaced by black wire-rimmed glasses. He is a very cultivated artist, so he is very particular about appearance. Although clothed, it is very lined and often neat. He wears cloth, all infinite, and has another kind of simple beauty. Can you imagine that he played the role of Traviata and was very tall. Dressed in cloth, still a beautiful man. "Light makeup and thick wipes are always appropriate", this verse was originally about Xizi, but it is also very applicable to describe our Mr. Li's appearance. Nowadays, when people talk about the art of life, most of them are curious and different, non-artistic. Mr. Li's clothing can really be called the art of life. The clothes of his era show the thoughts and lives of an era. The thinking and life of each era are different, and the clothing of each era is also different. Mr. Li, who is clothed in cloth shoes, and Mr. Li in the era of dresses and Mr. Li in the era of curved vests, are sentenced to three people. This is the third time that his characteristics are expressed: seriousness.
When I was in the second grade, the drawings were taught by Mr. Li. He taught us charcoal plaster model sketches. My classmates have always been accustomed to drawing, and at first they could not start. Of the more than forty people, none of them were depicted decently. Later he fanned the painting to show us. After finishing the painting, he pasted the fan painting on the blackboard. Most of the students looked at the copy of the blackboard. Only me and a few classmates, according to his method, sketched from plaster models. I became interested in sketching from this time on. At this point, I suddenly realized that those powder copies were originally sketched by others after seeing the actual objects. We should also start directly from the physical sketch, why copy others, still draw gourds? So my paintings improved. After that, Mr. Li had more opportunities to get close to me. Because I often asked him to teach painting and Japanese, I know more about Mr. Lee's life in the future.
He used to read books on sexual theory, but then he suddenly believed in Taoism, and he often had Daozang on his desk. At that time, I was a hairy young man and could not talk about religion. Mr. Li did not talk to me except for painting things. But I noticed that his life was becoming more and more convergent, as if he were about to leave for a distant place. He used to give me things he didn't use.
One day, he decided to go to Daci Mountain to fast, I have a class, I can't accompany him, accompanied by the school worker Wen Yu. A few days later, I went to see him. Seeing him lying on the bed, his face emaciated, but in good spirits, he spoke to me, almost as usual. He fasted for seventeen days, supported by Wen Yu, took a shadow, and at the top of the film was wen yu inscription: The portrait of Mr. Li Shi Weng after fasting, the waiter Wen Yu title. The photograph was later made into a postcard and distributed to friends. The bottom of the statue is typeset in pencil: A certain year, month, day, into the Daci Mountain fasting for seventeen days, body and soul, happy Kang Qiang Xin Xin Dao RenJi. At this time, Mr. Li had changed from a teacher to a Taoist. Fasting for seventeen days is also an expression of his seriousness in everything.
But his time to learn the Tao was short. Soon after fasting, he studied Buddhism. He himself told me that his study of Buddhism was instructed by Mr. Ma Yifu. A few days before he left home, he and I went to The West Lake Yuquan to see a Mr. Cheng Zhonghe. This Mr. Cheng was originally a soldier, and now he is discharged from the army, lives in Yuquan, and is thinking of becoming a monk. Mr. Li talked to him for a long time. Shortly thereafter, I accompanied Rond Ohno to Yuquan to stay, and saw a monk sitting, it was mr. Cheng. I wanted to call him Mr. Cheng, but I felt that it was not compatible. I wanted to call him a mage, but I didn't know his Dharma name (later I knew it was Hongyu). For a while, it was very tense. I went back to tell Mr. Li, and Mr. Li told me that he would soon become a monk and become a disciple of Hongyu. I was stunned. After a few days, he did resign and go to monasticism. The night before he left home, he asked me and my classmates Ye Tianrui and Li Zengyong to go to his room and give all the things in the room to the three of us. The next day, the three of us sent him to the Tiger Run. We came back to share his "legacy", and when we went to see him again, he was naked and dressed in monk's robes, like a pure mage. I changed my mind and called him a mage.
Twenty-four years of monkhood. In the past twenty-four years, I have been displaced, he has been consistent to the end, and his practice has become deeper and deeper. At first, he practiced the Pure Land Sect, and later he practiced the Vinaya Sect. The Vinaya pays attention to the precepts, and every move has a law, and it is extremely serious and serious. This is the most difficult one in Buddhism. For hundreds of years, the tradition was broken, and it was not until Master Hongyi revived it, so the Buddhist monks called him the eleventh generation of the Vinaya of The Southern Mountains. His life is very serious. To give an example: Once I sent a roll of rice paper and asked Master Hongyi to write the Number of the Buddha. When there was more rice paper, he wrote to me and asked me, how to dispose of the remaining rice paper? Another time, I sent back a stamp and went, a few more points. He sent me back the extra few. Later, when I send paper or stamps, I will declare in advance: the rest will be sent to the Master. Once he came to my house. I invited him to sit in a rattan chair. He gently shook the rattan chair and sat down slowly. At first I didn't dare ask. Later, when I saw him doing this every time, I asked. The mage replied to me, "Inside this chair, between two vines, there may be small worms lying on their backs." Suddenly sit down and crush them to death, so shake them first and sit down slowly so that they can walk away. When the reader hears this, he may have to laugh. But that's exactly what it means to be extremely serious.
As mentioned above, Master Hongyi changed from a boy to an international student, then to a teacher, three to a Taoist, and four to a monk. Every kind of person is done very decently. It's like an all-powerful youling: green clothes are like a green coat, old people are like old students, and big faces are like big faces... It's all serious.
Now Master Hongyi has passed away in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. When the bad news reached Zunyi, Guizhou, I was dressed and moving to Chongqing. After I went to Chongqing, I made a wish to paint a hundred frames of the Master's portrait, distribute it to all over the world, and carve stones to make offerings. Now the portrait has been fulfilled. Mr. Li and I's mentor-apprentice relationship in the world is over, but his last words—earnestness—will always be engraved in my heart.
——Written in April 1943 in Sichuan Guest Apartment