Born in a wealthy family, he studied in the East, and made remarkable achievements in gold and stone, painting, calligraphy, music, and drama.
After returning to China to teach for a few years, he gradually abandoned the red dust, shaved his hair and converted to the law, and used the great love of Buddhism to save the world and become himself, and obtain the highest and purest spiritual spirit.
Some people say that the first and second half of his life are extremely contradictory, and some people say that he saved the world but was deeply sinful, but only he knows that there is no way to achieve both in the world, and only by letting go of a thought can he be calm.
One of the most talented geniuses has traveled through the world and experienced all the changes in the world
In the mid-autumn of 1880, a wealthy family of salt merchants in Tianjin ushered in the birth of a baby boy, whose father was philanthropic, open-minded and fond of Buddhism and Zen.
Born in a wealthy family, Li Shutong was very intelligent, and he received a good education since he was a child, and he also entered Nanyang College under the tutelage of Mr. Cai Yuanpei.
In the eyes of outsiders, Uncle Li is the young master of the rich family, but in fact, when Li Shutong was 5 years old, his father died young, and as a concubine in the family, he gradually began to become sensitive.
Li Shutong, known as a "prodigy", although he excelled in his studies, also had some small preferences, such as literati collections, listening to opera and singing, and it was precisely because he was more obsessed with life in opera that he became obsessed with Yang Cuixi, a well-known Peking Opera singer at that time.
For the sake of Yang Cuixi, Li Shutong can spend a lot of money, and he is also willing to fill in the lyrics for his sparring partner, and fall into a deep affection. But later, Yang Cuixi, who couldn't help himself, was actually given to the late Qing Dynasty Eight Banners King Zaizhen, and Li Shutong, who was infatuated, fell into pain, and spent his days depressed and depressed for a while.
In order to allow her son to start a family in peace, his mother asked a matchmaker to ask Li Shutong for the daughter of a tea merchant, named Yu Rong'er. In order to fulfill his mother's wishes, Li Shutong finally married Yu Rong'er and became a wife, Yu Rong'er was dignified and virtuous, and soon after marriage, she gave birth to a boy and a girl to the Li family, which is a good wife of IKEA.
In 1905, Li Shutong's mother died of illness, and after that, Li Shutong, who was bored, decided to study in Japan in order to improve his career in the future.
In Japan, Li Shutong was admitted to the Tokyo Art School, where he studied Western oil painting techniques, as well as music, and was also deeply interested in drama performances, and he also founded a drama club. Because he rents a 5-chome in Shitagani, near Ueno, Taito Ward, which is relatively remote and secluded, Li Shutong's study abroad life is still very quiet and leisurely.
Once, Li Shutong, who was suffering from the lack of mannequins to create, happened to see the landlord's daughter who was in her prime age, and his eyes lit up, and he immediately ran to ask her if she could be his own painting model. The girl named Chengzi lowered her head and thought for a while, then shyly agreed to Li Shutong's request.
Chengzi is simple and kind, and when he was in love, he met Li Shutong, a talented Chinese student, and fell in love with him boldly. The gentle and affectionate Uncle Li and Chengzi have a private lifelong commitment and love each other so much.
In 1910, Li Shutong, who had graduated, decided to return to China, and Chengzi proposed the idea of marriage, but Li Shutong could not refuse, and the two held a wedding in Japan. After the wedding, Chengzi came to China with Li Shutong, and she was placed in Shanghai by Li Shutong.
Because of the frequent transfer of work, Uncle Li traveled to work in many cities in the north and south, and got together with his Japanese wife Seiko less and more often. During this period, Li Shutong did not return to his wife Yu Ronger's side, his mind was all on his career, he became a professor in Tianjin and founded newspapers and publications, and also served as a music and painting teacher in two colleges and universities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and his art career also entered its peak.
Because he had no burden in life, Li Shutong after returning to China can be said to have pushed many of his talents to a very high attainment, and he can be called a unique artistic and cultural all-rounder at that time. The great writer Lu Xun once praised Li Shutong and said: His calligraphy is simple and perfect, as if it were natural. Lin Yutang also said frankly: In our contemporaries, Li Shutong is one of the most talented geniuses.
The foreign couples who once accompanied and loved each other were finally cut off by the Sanskrit law
In 1916, after living separately from his Japanese wife and experiencing the benefits of fasting in the monastery, Uncle Li fell in love with that kind of lonely and light life for no reason. During that time, Li Shutong, who lived in Dinghui Temple in Hangzhou, meditated behind closed doors, immersed himself in the fun of writing and painting, and gradually came up with the idea of escaping from the world and escaping into the empty door.
After the end of fasting, Li Shutong's friend joked after drinking tea: Like you and me, it is actually not bad to become a monk. I don't know if it was such an unintentional sentence that finally made Li Shutong make up his mind to become a monk, in short, after another year, Li Shutong still decided to become a monk, vowing to promote Buddhism as his own responsibility in the future.
Before deciding to become a monk, Li Shutong made some arrangements in order to cut off his worldly fate. He cut off a strand of his beard, tied it with a thin thread, and at the same time wrote a letter to his Japanese wife, Seiko: "I have asked my old friend to arrange the rest of the things about my ordination." It is not my kindness to abandon you.
The letterhead and beard were in his pocket, and Uncle Li asked his friend Yang Baimin to transfer them to Chengzi, and arranged all the trips back to Japan for Chengzi.
However, Chengzi couldn't accept all the sudden changes, she desperately ran to the door of the Dinghui Temple where Uncle Li was a monk, knelt on her knees, and begged to see Uncle Li with her, but the little monk who guarded the door replied: There is no Uncle Li in the temple, only the newly shaved Master Hongyi.
Seiko didn't give up, she insisted on kneeling at the door of Dinghui Temple and begging, just hoping to see Master Hongyi. In the end, Seiko saw the emaciated Master Hongyi through the huge temple gate, and Seiko cried about her thoughts and loneliness, hoping to make her husband change his mind and return to the red dust.
However, the gentle and talented man in the past had become Master Hongyi with a sinking face and clear eyes, and the sad Seiko asked: I heard that Buddhism teaches you to be compassionate to the world, why did you hurt me alone?!
After finishing the sentence, the surroundings were as quiet as a vacuum. For a long time, Hongyi was speechless, and even more speechless, so he had to recite a Dharma number, and then turned to leave.
In the days that followed, Seiko washed her face with tears all day long, and her heart was full of all kinds of feelings. Before leaving for Japan, Seiko made one last request - to see Master Koichi one last time.
On that day, when the spring scenery of West Lake was in full bloom, Master Hongyi took a flat boat and met the last day of his life with his Japanese wife. The Japanese wife is as gentle and delicate as ever, but at this moment she tears up her sleeves and begged: Now that you have entered the Buddha's door, have you ever thought about how I should face everything in the future?
Master Hongyi took out a watch from his arms, gently put it in Chengzi's hand, and said: You can return to China to be a model, you will not be unemployed, and you can rely on it for life. After speaking, Master Hongyi turned around and left, without the slightest intention of lingering on earthly feelings.
Since then, Master Hongyi and the wife of the layman, Chengzi, have been a monk and a layman, thousands of miles away, and there is no more entanglement and ruthlessness.
Legacy, but independent, often with the "Yellow Flower Evening Festival" to encourage the people around them to love the country and worry about the people
After escaping into the empty gate, Master Hongyi took the most arduous Vinaya as a commandment and began a poignant and simple cultivation. After nearly 20 years of penance, Venerable Hongyi has completed the transformation from an amorous genius to a generation of eminent monks.
On July 7, 1937, the Japanese army provoked the Lugou Bridge Incident near Beiping, and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out. Shocked to hear that the national disaster was at hand, Master Hongyi immediately took up his pen and wrote a banner with the word "martyrdom", showing his firm determination to protect the law and serve the country and resist Japan and save the country. Since then, no matter which province Hongyi has been preaching Buddhism, he has called his temporary residence "martyrdom classroom".
Because of the feeling of sharing glory and disgrace with the motherland, Master Hongyi will give passionate speeches to promote the anti-Japanese spirit wherever he goes to spread Buddhism. In order to inspire the world to work together to resist Japan, he also wrote an anti-Japanese song with a stroke of his pen. Every day, he led the monks of the temple to write more than 100 copies of the horizontal couplet of "chanting the Buddha and not forgetting to save the country", allowing others to use and widely publicize the anti-Japanese spirit.
Then, as long as it is a front-line battlefield city with strong gunsmoke, there will be Master Hongyi standing on the street, opening the altar to chant Buddha and promote the figure of anti-Japanese salvation. Master Hongyi's lay disciple Feng Zikai wrote many times to persuade him to avoid war and think about his safety, but Master Hongyi wrote back and said: When the soldiers are disturbed, the corrupt people also vow to sacrifice their lives for the Fa.
Subsequently, due to the atrocities of the Japanese invaders, Master Hongyi advocated and vigorously supported the formation of a Buddhist warrior ambulance team, and made his own contribution to the anti-Japanese salvation and the protection of the people and the army.
In the early summer of 1938, Master Hongyi said in a letter to Feng Zikai: Don't think that the old garden is light in autumn, and there is still the fragrance of yellow flowers in the evening. On many subsequent occasions, Master Hongyi used the "Yellow Flower Evening Festival" to spur and inspire himself and his friends and people around him, revealing his sincere and enthusiastic patriotism.
Unfortunately, before the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Master Hongyi, who was seriously ill, passed away on October 13, 1942 in Wenling Nursing Home in Quanzhou. A few days before his death, Master Hongyi struggled to get up from his illness and left four big words with his pen: the intersection of sorrow and joy.
These short four-character verses express Master Hongyi's perception of his life: sorrow is not sadness, although it hurts to break the cocoon, he has been reborn; he is very happy, and after realizing the Dharma, it is a kind of indifferent and quiet joy.