All of the statements in this article are based on reliable sources and are reproduced at the end of this article
"A thousand years, flesh and blood immortal."
On July 8, 2017, Dinghui Temple donated the whole body relics of Master Cixian to the state, after the testing of relevant staff, Master Cixian after thousands of years, not only his face is fresh, even the bones are very complete, but the most unexpected thing is that his brain is still there.
Venerable Tzu Xian
The detailed biography and year of birth and death of Venerable Tzu Xian cannot be verified due to the long history, but according to the existing historical records, it can be known that Venerable Tzu Xian was a native of Magadha, Central India.
Moreover, Master Cixian came to the land of China when the Liao Dynasty was at its strongest, and traveled eastward from Magadha to the Khitan territory at that time, using his own strength to promote the Buddhist Tantric scriptures and teachings, so that Tantra could be carried forward in the vast land of Khitan.
Master Cixian was also respected by the emperor of the Liao Dynasty and named him the "National Teacher", but for Master Cixian, his duty was to travel the world and purify all living beings, even under the temptation of fame, fortune and prestige, he still chose to give up without hesitation.
Even in that war-torn era, Venerable Cixian did not give up, but used his own strength to implant the concepts of "equality and compassion, eliminating evil and following good" into people's hearts, which also gave the people who were affected by the war spiritual and spiritual comfort.
It can be said that where there are people, there will be the figure of Venerable Cixian, but due to the loss of historical materials, the deeds of Venerable Cixian during his life are very well known to future generations, and it is recorded in the remaining materials that generally when the practice has exceeded the level that ordinary people cannot touch, after the death, their physical bodies will be constantly reshaped by the disciples.
Ways to reshape the golden body
Of course, for the merits of Venerable Tzu Xian during his lifetime, his disciples will shape his body after his death, and according to the previous method, when Venerable Tzu Xian sits in the jar for three and a half years, his physical body will appear to be incorruptible, which means that he has fully cultivated the incorruptible body of Vajra.
Then, after the monk's body has been disinfected and cleaned, his body is painted, and then two layers of gauze are wrapped around the body, and the last one is coated with soil paint on the gauze, and after the soil paint on the gauze is dried, it is simply filled and molded with tile ash, and finally the outermost "whole body" is pasted with gold leaf.
The original article was published on the southeast network on April 25, 2016, about the old monk who passed away and sat in the jar for three years, and the body was not rotten, and the golden body of the elder Fuhou was molded
And according to Wu Deyu, who has been engaged in the production of "flesh Buddha" for more than 30 years, because the region has a variety of different environmental impacts, so the materials used will be different, and for Jiuhua Mountain, they generally choose to use raw lacquer, tile ash and other materials.
Especially in terms of the proportion of materials, it is also necessary to adjust the local climate, temperature and humidity according to the different reasons of the regional climate, so that the air can be better isolated, as well as insect-proof, moisture-proof and other phenomena.
And according to Zhu Caiyun, a researcher of Quanzhou literature and history, most of the "flesh Buddha" in Quanzhou is an ordinary person, who has done a lot of good things for the people during his lifetime, or administering medicine to help the world, so when they die, people are reluctant to cremate his body, and they will use this way to make a unique real body Buddha.
Of course, Master Cixian's golden body has not only gone through thousands of years, but also experienced several times of Buddha destruction and great changes, which has made his identity a mystery so far, and Master Cixian's whole body relics have been inherited and protected by the ancestors of the Rinzai sect, and then enshrined by the Buddha Guang Zen master of the Rinzai sect.
Donor Country
In the meantime, Master Cixian's whole body relics have been enshrined in the Thousand Buddha Pavilion of Dinghui Temple in Wu'an City, Hebei Province, because Master Cixian once preached and preached in the nearby Changuo Temple and other places to promote Buddhism, so after his death, the descendants have also repeatedly reshaped his golden body for him, which has been passed down to the present.
But in July 2017, Zen Master Foguang of Dinghui Temple made a surprising move, that is, to donate the whole body relics of "Venerable Cixian", which had been collected for many years, to the local government.
The original article was published in Yanzhao Evening News on July 20, 2017, about the report that the "millennium monk" still retains his body and is now enshrined in Handan Dinghui Temple
Because the government at that time did not have the corresponding technical means, as well as a suitable place to preserve, so entrusted Dinghui Temple for safekeeping, but on July 8, Wu'an City medical personnel came to Dinghui Temple to use X-ray instruments for on-site testing.
However, what is surprising is that during the examination, it was found that Venerable Tzu Xian was indeed in the flesh, and he could clearly see the forehead bone, orbital bone, oral cavity, palate teeth and other parts of Venerable Cixian, and what was even more surprising was that Venerable Cixian's brain structure has remained very intact to this day.
Bodhisattvas of the flesh, relics of the whole body
In fact, in the Buddhist world, the body that is not bad after death is often called the bodhisattva of the flesh and the relics of the whole body, and these will be regarded as the result of the practice of the enlightened monks and the embodiment of spiritual power, and they are the crystallization of wisdom.
And it is recorded in the "Xuanying Yinyi": "The relics have the difference between the whole body and the broken body", which means that after the death of the monk, his body is not only maintained in an incorruptible state under the erosion of the years, but also the prototype is still in a lifelike state, which refers to the whole body relics in Buddhism, and is called the bodhisattva in the flesh in the folk.
This article was originally published on December 20, 2015 in the report on "The Bodhisattva of the Flesh."
The crystallization of their practice is also different, some of them practice penance in the mountains, some enter the world to practice medicine, and some treat the body and mind in one place, one stop is three years, although their practice methods are different, but they are all happy to sentient beings, and their hearts are also very pure and unpolluted.
But for such behavior, some people may be curious: "It is said that the four are empty, and they don't pay attention to the appearance, so why do you want to keep a skin?" In fact, as for these physical scattering, before passing away, they will specifically tell future generations to keep their remains, of course, they are only out of the wish of purifying sentient beings.
Because some people, when they see the Buddha and Bodhisattva carved clay sculptures in their hearts, they often think that this must be fake, and it is impossible to have a sense of respect in their hearts, but when they see the bodhisattva in the flesh, they will feel very close, and their hearts are very shocked, and they will be willing to offer refuge.
This is why some eminent monks will take the initiative to leave their physical bodies after their deaths, in order to conform to sentient beings, and it is precisely because of this behavior that these physical bodhisattvas have often appeared continuously since ancient times.
Quanzhou "Body Buddha"
In the Vulture Rock Temple, which is not far from Yong'an Rock, there is the real body statue of the Tang Dynasty monk Zou Wubi, and according to the records in the temple stele, Zou Wuwu, a person from Shaxian County, became a monk at the age of sixteen, traveled to Jiuxian Mountain, built the "Linfeng Stone Room", and enshrined fifteen Buddha statues such as Buddha Buddha in stone.
And in Chengbian Village, Shuitou Town, Nan'an, there is a Shuangling Temple that enshrines the sisters in the flesh Buddha, according to records, the two Bodhisattvas enshrined in the hall are the real statues of a pair of Gao sisters more than 200 years ago, named "Bang Niang" and "Gua Niang".
The original article was published on Minnan Net on March 25, 2015, on the inventory of "flesh Buddha" in many places in Quanzhou, how it can span thousands of years without corruption
In the Qing Dynasty Guangxu period of the "Gao clan genealogy" also recorded the life of the two sisters, it is marked that the sisters were superb in medical skills during their lifetime, often do good deeds and accumulate virtues, after their death, people will sit up into the body of the Buddha to worship and build the "Shuanglin Temple".
Yongchun County Baizhang Rock also enshrines a rare Song Dynasty body Buddha, formerly known as Ma Jinying, according to legend, she was cultivated at the end of Baizhang Rock, has been collecting herbs for nearby villagers to heal, but later her father was killed by a traitor, the emperor issued an order, ordering her to atone for her father's sins.
And in order to protect her father, she took out eighteen loads of pure honey from a stone cave in Baizhangyan to save her father's life, at this time, the emperor wanted to let her enter the palace as Princess Duanxiao, and find a horse for her, but in the face of such fame and fortune, she decisively refused.
At this time, the emperor was instantly furious, so he ordered the officers and soldiers to surround her, and she lost her life, and the people in order to repay her kindness, she pretended to be a Buddha in the flesh, and in the troubled times, in order to protect her safety, the Buddha statue was hidden in the cave.
Information sources:
The original article was published on the southeast network on April 25, 2016, about the old monk who passed away and sat in the jar for three years, and the body was not rotten, and the golden body of the elder Fuhou was molded
The original article was published in Yanzhao Evening News on July 20, 2017, about the report that the "millennium monk" still retains his body and is now enshrined in Handan Dinghui Temple
This article was originally published on December 20, 2015 in the report on "The Bodhisattva of the Flesh."
The original article was published on Minnan Net on March 25, 2015, on the inventory of "flesh Buddha" in many places in Quanzhou, how it can span thousands of years without corruption