Yangzhou has been prosperous since ancient times, and the Yangzhou Daming Temple, which was originally built during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, has added a sense of history to this cultural city.
The reason why Yangzhou Daming Temple is famous is not because of its long history, but because of the abbot Jian Zhen monks of the Tang Dynasty in this temple. Yes, it was the monk who was over sixty years old and blind in both eyes, but still insisted on crossing Japan six times before and after.
With great spiritual strength and supreme adherence to his faith, the monk boarded a ship bound for Japan and recited the scriptures silently in the bumps of the waves. He has left an indelible mark in the history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges, and to this day, the seated statue of the Master of Authenticity enshrined in Tang Zhaoti Temple still enjoys people's worship and reverence.
（1）
The Jian Zhen monk (688-763), commonly known as Chun Yu, was born in an ordinary family in Yangzhou.
In the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism flourished in yangzhou, and it was full of high-ranking monks from all over the world. Jian Zhen's family was full of a strong Buddhist atmosphere, and his parents were devout laymen who often came to Daming Temple to pay their respects. Influenced by his family environment, the monk Jian Zhen became interested in Buddhism since childhood. He is quiet by nature and good at thinking, which is very different from other children of the same age.
When he was fourteen years old, he followed his father to the Dayun Temple to worship the Buddha and meditate, and he actually shed two lines of tears in front of the solemn Buddha statue. Probably inspired by something, Jian Zhen immediately made a request to his father to become a monk. At first, my father thought that this was just a whim of the young Jian Zhen, but he also saw that jian Zhen's words and deeds showed his firm heart. As a result, Jian Zhen shaved under the seat of Master Zhiman and became a Shami. Once a quiet young man who believed in Buddhism, he gave up his secular name and his worldly life.
Four years later, at the age of eighteen, Jian Zhen was ordained as a bodhisattva under the seat of Master Dao'an. After several years of hard study, Jian Zhen followed Master Dao'an to Luoyang and Chang'an. A diligent and studious Master Jian Zhen studied the Dharma with many famous teachers along the way, never sticking to the views of different sects. This kind of eclectic attitude of learning has enabled Jian Zhen to accumulate a wealth of knowledge in a short period of time.
After Jian Zhen came to chang'an Mingcha Actual Temple, he received full ordination from the senior monk Hongjing and became a qualified monk. This year, he was only twenty-two years old, but he had already acquired the knowledge of very broadcasting. In addition to Buddhism, Jian Zhen has also made achievements in other fields such as architecture, painting, and medicine, especially in medicine.
（2）
The several mages that Jian Zhen followed, such as Wen Gang, Dao'an, and Hongjing, were all descendants of the Vinaya.
The Vinaya, one of the eight major schools of Han Buddhism, places great emphasis on studying and transmitting the precepts, and is divided into several different schools. Jian Allah wanted to study the Nanshan Vinaya, but he did not stick to one sect and one sect, but integrated the theories of various schools of Buddhism, such as the core essence of the Dharma And Tiantai sects, which were studied and absorbed by The True Master.
At the age of twenty-six, Master Jian Zhen returned to his hometown of Yangzhou and became the abbot of Daming Temple. Since then, Yangzhou Daming Temple has become the center of Jian Zhen's transmission of Buddhism. Because of his profound knowledge and moral character, and his successor to the Vinaya after dao'an and Hongjing, he soon gained a very high prestige in the Huainan region.
On the one hand, Master Jian Zhen continued to study Buddhism, and in addition to studying the Vinaya, he also dabbled in a wider and more detailed study of other sects of Buddhism; on the other hand, he preached the scriptures, built monasteries, ordained monks and nuns, and also helped the needy, and more than 40,000 monks were ordained under The Jian Zhen Master.
At the age of forty-five, master Jian Zhen became the abbot of Daming Temple in Yangzhou and a leading figure in the Buddhist community in huainan. Suddenly, people talked about the Vinaya and the Guru. The Master of Jian Zhen relied on his influence to become a Vinaya monk who was "unique and unrequited, and the Tao customs returned to the heart", and the Huainan region in northern Jiangsu also became a pure holy place for the Tang Dynasty.
（3）
The influence of Master Jian Zhen was not limited to the Jianghuai region, and his Buddhist thought was not limited to the Eastern Tang Dynasty after all.
With the arrival of the Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty, the peaceful life of Master Jian Zhen showed a slight fluctuation. It all started with the arrival of the Japanese monks Rong Rui, Pu Zhao and others in the twenty-first year of the new century (733 AD).
The Japanese monks Rong Rui, Pu Zhao, and others were entrusted by the Japanese Buddhist circles to come to the Tang Dynasty, hoping to extend the invitation of the Tang monks to Japan to spread the Dharma to the masses. They told Master Jian Zhen that although there was Buddhism in Japan, there was a lack of senior monks who taught the precepts, and the precepts of Japanese Buddhism were loose, thus affecting the spread of Buddhism in Japan. Therefore, they wanted the help of master jian zhen and asked if he could go to Japan with them to spread the Dharma.
At this time, the Master of Zhenzhen was over fifty years old, but in order to promote the Dharma, he decided to give up his life. So he asked for the opinions of the disciples present, but the disciples were silent.
The silence of the crowd was justified. China and Japan are so far away. With the kind of navigation conditions and shipbuilding technology at that time, how could we cross the east safely? Once you go, it will be difficult to return to your homeland, not to mention, you will have to face the monstrous wind and waves along the way, and you know that the boat you are riding in will not be sunk by the wind and waves?
Master Jian Zhen said indignantly, "It is for the sake of the Fa, why should I spare my life?" If people don't go, I'll go to my ears. He sounded like a bell and knocked on the door of the hearts of the monks present.
As a monk, Ben promised all this to the Buddha. As long as you can spread the Fa and live for the masses, then, even if you take your life?
Although the ambition of Master Jian Zhen's Dongdu Hongfa was very firm, his trip to Dongdu several times was not smooth.
In 742, Master Jian Zhen and his disciples crossed the East for the first time, but because of the differences among the people, they missed the opportunity to cross the East Crossing.
Soon after the second east crossing, the ship sank on the reef, but fortunately the people on board were rescued in time.
On the third east crossing, the ship encountered strong winds and waves near the Zhoushan Islands. After the ship hit the reef, Master Jian Zhen and his disciples starved on the desert island and were rescued three days later.
After the first three eastern crossings ended in failure, the monks, fearing for the safety of Master Jian Zhen, took very strict care of him and even reported his whereabouts to the government at any time.
Several times the trip to the East failed, but it did not change the original intention of Jian Zhen to go to Japan to promote the Dharma. After being escorted back to Yangzhou, Master Jian Zhen continued to prepare the supplies needed for Dongdu.
However, even after making the most adequate preparations, the wish of Jian Zhen dongdu to propagate the Dharma was still not realized. Not only that, in the process of an east crossing, the ship completely lost control in the wind and waves, the fresh water had long been used up, and the people on board were seriously seasick, and they could not drink a sip of water to relieve the pain of seasickness.
After that, some of the monks who accompanied them died of illness, and some of them changed their original intentions because they could not cross the east. Jian Zhen suffered great physical and mental damage during the arduous journey, and his eyes gradually blurred, and after healing, he did not get better.
He couldn't see anything clearly after all. However, his heart to cross the east was more determined.
（4）
On the sixth east crossing, Master Jian Zhen and his party bumped in the sea for more than forty days. Their ship first reached what is now Kagoshima, and then, under the guidance of the monk Yanqing, to Kyushu, Japan. The monks who had followed Master Jian Zhen to participate in the Eastern Crossing were now few and far between. After twelve years, Master Jian Zhen finally realized his lifelong wish!
In 754 AD, the master of authenticity who came to Nara, Japan, was warmly welcomed by both the Japanese monastic and secular circles. But at the same time, due to the arrival of Jian Zhen, the interests of some Japanese monks were touched, which caused a certain contradiction. Therefore, Jian Zhen and Xian Jing and other monks held an open debate at Kofuku-ji Temple. In the end, the Japanese monks were impressed by the excellent eloquence and profound knowledge of the master of authenticity.
Afterwards, Master Kanzen erected an altar at Todai-ji Temple and ordained about 500 people, including the Emperor of Japan and other members of the imperial family and monks. He was named the "Great Monk Capital" and became a leading figure in the Japanese Buddhist community and established a strict system of precepts in Japan. In addition, he personally built the Tang Zhao Ti Temple, which became the ancestral court of the Japanese Buddhist Vinaya.
Since then, Master Jian Zhen has taught Buddhist scriptures and precepts in Tang Zhaoti Temple, which has been respected by the Japanese government and the public. Because of his advanced age, blindness in both eyes, and poor health, the disciples of Master Jian Zhen recorded the life and deeds of Master Jian Zhen and the Dharma he taught.
At the age of seventy-six, Master Jian Zhen died peacefully in the Tang Zhaoti Temple facing the west, and his body was cremated and buried in a pine forest behind the Tang Zhaoti Temple.
Nowadays, people probably only know the deeds of the Master of Authenticity who traveled to Japan to spread the Dharma. But what everyone does not know is that master Jian Zhen himself has a very profound attainment in medicine. Before and after Dongdu, he treated people for pain and pain, and personally cooked medicine for patients, so that many patients were treated.
Master Jian Zhen not only brought Buddhist texts and Buddhist ideas to Japan, promoting the exchange of Chinese and Japanese cultures, but also had a profound influence on Japan in terms of medicine, calligraphy and painting, and architectural art.
Because of this, the Japanese people praise the Master of Truth As the "Balance of Heaven" and revere him as the founding father of the Japanese Buddhist Vinaya. However, after he left Yangzhou, he never returned to his homeland, and his original words of "for the sake of the Dharma, why spare his life" still inspired countless monks after that to devote themselves to buddhist cultural exchanges between China and Japan.