China News Agency, Nanjing, February 6th, title: People in Jiangsu recall Master Hsing Yun, a "hometowner": There is a "destiny" to stay in this hometown
China News Agency reporter Zhu Xiaoying Cui Jiaming Shen Ran Xu Shanshan
"Do things with the heart of being born into the world." Shocked to hear that Master Xingyun passed away, Lai Yonghai, his old friend of more than 30 years, professor of Nanjing University and dean of the Institute of Chinese Culture of Nanjing University, told the reporter of China News Agency with these two sentences on the 6th Evaluate the master's life.
Master Hsing Yun, the founding patriarch of Taiwan's Fo Guang Shan and the founder of the International Fo Guang Association, passed away peacefully on February 5 at the age of 96.
Master Hsing Yun, commonly known as Li Guoshen, was born in Jiangdu, Yangzhou, Jiangsu in 1927.
When he was 10 years old, Master Xingyun came to Nanjing with his mother to look for his father. He experienced the Nanjing Massacre that shocked China and the world. He fled with the crowd when he was young. At the age of 12, he became a monk at Qixia Temple in Nanjing.
In 1949, Master Hsing Yun moved to Taiwan. In 1967, he founded Fo Guang Shan in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
The data picture shows the exhibition site of Master Xingyun's "One-stroke Character".
Photo/China News Agency reporter Yang Bo
Because of his childhood experience, Master Xingyun later asked American painter Li Zijian to create an oil painting "Tu·Sheng·Buddha—Nanjing Massacre".
This oil painting has been exhibited more than 70 times in more than 30 countries and regions, and was donated to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders on December 13, 2000, the 63rd anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre.
In 2015, the oil painting was rated as a national first-class cultural relic in the category of Anti-Japanese War.
The brutal Japanese army wiped the blood from the bayonets, and the massacred corpses piled up into mountains.
The only surviving child crawled out from the pile of dead people, howled and shouted at the sky... Li Zijian once recalled: When Master Xingyun saw this painting, he stood still for a long time without saying a word.
A tear fell from his eye.
"I saw people in the river with their heads upside down and their feet upside down. There were dead bodies everywhere. Blood seeped into the leaves and mud at the bottom of the river. I could see clearly. I also saw dead bodies on the side of the road being eaten by dogs. The chest, only the limbs are left. There are too many such examples.” Master Hsing Yun described the Nanjing Massacre by the Japanese invaders as “hell on earth” during his lifetime.
"I am a witness and a victim of the Nanjing Massacre. I have remembered this pain for decades." Zhu Chengshan, who was once the curator of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, clearly remembers Master Xingyun saying this.
When donating the oil painting, Master Hsing Yun said: "This painting expresses my emotions. It is also my wish to have it collected by the Memorial Hall. This is the best destination for the painting. Letting future generations visit it can serve as a greater warning. "
The data picture shows Master Hsing Yun's "One-stroke Character" exhibition.
Photo/China News Agency reporter Yang Bo
After going to Taiwan to develop the cause of Buddhism, Master Hsing Yun has traveled all over the five continents for decades.
But his hometown Yangzhou has always been the softest and warmest place in his heart.
When you open your mouth, you can hear the strong local accent, and when you hear it, you are an authentic Yangzhou native.
At a media meeting when he returned to Yangzhou, Master Hsing Yun spoke affectionately about his homesickness to reporters from China News Agency.
"I can't think of a better word to praise my hometown than the ancients." The ancients gave Yangzhou two points of the three-point moon night in the world. Master Xingyun was grateful for the supreme glory of his hometown, and recited an ancient poem: "The three-point moon night in the world, The two-point rogue is Yangzhou."
In 2008, the Jianzhen Library donated by Master Hsing Yun opened in Yangzhou, and the Yangzhou Forum in the library opened at the same time.
Over the years, the Yangzhou Forum has invited famous experts from all walks of life to give lectures on a voluntary basis, and Master Hsing Yun has returned to his hometown many times to visit the Yangzhou Forum.
On March 20, 2010, Master Hsing Yun gave his first lecture in his hometown, talking about how he went from Yangzhou to the world.
Gu Feng, a Yangzhou cultural scholar, recalled to a reporter from China News Agency that in 2015, Master Hsing Yun gave lectures for three consecutive days in Jianzhen Library, and the seats were full.
Due to the limited space, many people stood outside the library and listened to the lecture through a large screen.
"At that time, he was old and his eyesight had deteriorated, but he insisted on giving lectures." Before leaving, the master still did not forget to bid farewell to the people in his hometown.
The data picture shows that on October 12, 2015, the building of the Institute of Chinese Culture (Xingyun Building) was opened at Nanjing University, and Master Xingyun unveiled his statue.
Photo/China News Agency reporter Yang Bo
Master Xingyun is committed to promoting cross-strait exchanges. He donated to build the Chinese Academy Museum and Nanjing University Chinese Culture Research Institute Building (Xingyun Building) in Fuxing Dajue Temple in Yixing, Wuxi, to promote cross-strait cultural exchanges and promote cross-strait harmony.
Master Hsing Yun once said in an interview: "My consistent wish is cross-strait peace." In March 2009, at the World Buddhist Forum held in Wuxi, Master Hsing Yun said: "There are no Taiwanese in Taiwan. Which one in Taiwan is not Chinese?"
"Master Hsing Yun devotes his heart and soul to public welfare and public undertakings, and also spreads the seeds of good fortune and peace to the world," said a Yangzhou resident.
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