Tokyo, April 4 (ZXS) -- Why is the yellow barberry culture flowing in Japan?

——Interview with Hiromichi Kondo, the head of Japan's Huangbari Sect Daihonzan Manfukuji Temple

Authors: Zhu Chenxi, Lv Shaowei, Jiang Wenyue

Cultural exchanges between China and Japan have a long history, and in the long history of mutual learning between civilizations, the cultural dissemination centered on Buddhist exchanges occupies a considerable weight. In the year of the Huajia, the late Ming Dynasty Zen Master Yinyuan was invited to travel east to Japan to propagate the Dharma, and founded the Huangberi Sect, one of the three major schools of Japanese Zen Buddhism, and the advanced Chinese culture and technology he brought with him deeply influenced Japanese society at that time.

In his life, Master Yin Yuan "opened two yellow barberry, Ying Huaxi and East", and was not only a generation of Buddhist masters, but also a cultural giant. The yellow barberry culture, represented by Zen Master Yinyuan, is known as "the pearl in the history of Sino-Japanese exchanges" and still has extraordinary influence today. Hiromichi Kondo, the director of Japan's Huangberi Sect Daihonzan Manfukuji Temple, recently gave an exclusive interview to the China News Agency's "East-West Question" to explain why the yellow barberry culture flowed in Japan and discuss the contemporary inheritance of the spirit of Zen Master Yinyuan.

The following is a summary of the interview:

China News Agency: Yin Yuan Zen Master is from the Wanfu Temple of Huangberi Mountain in Fuqing, Fujian, why did he travel east to Japan to propagate the Dharma?

Kondo Hirodo: Before Zen Master Hidden Yuan went to Japan, monks from China came to spread the Dharma at the "Karaji Temple" in Nagasaki, Japan, and they repeatedly invited Zen Master Hidden Gen to travel east to spread the Dharma. At first, Yin Yuan Zen Master sent his disciple Ye Lao Kei, but unfortunately he was shipwrecked and died. After that, Yin Yuan Zen Master decided to personally cross the east on a merchant ship to propagate the Dharma. In 1654, the 63-year-old Zen master Hidden Gen came to Japan with dozens of disciples.

It is well known that Buddhism came from China during the Nara period in Japan, and by the time of Zen Master Hidden Gen, Buddhism had developed for a long time, and sects including the Rinzai sect and the Sodong sect began to decline in Japan. It was the arrival of Zen Master Hidden Yuan that became a great opportunity for the flourishing of Japanese Buddhism. Zen Master Yin Yuan originally planned to return to China in three years, but failed to do so, probably because he missed his hometown Wanfuji Temple, so he also built a "Wanfuji Temple on Huangberi Mountain" in Kyoto, Japan.

In 1673, the day before his death in Japan, Zen Master Hidden Yuan was canonized as the "Great Guang Puzhao National Teacher". Since then, the Japanese imperial family has added titles to Zen Master Yinyuan every 50 years, and he has been canonized as "Buddha Ciguangjian National Master", "Jingshan First Overseas Master", "Enlightened Yuanming National Master", "Vacuum Master" and "Huaguang Master". In February 2022, Zen Master Yin Yuan was posthumously awarded the title of "Master of Strict Rule" by the Japanese royal family, which is the seventh time that the Japanese Imperial Family has granted Zen Master Yin Yuan an edict and added a title. This also illustrates the merits and influence of Zen Master Yinyuan.


In February 2022, Zen Master Hidden Yuan was posthumously awarded the title of "Master Yan Tong" by the Emperor of Japan. Photo courtesy of the Huangbari Culture Promotion Association

China News Agency: What changes did Zen Master Yin Yuan bring to Japanese Buddhism?

Kondo Hiromichi: The Huangberi sect was originally called the "Rinzai sect Huangberi sect" and became independent in 1876. The "Zen Buddhism" referred to in Japan is the Rinzai sect, the Cao Dong sect, and the Huangberi sect. Compared with the Rinzai sect and the Cao Dong sect, the Huangberi sect retains a strong Chinese cultural identity. From the early to middle Edo period, the abbots of Daihonzan Manfukuji Temple of the Huangberi Sect were almost all monks from eastern China.

The Huangberi sect has had a profound impact on the Japanese Buddhist community in terms of Zen thought, precepts and rules, rituals, order organization, and jungle system. Yin Yuan and his disciples introduced the new Zen style of the Rinzai sect in the late Ming Dynasty to Japan, and advocated strict precepts, set up three altar vows, formulated Zen forest rules, and standardized the daily behavior of monks. These gave a great impetus to the loose and revitalized Japanese Buddhism, which led various schools to follow suit and adjust themselves, thus injecting vitality into the development of modern Buddhism in Japan.

Before the arrival of Zen Master Hidden Yuan, Japanese monks practiced a two-meal system a day, without eating after lunch, and at that time Chinese generally three meals a day. At that time, Japanese monks called dinner "medicine stone", and it is said that when the monk was hungry at night, he put the heated stone in his arms to warm up and quench hunger, and later the word "medicine stone" was used to refer to dinner. Ancient Indian monks also had the habit of eating two meals a day, because they were near the tropics. But in the cold regions of China, even the use of "medicine stones" can not be tolerated, so it has become a three-meal system. After traveling east to Japan, Zen Master Yin Yuan brought with him the habit of eating three meals a day.

The ritual practices and Buddhist scriptures of the Huangberi sect are faithfully inherited from China. In chanting, the Huangberi Sect is very unique, and the pronunciation has always been carried out in Chinese pronunciation in the time of Zen Master Yinyuan, and this unique pronunciation method is called "Huangberi Tang Yun". We have visited China, and we can understand the sutras chanted in Chinese monasteries at that time, so we recite them together. When the monks of other sects saw it, they said, "Sure enough, the Huangberi sect has a deep relationship with China." One difference is that although we are the same Buddhist sutra and our pronunciation is the same, we feel that Chinese monks will suppress their voices, while Japanese people will recite them flatly. However, it should be pointed out that although "Huangberi Tang Yun" is called "Tang Yun", it is actually derived from the Chinese pronunciation of the Ming Dynasty. The pronunciation of Buddhist scriptures in the era of Zen Master Yinyuan has been passed down in the Huangberi Sect to this day.

The monks of the Huangberi sect chanted the Tripitaka in Tang Yin. Photo courtesy of the Huangbari Culture Promotion Association

The Huangberi Sect has "Fanbai". Literally, "Fanbai" is chanting like a song, with 4 beats as the basic rhythm and accompanied by bells, taiko drums, wooden fish and other magic instruments. Before Zen Master Hidden Yuan traveled east, there were no wooden fish in Japanese temples. Wanfuji Temple is famous as a temple where wooden fish originate. Next to the "Saido", the canteen of the monks of Manfukuji Temple, hangs the prototype of the wooden fish, "Uoyashi". Fish also sleep with their eyes open, a symbol of restlessness. In this way, I encourage everyone to make unremitting progress like a fish in their practice and cherish their time. The round ball in the mouth of the wooden fish symbolizes troubles, and hitting the belly of the fish with a wooden stick means to pour out troubles.

The Japanese Chinese parent-child research group walked into Kyoto's Huangberi Mountain Manfukuji Temple to visit the prototype of the wooden fish "Yubang". Photo courtesy of the Huangbari Culture Promotion Association

China News Agency: What is the impact of yellow barberry culture on Japanese society?

Hirodo Kondo: Zen Master Hidden not only disseminated Buddhist scriptures, but also brought the most advanced Chinese culture and technology to Japan at that time, many of which have been passed down to this day. The barberry culture has had a wide impact on Japan, from ideas, literature, language, calligraphy, and music, to Buddha sculpture, printing, painting, medicine, and education. Yin Yuan also brought the architectural techniques of the Ming Dynasty in China, and our temple is the architectural style of the Ming Dynasty.

In Japan, the monks of the Huangberi sect also contributed greatly to the "temple house" (folk private school, which originated from monastic education), which played an important role in the education of the common people before modern Japan. A disciple of Zen Master Okimoto, Master On, established the "Shogakuryo" at Kannagaji Temple in Ueno, Tokyo, which is regarded as the first library in Japan. When Zen Master Hidden Yuan traveled east, there was no civilian education in Japan. During the Ming Dynasty, China strengthened civilian education. The Tokugawa shogunate emulated the political moves of the Ming Dynasty in China, which also provided a better environment for the monks of the Huangberi sect to devote themselves to civilian education.

Barberry culture is still alive and well in Japanese society today. I would like to give another example that everyone is now accustomed to to illustrate the impact of this subtle influence. Before Zen Master Hidden Yuan traveled east to Japan, the Japanese did not have tables and chairs for meals, but placed a small box in front of themselves with bowls, plates and other eating utensils, and placed the eating utensils on top of the box when eating, this eating habit was called "box meal". Zen Master Yin Yuan introduced a new way of eating, that is, sitting around the table, food was served on large plates for free sharing. Of course, it is more convenient to sit in a chair, but the general public does not have such a spacious space in their homes, so they came up with a way to cut the table legs short and sit on the ground to eat. Everyone gathered around a table to eat, which also promoted the sense of equality to a certain extent. From the seasonal beans (called "hidden beans" in Japan), lotus root (called "lotus roots" in Japan), watermelons, etc., to the Ming Dynasty style (a font) in the cultural field, and the paper used for manuscripts. In this way, the lifestyle brought about by Zen Master Hidden Gen has been deeply integrated into Japanese society, and many contemporary Japanese take for granted that it is the culture that has been handed down from ancient times.

China News Agency: The important connotation of the spirit of Yinyuan Zen Master is "moral support, East and West take care of each other", how do you understand this sentence?

Hiroichi Kondo: The words "East" and "West" here refer to Japan and China. Grandmaster Yin Yuan has always taught us to uphold morality in our practice, building ashrams, starting careers, and communicating with others. Japanese culture and Chinese culture need to communicate and promote each other.

In March 2022, the exhibition of "Huang Barberry and Chinese Resources Two States - The World of Zen Ink by Yin Yuan and His Mentors and Disciples" was held in Beijing. Photo by Tian Yuhao

"Moral support, mutual illumination between East and West", this is the teachings of the ancestor of Yinyuan, which is the soul of the yellow barberry culture and the charm of the yellow barberry culture. On August 1661, 8, when the abbot of Yinyuan Zushi built the newly built Wanfuzen Temple on Huangberi Mountain in Kyoto, he also chanted a poem with joy: "The newly opened yellow barberry strong Zen foundation, the right vein spreads overseas wonders." Aspiring heroes must focus on the spirit and support morality together. That is to say, in the universe, on the earth, no matter what is there, everyone should help each other in a moral sense.

Today, re-appreciating the spirit of Zen Master Hidden Yuan, I believe that Japan and China can forge stronger ties, study each other, and deepen their ties. As the ancestor said: "Pure steel hits the body and mind, and the east and west shine endlessly, and naturally there is a thing of full merit and beauty." "East" and "West" can also refer to the East and West of the world. The world needs communication. Without communication, there can be no peace on earth. Hearts and minds can be connected across national borders, which will also promote world peace. (End)

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Photo by Zhu Chenxi, chief of Japan's Huangbari Sect's Daihonzan Wanfuji Temple

Born in 1948, Kondo Hiromichi became the 2015nd head of Wanfuji Temple in 62 (the head of the Huangbari Sect), and has successively served as the head of the Huangbari Sect's religious studies, the president of the sect's council, and the master of the Wanfukuji Zen Hall.