New Anhui School Painter Series: Lian Wu Painting Collection

Author: Lan Wu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1997-02-01
Features: Those who form a bond with monks or Taoists in the secular world are called [Friends of the Other World]. Examples include Tang Dynasty's Chen Zi'ang and Du Shunzhi with monk Huaiyi, Song Dynasty's Su Dongpo with Fo Yin, and Zhao Yue Dao with Fo Hui, all recorded in poems and historical accounts. My family is devout in Buddhism. Every spring, my mother would take a boat to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, visiting mountains and offering incense, often bringing me along. Thus, I had the opportunity to stay in monasteries frequently, meet various monks, and learn about their backgrounds, which can be summarized in several ways: some are devoted to the inner scriptures and firmly believe in reincarnation; some are moved by the state of the world and weary of worldly ties; some are loyal officials or disgraced sons of the former dynasty, deeply attached to the past; some are those who have struggled in the bureaucratic world, facing perilous paths; some are those overwhelmed by love's trials, utterly frustrated by emotions; some are orphans who lost their parents at a young age and had no one to rely on; some are those who committed crimes and sought refuge in monasteries to hide. Since their motivations are diverse, their outcomes also differ. This is why monk Huijiao compiled the Biographies of Eminent Monks, similar to's Biographies of Illustrious Scholars.