Yunqi Zhuhong

Yunqi Zhuhong was born in 1535 in Hangzhou Province into a well-educated family with the surname Shen. Zhuhong was reportedly an excellent student, and passed the first level of the Imperial civil-service exams, and continued studying to the age of 32. However, Zhuhong did not pass any further exams. According to sources, the area was still infested with tigers which often attacked the local villagers. To curb the attacks without killing the tigers, Zhuhong led a pacification ceremony for five days and nights where monks were instructed to perform twelve complete sessions of the Repentance Ritual of the Emperor of Liang (梁皇懺法; pinyin: Liánghuáng Chànfǎ) as well as conduct the Yujia Yankou rite (瑜伽燄口; pinyin: Yújiā Yànkǒu; lit: "Yoga Flaming Mouth Food Bestowal Rite") to pacify the tigers, after which the attacks subsided. Another famous account mentions an incident when, during a year where severe drought struck the area, the local villagers petitioned Zhuhong for help in praying for rain. When Zhuhong replied that he did not know any rain-making magic and only knew the nianfo, the villagers insisted. Unable to refuse, Zhuhong went out, reciting the nianfo and striking a wooden fish while walking through the fields, whereupon rain began to fall wherever he passed. Records mention other similar feats by Zhuhong, including an instance in 1588 when he managed to lift a plague that had struck Hangzhou after being invited by the magistrate Yu Liangshu (余良樞) to Lingzhi Temple (靈芝寺) to perform a ritual to avert calamity. Due to his miraculous interventions for the benefit of the local community, Zhuhong eventually restored Yunqi Temple with local sponsorship and assumed leadership of the local religious community. Due to his educated background, he assisted when official matters required someone who could speak Mandarin Chinese, and developed a network of gentlemen who sought his advice on spiritual matters as well. == Pure Land Writings ==

Yunqi Zhuhong wrote extensively on the Pure Land Buddhist tradition both to defend it from criticism from other Buddhist institutions (primarily Chan), and to explore and clarify the teachings more. For example, in his commentary on the Amitabha Sutra, Zhuhong wrote on the phenomenal aspect of the Pure Land, and how at the highest level, the awakened mind sees the Pure Land as it really is. In so doing, Zhuhong attempted to reconcile the more traditional "Western-direction" view of the Pure Land with the more "mind-only" position frequently espoused by Chan Buddhist institutions. In addition, in his (CBETA X.1158), Zhuhong teaches, for example, the importance of the nianfo in establishing a "resonance" with the Buddha Amitabha which leads to a mutual effect that leads to rebirth in the Pure Land. In additional to a strict, disciplined lifestyle, Zhuhong advocates the verbal form of the nianfo in particular due to the declining Age of the Dharma. == Teachings ==

Zhuhong's teachings and writings sought to reconcile various strands and interpretations of Pure Land Buddhist practice by using the concepts of principle () and phenomena () to distinguish between Amitabha Buddha as a non-dualistic, "mind-only" concept, and Amitabha Buddha as a literal Buddha in the western Pure Land. Zhuhong felt that Pure Land Buddhism is flexible enough to account for both interpretations, depending on one's personal interpretation. For Zhuhong, the ultimate goal of Pure Land Buddhism was to attain samadhi focused on Amitabha Buddha, realizing that the Buddha was one's own mind: For example, the practice of reciting the nianfo works in either context, Zhuhong wrote, since a literal interpretation of reciting the nianfo would lead one to be reborn in the Pure Land, while in a mind-only context, reciting the nianfo would lead to a focused, "unperturbed mind". However, Zhuhong felt that either interpretation was valid, and would ultimately lead toward Enlightenment. However, Zhuhong was more critical toward an excessive bias toward a "mind-only"/principle interpretation as it could lead to hubris and arrogance. In addition to recitation of the nianfo, Zhuhong also advocated other mainstream Buddhist practices such as chanting of the Buddhist sutras, upholding the Buddhist vows such as the five precepts, studying Buddhist teachings, practicing compassion including vegetarianism, and so on. == Opposition to Catholicism ==

Yunqi Zhuhong was among the first of a growing rebuttal to the influence of Catholicism in Chinese society, starting with a short work, the , in 1615, five years after the death of Matteo Ricci. Zhuhong's polemic coincided with the political appointment of Shen Que (, d. 1624) as vice minister of rites in Nanking (Nanjing) and his initiation of an anti-Catholic campaign from official circles in 1616. In the , published in three sections: the Chubi (), Erbi () and the Sanbi (), he describes Matto Ricci as follows: == References ==

• Carpenter, Bruce, E. "Buddhism and the Seventeenth Century Anti-Catholic Movement in China", Tezukayama University Review (Tezukayama Daigaku Ronshu), no. 54, 1986, pp. 17–26. • Yu Chun-fang in Goodrich and Fang ed., Dictionary of Ming Biography, Columbia University Press, New York, 1976, vol. 1, 322–324.