Feng Mengzhen

Feng Mengzhen

Feng Mengzhen (1548-1606) was born in Xiushui, Zhejiang Province (now Jiaxing). A famous Buddhist monk. Ming Dynasty poet. In 1577 ad (the fifth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty), he was a Jinshi, an official editor, and respected Shen Maoxue and Tu Long with integrity. Later, because of offending Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng, he was banished to Guangde Prefecture and sentenced. He moved to nanguozijian to sacrifice wine. Three years later, he was impeached and dismissed from office, so he did not return. He moved to Hangzhou and built his house at the foot of an isolated mountain. On the day of Shangliang, the snow began to clear, so it was called "kuaixue". Feng Mengzhen was a broad-minded man who was good at reading and rewarding postgraduates. The poems are free and clear, and there is no carving. He has 64 volumes of kuaixuetang Ji, 1 volume of kuaixuetang manlu, Gongju Zhi of the past dynasties, etc.

Life experience

Feng Mengzhen was born in the 27th year of Jiajing reign of emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty and died in the 33rd year of Wanli reign of emperor Shenzong of Ming Dynasty at the age of 58. In the fifth year of Wanli (1577), there were three Jinshi in the second grade A, who were compiled and edited by officials. Shen Maoxue and Tu Long respected each other with integrity. Zhang Juzheng lost his father and argued for his love. Meng Zhen realized that his son had no choice but to speak. He disobeyed Juzheng and was immune from illness. In 1593, he was a magistrate of guangdezhou, a magistrate of Liangyi, a deputy secretary of Shangbao, and was promoted to the post of secretary of Nanjing Imperial College. He moved to the Imperial College of Nanjing, and then to the Imperial College of Nanjing. He paid homage to the Imperial College of Nanjing. Three years later, he was impeached and dismissed from office, so he did not come back. He moved to Hangzhou and built his house at the foot of an isolated mountain.

Meng Zhen named his hall "kuaixue" because of Wang Xizhi's "kuaixue Shiqing tie". He is the author of 64 volumes of collection of kuaixuetang, one volume of manlu of kuaixuetang and Gongju annals of all dynasties, all of which are the general catalogue of Siku and handed down to the world. Qian Qianyi wrote the inscription of Nanjing Guozijian Jijiu Feng cemetery, which is called his deep Zen and his Buddhist sutra.

In the 28th year of Wanli (1600), Zibai went north to the capital to rescue Wu Baoxiu, the Nankang prefect, who asked for help for the people. Feng Mengzhen, Tang Xianzu and other Zibai friends strongly advised him. Zibai wrote back to Feng Mengzhen, saying:

I've been taught a lot by hand. My younger brother, Xu Sizhi, is like a broken head. If we plan again on the mountains and forests to avoid disasters, it will be easy to take disasters from the market, then we still have a head to break. Therefore, he is willing to accept the news and has no time to avoid it. And how to give up the environment to forge the heart!

In his letters with Tang Xianzu, Zibai also used the words "broken hair is like broken head", but the words are euphemistic and cautious, which is not as straightforward as this book. In another letter at the same time, Zibo also expressed his gratitude to Feng Mengzhen and other Jiangnan friends for their concern and love

On the seventh day of November in the thirtieth year of Wanli, Xu read it. I know that Mr. Jiang Nan's Dharma lovers deeply protect their wisdom and wish, that is, the local puppet people must also know how to feel? Mr. Di and all the Dharma lovers deeply protect the beauty of the heart, but they all have their own interests What's more, Cao's hair is as broken as his head! Mr. ran, together with other Dharma lovers, deeply protects wisdom and wishes, and dares not know likes and dislikes In recent years, Mr. Wei, can you use samadhi at a critical moment? This poor way is expected from the teacher. This is also true. If you don't answer the Dharma partners with a straight heart, this is not the true nature of the Buddha disciples On the seventh day of the third month of guimao.

This book was written about nine months before the death of Zibai. It can be seen from the book that during his stay in the capital, Feng Mengzhen sent people to call Zibai back to the south to avoid the attack. However, Zibai, who has already put his life and death beyond his control, did not listen to the advice of Feng Mengzhen and other close friends. He was still in the capital with a lot of fear and bustling about to rescue Wu Baoxiu. In the end, he was taboo by the group and was put in prison.

After zibaizhenke (1543-1603 AD) passed away, Feng Mengzhen was extremely sad and indignant. He was depressed for a long time. Two years later, he died of grief and indignation. As Lu Fu said:

Master Yu Kao stood up to fight against the disaster. He was spared by Zhongfu (Yu Yuli). Though nothing happened, he was still enough to breathe out for zongfeng. To be angry and sighing, to cry and to cry, and to be seen in poetry, is to be learned from Tang Xianzu, who is virtuous and friendly. When he heard that it was difficult for the emperor and Cheng obituary to cry and feel sick, he wrote about his life and gave full play to his last glory. He was the first one (Feng Mengzhen) My teacher was born in the year of Wanli, and he wrote with my husband, especially in pain. Even the crash was not far away, so he was in high mood to visit the lake. It was the master who died, and the master who soon turned his strength, if he had been foretold.

Anecdotes

After the Ming Dynasty, Xihu Longjing tea gradually formed a distinctive feature and was favored by people. However, due to the limited production, fake Xihu Longjing tea also appeared.

Once upon a time, Feng Mengzhen, the leader of kuaixue hall, followed his old friend Xu maowu to have a close look, and then took a handful of tea soup to taste after brewing. As a result, he shook his head again and again, but none of them was authentic "Longjing".

Later, one family sent a small bag of tea, saying it was absolutely genuine. Xu maowu tried again, and his fragrance was really different, with the fragrance of bean flower. However, the tea farmers and the monks of Longjing Temple attacked, saying that Xu maowu had made a mistake and that this small bag of tea was a fake. All of them were "real goods" of the mountain.

Feng Mengzhen likes to drink "West Lake Longjing" on weekdays, but he is not expert in distinguishing true and false "Longjing". When he saw that Xu maowu had been "Besieged", he had no choice but to pull his old friend away from Longjing Village to return to the city. Along the way, Xu maowu kept criticizing the fake images of "Longjing" just now. Feng Mengzhen sighed: "the fake things are really so chaotic!" (collection of fast snow Hall)

Southeast Buddhism in late Ming Dynasty

Feng Mengzhen, a native of Xiushui (Jiaxing), Zhejiang Province, was the first official in the Wanli five-year examination. He went to Nanjing Guozijian to sacrifice wine. Feng is an important writer and a famous Buddhist monk in the late Ming Dynasty. Because of his political frustration, he went to his hometown several times, settled in Hangzhou, and worked in the southeast. These activities were mainly related to Buddhist practice, Buddhist propaganda and Buddhist assistance. They contacted a large number of famous and unknown monks and monks around him, which played an important role in promoting the formation of the atmosphere of Buddhist resurgence in the southeast at that time.

For a long time, the research on Feng Mengzhen is quite insufficient. By examining his two books, collection of kuaixuetang and diary of kuaixuetang, we can not only have a general and complete understanding of his Buddhist experience, but also find a large number of first-hand historical materials of Buddhist activities in the southeast during the late Ming Dynasty due to his extensive contact and detailed records. It is impossible for this paper to make a comprehensive introduction, but only focus on two related aspects, namely, the basic characteristics of Feng's Buddhist thought and the specific experience of his association with Tu Long, which are related to the situation of Buddhism in Southeast China at that time.

（1） The experience and characteristics of Feng's Buddhist thought. This includes two points. One is Feng's general thought, which is his attitude towards Confucianism and Buddhism. On the one hand, Feng opposes Confucianists' confusion and attack on Buddhism, and protects the interests of Buddhism. On the other hand, he thinks Confucianism and Buddhism can be understood. The second is the problem of returning to Buddhism. Feng Mengzhen's Buddhism came from the idea of being optimistic and worshipped Buddhism. If the reason of Buddhism itself is excluded, it is also related to Feng's temperament and experience. Therefore, he especially likes the heroic Zen style of being optimistic. However, since Feng Mengzhen lived in Hangzhou for several times, he was inevitably influenced by the pure land belief which was in the process of actively brewing at that time, which was also closely related to the guidance of yunqi and Yu Chunxi.

（2） A study of the association between Feng Mengzhen and Tu Long. Tu Long, a native of Yinxian County, Zhejiang Province, was a Jinshi of the same year as Feng Mengzhen. The reason why the textual research on their relationship is important is that their ideological changes are directly related to a major paradigm transformation in the literary history of the late Ming Dynasty. In my book Buddhism and the literary trend of late Ming Dynasty, I have a simple discussion about it. Here, I hope to make an explanation through a more detailed examination. In particular, Tu Long's change has more significance in the history of literature, and this change is directly derived from Feng Mengzhen's Buddhist enlightenment.

Feng Mengzhen and Buddhism

Feng Mengzhen is a real resident in Xiushui, Zhejiang Province. In the fifth year of Wanli, he took the first place in the imperial examination. He chose the Imperial Academy to offer sacrifices to the Imperial Academy in Nanjing. Because of his official position, integrity and laxity, he was often shunned in the court. In addition, due to other family or health reasons, he was still idle for a lot of time and settled in Hangzhou for a long time. He built a residence in the sun of Gushan, which was called "kuaixuetang". Since the beginning of Wanli, Feng Mengzhen, who sympathized with the anti Jiangling people, gained a great reputation in the dynasty. After returning to his residence, he was nostalgic for the scenery of mountains and lakes and made many friends. He was not only good at writing articles, but also had a good understanding of Buddhism and helped with Buddhism. He was well-known in the southeast. He was a famous Buddhist monk. His name was recorded in Peng Shaosheng's biography of the Buddhist, which was attached to Lu and shenghou, who lived in Wutai.

The two books "kuaixuetang" written by Feng and other historical materials are mainly related to Buddhism in the following aspects. One is to contact the monks and communicate with all kinds of Buddhists. At that time, the famous monks, such as yunqi, Daguan, Hanshan, Xuelang and zangmi, had a lot of contacts with them, especially the monks who lived in temples or traveled with them for a long time. Among the residents, the southeast celebrities who had more contacts were Yu Chunxi brothers, Lu Wutai, Huang Zhenfu, Tu Long, Tang Yuanzheng, Guan Zhidao, Gu Yuan, Yuan Chaofan, Dong Qichang, and so on Pan Jingsheng and other Buddhists had frequent exchanges and frequent movements, which not only made a variety of Buddhist activities unfold frequently, but also created an atmosphere of sycophantic Buddhism in the southeast. Especially from the diary, we can see that Feng Mengzhen's existence in Hangzhou undoubtedly added an important connection hub for this operation network. The second is to participate in various Buddhist activities such as pleasing Buddha, worshiping Buddha and helping Buddha, such as helping fate. In the anthology, there are a number of articles that participated in the fund-raising at that time. For example, for the reconstruction and addition of various Buddhist temples in Zhejiang, there are Jingshan Huacheng Temple and Jiaxing Lengyan temple

Chinese PinYin : Feng Meng Zhen