Venerable Fuyu
During twelve century a very special child was born to the Zhang (chin.: zhāng 张) family in Wen Shui County (chin.: Wénshuǐ 文水) in Shanxi province (chin.: Shānxī 山西). His nickname was “little kid saint” (chin.: shèng xiǎo’ér 圣小兒) because he could read a book just once and has a complete understanding of it. He renounced the world for monk hood (chin.: chūjiā 出家), took the name Fu Yu (chin.: 福裕 fúyù 1203-1275) and began training under monk Xiu Lin Wei (chin.: xiūlínwèi 休林为). Master Fu Yu played a significant role in rebuilding Buddhism during the early Mongol period.
With the gradual weakening of the northern Song Dynasty, the Jurchens (chin.: 女真nǚzhēn), the ancestors of the Manchus who established the Qing Dynasty some 500 years later, conquered and ruled over the northern parts and established the Jin Dynasty (chin.: Jin Chao; 金朝 1115-1234). By 1200, Changan, Kaifeng, and Luoyang, the area where Shaolin Si stood, were under Jin control. Kaifeng had fallen into Jurchen hands in 1127.
The Mongols then swept from the north pushing the Jin out of the region. These conquests created great havoc not only in the population at large but in the monastic world as well. A large number of monasteries in the north were either destroyed or abandoned. It was a time of great tribulation and disruption, as entire cities being abandoned in anticipation of the Mongol invasion, roving bandits became endemic. Some Mongol leaders even proposed a plan to turn northern China into a great pasture land by killing every single Chinese person in the region. It would have been one of the greatest slaughters in human history, if it was not for a Chan monk by the name of Hai Yun (Chin.: 海雲), who among other Chinese religious leaders influenced the Mongol court to abandon their plans.Suggested Keywords for further search: Fuyu | Fu Yu | Monk Fuyu
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Posted by Venerable Master Shi Yan Zhuo & Yaojin on 12/09 at 12:36 AM
