"Who were the three great poets of the Tang Dynasty?" From Romantic Genius to Generation Monk Li Hongyi Shutong Master Profile

Master Hongyi, often referred to as Li Shutong, was a romantic genius. He joined a famous family when he was young and became an empty monk for the rest of his life. He was hailed by Lin Yutang as one of the most talented geniuses of his time, and his dramatic life trajectory is regarded as legendary by the world.

Lin Yutang: "Li Shutong is one of the most talented geniuses of our time, the strangest of all, and the most independent of all who remain."

Eileen Chang: "Don't think I'm a proud person. I've never been there. At least outside the walls of the Hongyi Venerable Temple, I am so humble."

Master Hongyi Li Shutong was a recognized generalist in China's century-long history of cultural development. As a pioneer of China's New Culture Movement, he was the first to introduce Western oil painting, piano, and theater to China, and was known for his expertise in calligraphy, poetry, study of painting and calligraphy, attainment of music and rhythm, refinement of stone, and performing arts.

In the spring of 1918, a Japanese woman and her friends searched all the temples in Hangzhou and finally found her Buddhist husband at a temple called Hu Bao. 38 years old, he was working as a teacher at the Zhejiang No. 1 Teacher's College across the West Lake. He recently quit his job as a teacher, left school and became a monk. He met his wife ten years ago when he was studying in Japan. Since then, he has experienced many reunions and separations, but this one was the final goodbye. Her husband had decided to leave the bustling world and convert to Buddhism.

Some of the men had a relatively quiet vegetarian meal at Huxinzai in front of the Moon Temple. The husband gave his wife his watch as a farewell souvenir and reassured her that you were so skilled that you would not be unemployed back in Japan. People on the shore watched the fading boat and couldn't help but weep. Those on board did not look back.

This is an article published in Wen Wei Po on March 7, 1957, "I also want to talk about Mr. Li Shutong". The author, Mr. Huang Yanpei, was an old friend of Uncle Tong and a modern educator. He wrote a scene in which he saw his friend saying goodbye to his wife.

Five years ago, Li Shutong wrote a poem "Farewell forever". The lyrics were meaningful and admirable. But I didn't realize that the words were still prophetic five years later, a fitting footnote to Li Shutong's departure from his wife and friends. He is now Master Hongyi.

Farewell.

Outside the pavilion, by the old road, the grass is green.

The evening breeze blows the willow flute, and the slanting sun sets beyond the mountains.

The sky is the limit, the earth is the corner, the dear friends are scattered.

A bottle of unclean wine will make the best of it. Don't go dreaming cold tonight.

Outside the pavilion, by the ancient road, the grass is green.

The evening breeze blows the willow flute, and the slanting sun sets beyond the mountains.

This master of art, known as China's modern culture, was waiting to walk out from under him. As a young man, he became a silent monk in Hangzhou's Hubao Temple. That year, his decision to break and enter shocked China's entire intellectual community.

On Oct. 23, 1880, Li Shutong was born into a wealthy salt merchant family near Three Forks, Tianjin. Born in the year, his father's fifth consort, Wang, had a distinctive nickname and school name.

After starting a family, Li Shutong settled in Shanghai with his mother, wife and children. With a talent for poetry and books, Li Shutong wore his frail crown and quickly became a beach celebrity. He was a romantic and uninhibited man who had a close relationship with the geisha Kun Ling. He was known as the "Five Friends of the End of the World".

Many years later, looking back on those romantic years, Li wrote these two lines, "Twenty stormy days are, after all, empty talk." These two sentences were written in 1905, which was the first major turning point in Li Shutong's life. The death of his mother, who lived alone in Shanghai, was a huge blow to Li Shutong.

Li Shutong made up his mind and decided to study in Japan. As one of the first international students specializing in art, Li Shutong studied for six years at the Tokyo Art School in Ueno, Tokyo.

Later, Li Shutong created many firsts in the history of modern Chinese art. He introduced Western painting to China for the first time, taught music using pentatonic scores for the first time, and founded China's earliest theater company. in February 1907, to alleviate the Xuhuai floods, Li Shutong and the students of the company planned to hold a charity performance. After careful consideration, they decided to stage The Lady of the Camellias, a play by French writer Alexandre Dumas. Li Shutong played the title role in The Lady of the Camellias, which eventually became a sensation in Japan.

As a result of a chance encounter, Li Shutong was invited to work as a music and art teacher at the First Normal School in Zhejiang. Li Shutong changed into her foreign student uniform, robe, waistcoat and cloth shoes. She was both serious and innocent, exactly like an educator.

Li Shutong's character was very, very special. When Xia Beggar Zun asked him what to do because his dormitory had been burglarized, suggesting that he influence his students by committing suicide was, shall we say, extreme to the extreme. Of course, Xia Beggar Zun did not do so. In class, he would bow to the students very seriously. When students made mistakes, he would ask them to stay, that is, he would tell them in a very low voice not to spit in the future. Then, when he was done speaking, he would bow to the student again. You can go now. Then his method of education was like that, and this is a complete proof. As a teacher, he used his personality as a backdrop, just as the Buddha has an "afterglow".

Under Li Shutong's auspices, the school's art education atmosphere was so strong that he pioneered the art of teaching Chinese mannequins.

The teacher Li Shutong, with his charisma and deep knowledge of Chinese and Western cultures, cultivated a large number of outstanding musical and artistic talents. From the early years of the Republic of China to the twentieth year of the Republic of China, almost all the musicians in southern China were paid by Li Shutong, whether they were his students or his pupils.

On July 13, 1918, on the lunar calendar, Li Shutong walked for the last time as a man of the world on the boulevard leading to the school gate. He left the place, ending his secular life, and fled to the Buddhist sect to play heavenly music in the name of Buddhism, which he called Hongyi. Mr. Li's sudden renunciation caused a big shock in the school.

Li Shutong did not give a positive explanation for his monkhood. To his uncle's close friends and his Japanese wife, the change seemed a bit "unpredictable". Among the different opinions, Feng Zikai's explanation is more pertinent. Human life can be divided into three levels: material life, spiritual life, and soul life. Some people are serious in their lives. Satisfying "material desires" and "spiritual desires" is not enough, but one has to explore the real life.

Hongyi ended his life as an ascetic. He chose the strictest precepts of Buddhism, the Namsan Dharma, which was lost more than 700 years ago, and practiced it diligently.

In the 20th century, the names of four great masters shone together in Chinese Buddhism. They were Xuyun, Hongyi, Taixu and Yingguang. Venerable Hong Yi eventually became the eleventh Venerable Master of Nanshan Buddhism. Li Shutong was a very decent man, like an all-around actor. He looked like an old student, he looked like a niche, he looked like a big face, and it all stemmed from one of the major traits of his character, "seriousness."

On Oct. 13, 1942, he wrote the words "Sorrow and Joy," which became his last words. Written casually on a piece of used paper, small and simple, without engraving. Next to the words "Sorrow and Joy" and "Seeing the Scriptures" are three slightly smaller words.

Three days later, Venerable Hongyi bathed and changed his clothes, maintained an auspicious reclining posture while chanting the sutra, and left behind more than 500 pieces of relics.

Venerable Hong Yi's life was full of legends, 63 years of flying, 39 years of secularism, and 24 years of Buddhism, leaving the world with endless spiritual wealth. He is an outstanding representative of the combination of Chinese traditional culture and Buddhist culture, and is a typical figure of China's extremely magnificent yet bland character. Mr. Zhao Puchu said of him:

The deep sorrow of the early emergence,

The victor may end up becoming an ascetic,

The endless treasure in the eyes of the world,

The full moon shines in the center of the sky.