Posted ByChina7dayThe second is the layout of the tombs in the Pagoda Forest of Shaolin Temple, which reflects the burial system of Shaolin Temple monks who built pagodas in their ancestral tombs after their death. Take the existing earliest Buddhist pagoda of Tang Dynasty in Tallinn as the upper part (respect the north as the upper part), which is like a fan axis and spreads downward (South) in the form of a fan. The pagoda buries the spiritual bones of monks in different times, similar to the layout where the elders of laymen are buried in the north and the elders are buried in the lower part of the South (3). However, the difference is that laymen build cemeteries based on the lineage series of consanguinity, while Buddhists build cemeteries based on the seniority of monks, teachers and apprentices; laymen build tombs and Buddhists build tombs [3]. Because of the relationship between the terrain and the floor area of the Pagoda Forest in Shaolin Temple, and the family system of “grandchildren hall”, we often choose a piece of open land for burying spiritual bones in the Pagoda Forest (the ancestral tombs) based on the family relationship between teachers and apprentices, so it is inevitable that the early ancestral pagodas are distributed near the later “descendants” pagodas; the pattern of the ancestral pagodas is that the Shita is built in the upper North, Tu and sun pagodas were successively built in the lower South or east by South and west by south of the Shita. For example, in the West District of Tallinn in the Ming Dynasty, “Shouan monk’s Lingta, the rich hero of Shaolin Temple, named Zhou Fu, was built by his disciples Hong Zhi, Hong Quan, fasun puxiong and chongsun Guangzhu. Thirty years after the completion of Zhoufu pagoda, three tombs were built successively, including tuhongquan, sun puxiong and chongsun Guangzhu. The layout of the four towers of Shi, Tu, sun and chongsun is that the Zhoufu tower is located at the top of the north, the whole tower of Tuhong is located at 397 cm below the left of Zhoufu tower (East by South), the sunpuxiong tower is located at 960 cm below the left of Hongquan tower (East by South), and the chongsun Guangzhu tower is located at 425 cm below the left of puxiong tower (East by South). The formation of oblique “one” arrangement pattern, different generations of pagodas are built in the lower left side of the division tower. Another example is “the first pagoda of Dagong Nanzhou in Shaolin Temple”, which was built in the first year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty (1506). It is the first pagoda of Shaolin Temple. The pagoda was built by the disciples and others. He is the head of the first ancestor of Shaolin Temple. His epitaph in the pagoda reads: “Li Ben temple, Nanzhou Gong, is the teacher”, “buried in the pagoda yard of the temple, with Nanzhou pagoda left of the temple attached”. According to the actual measurement, the tuobservable tower is located 88 cm below the left side (south by East) of the shiyuantabular tower, which is completely consistent with the records of the observable tower. The above is an example of the apprentice tower built on the lower left of the division tower. Of course, there is also a case where the apprentice tower was built at the lower right (southwest) of the master tower. For example, the zhoujian and Shangta, built in the eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1580), was built at the lower right (southwest) 115cm of the master’s “Wuxing monk tower”; there are also apprentice towers located just south of the master tower. It can be seen from the above that after Buddhism was introduced into China, it absorbed the traditional Chinese burial customs, combined with the religious system of Buddhist pagoda building, and formed the Chinese style regulations on the location of the pagoda after the death of the monks.
The third is the tombs in the Pagoda Forest of Shaolin Temple. Most of them are built by one monk after he passed away. There are also two or three pagodas built by one monk. For example, in the Eastern District of Tallinn, the “pagoda of the Lord of Hegong mountain” built in the fifth year of Yanyou in the Yuan Dynasty, and Zhihe, the name of Gongfa, successively served as the head of Shaolin temple treasury and Dengfeng Yongtai temple, “to the end of Guisi in the Yuan Dynasty, Linggu was divided into two towers, one Shaolin Temple and one Yongtai Temple” (4). For another example, the “Xi’an temple, the tower of the great Zen master, was built in the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1340). It is called Xi’an in the name of rang Gong FA. It is a famous Zen master and the abbot of Shaolin Temple in the Yuan Dynasty. It also engaged in Buddhist activities in Fawang Temple (Dengfeng City, Henan Province), Xiangyan Temple (Xichuan County, Henan Province), kongxiang Temple (Shaan County, Henan Province), and Lingyan Temple (Changqing County, Shandong Province), The Linggu pagoda was built and buried in Shaolin Temple and Lingyan Temple respectively after the death of the emperor. The “Presbyterian pagoda of ten prefectures of Xuanshi West Road, Henan Province, built in 1289 before the Yuan Dynasty, was once the abbot of Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, Lingyan temple in Shandong Province, and Wanshou Temple in Beijing. After his death, Linggu was sent to Shaolin Temple, Lingyan temple and Wanshou temple to build pagodas for burial. What’s more, there is also an example of four pagodas built by a monk, such as Rufeng, a famous Zen master in the early Yuan Dynasty, who once served as the abbot of Shaolin Temple and Wanshou temple in Yanjing. After his death, he built pagodas in Shaolin Temple and Yanjing, Nangong and Huizhou to bury the bones. In the Pagoda Forest of Shaolin Temple, there are many monks building a pagoda, such as the “ordinary pagoda” (5), which was built in the third year of song Xuanhe (1121) in the north area of the Pagoda Forest. Most of the existing pagodas have no ordinary pagodas, only the pagodas of large temples have such pagodas. There is not only a common tower built in the large-scale Pagoda Forest of some famous temples. For example, in the Pagoda Forest of Shaolin, there is not only the “common tower” in Xuanhe three years of the Northern Song Dynasty, but also the “common tower for children” in the north area of the Pagoda Forest. According to the Buddhist Scripture, “the Zen temple is called Tongxing for the young people who have not yet been visited, also known as Tongshi, Seng Tong and Xingtong”, and other tombs in the pagoda are all facing south. However, the “Tongxing ordinary pagoda” faces east and West, that is to say, it faces the direction of Shaolin Temple’s frequent hospitalization, and its meaning of care is obvious. In addition, the pagoda of Shaolin temple also has a pagoda of robes, such as the famous Zen master of Ming Dynasty and the imperial order of Shaolin Temple to preside over the right way. His Dharma name is Zhengdao, wordless, No. Xueju, which is called wordless right way. He is not only one of the longest Abbots in charge of Shaolin Temple, but also a famous monk of great reputation at the end of Ming Dynasty, making great contributions to the construction of Shaolin Temple. In 1623, when he died, his disciples built a “happy place for master Xueju” (pagoda) in the Eastern District of Tallinn to bury the spirit bones. In the fourth year of Tianqi, the disciples circle society built a “Shangben great monk’s speechless life-long residence” pagoda for him on the south slope of Shaolin temple.
Through the analysis of the above-mentioned situation, it can be seen that after the death of Shaolin Temple monks, they not only kept the traditional Buddhist regulations of building pagodas and burying them in many places, but also were influenced by the burial system of laymen in the Han area of China. They are the material materials for the study of Buddhist culture, especially the burial system of Zen.