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NOTES AND QUERIES
of the Cotton Bag Monk, Pu Tai (), an incarnation of Mi Lo Fu. Pu Tai was said to have died at that temple at the beginning of the tenth century.
Another preserved body was that of a Shantung peach seller who dropped dead at the altar and was embalmed in mud and became a deity, Wu Yu Hsien (†), around whom a local cult sprang up and flourished during the fourteenth century. Yet another was the skeleton of an old and holy abbot overlaid with gold foil on Chiu Hua Shan at the Pai Sui Kung“.
A preserved body in the Nan Hua Shan Monastery in northern Kwangtung was that of the Sixth Patriarch of Chinese Buddhism (A.D.). It appears to be the earliest recorded "fleshy body". The Sixth and last of the Chinese Patriarchs, Hui Neng (#), died in A.D. 712. His corpse is said to have remained incorrupt and even to exhale a sweet fragrance. His chest maintained its natural position and the skin appeared glossy and flexible. In A.D. 1236 when the Mongol troops pursued the last emperor of the Southern Sung and defeated him in Kwangtung, it is said that Mongol soldiers violated the tomb of the Patriarch and even went so far as to rip open the abdomen with a sword thrust. On seeing that the heart and liver were still in a perfect state of preservation, they were filled with fear and went no further in their sacrilege. Several replicas are to be seen in Hong Kong; a good example is on the altar of Huang Ta Hsien (黄大仙) in the San Yuan Temple (三元宫) in T'ai P'ing Shan Street, Hong Kong. (See plate 27). Incidentally, smaller images of Hui Neng, often seen in curio shops, are easily recognisable by the small dragon in his begging bowl. He is considered to be the founder of the Vegetarian Sects of Buddhism, Ch’ih Su Chiao ( vegetarian ).
Another mummy, black faced, covered in lacquer and gilded, sat in a lotus position in a place of honour in the T'ien T'ai Temple south-west of Peking, wearing Buddhist robes but of Imperial yellow. He wore a vairocana five-leaf crown on his head, his face was smooth and full fleshed and his skin black with age. Many thought that he was a wooden image and legend, since disproved, claimed him to be Fu Lin, the first Manchu Emperor of China (1638-1661) better known as Shun Chih who died at the age of 30. The story probably grew from the known fact that he wished to become a monk. The mummy was refurbished annually at a minor ceremony and was a great attraction for pilgrims.
294
NOTES AND QUERIES
of the Cotton Bag Monk, Pu Tai (), an incarnation of Mi Lo Fu. Pu Tai was said to have died at that temple at the beginning of the tenth century.
Another preserved body was that of a Shantung peach seller who dropped dead at the altar and was embalmed in mud and became a deity, Wu Yu Hsien (†), around whom a local cult sprang up and flourished during the fourteenth century. Yet another was the skeleton of an old and holy abbot overlaid with gold foil on Chiu Hua Shan at the Pai Sui Kung“.
A preserved body in the Nan Hua Shan Monastery in northern Kwangtung was that of the Sixth Patriarch of Chinese Buddhism (A). It appears to be the earliest recorded "fleshy body". The Sixth and last of the Chinese Patriarchs, Hui Neng (#), died in AD 712. His corpse is said to have remained incorrupt and even to exhale a sweet fragrance. His chest maintained its natural position and the skin appeared glossy and flexible. In AD 1236 when the Mongol troops pursued the last emperor of the Southern Sung and defeated him in Kwangtung, it is said that Mongol soldiers violated the tomb of the Patriarch and even went so far as to rip open the abdomen with a sword thrust. On seeing that the heart and liver were still in a perfect state of preservation, they were filled with fear and went no further in their sacrilege. Several replicas are to be seen in Hong Kong; a good example is on the altar of Huang Ta Hsien (★★4) in the San Yuan Temple (2x) in T'ai P'ing Shan Street, Hong Kong. (See plate 27). Incidentally, smaller images of Hui Neng, often seen in curio shops, are easily recognisable by the small dragon in his begging bowl. He is considered to be the founder of the Vegetarian Sects of Buddhism, Ch’ih Su Chiao ( £**).
Another mummy, black faced, covered in lacquer and gilded, sat in a lotus position in a place of honour in the T'ien T'ai Temple south-west of Peking, wearing Buddhist robes but of Imperial yellow. He wore a vairocana five-leaf crown on his head, his face was smooth and full fleshed and his skin black with age. Many thought that he was a wooden image and legend, since disproved, claimed him to be Fu Lin, the first Manchu Emperor of China (1638-1661) better known as Shun Chih who died at the age of 30. The story probably grew from the known fact that he wished to become a monk. The mummy was refurbished annually at a minor ceremony and was a great attraction for pilgrims.
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