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he was a hero who helped pacify the San P'ing area of Changchou who then had settled in the area, and when the T'ang philosopher, Han Yu, was banished to Ch'aochou in AD 819 he and I-chung saw much of each other.
His legends are so similar to those told about Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih that it is more than likely that they have been confused and adapted by devotees. His image portrays him as a seated Buddhist monk, holding a fan in his right hand, but without any unique identifying characteristics. His festival is generally celebrated on the double sixth. It is also celebrated on two other dates, lesser festivals, the 26th of the sixth, being the anniversary of his enlightenment, and the 26th of the tenth, the anniversary of him being borne off to Heaven.
Three temples in Taiwan are dedicated to him, two in Taman and one in Nantou, though his image also appears on a number of secondary altars elsewhere in Taiwan. In a large temple in central Taman his image is the centre one of a triad flanked by Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih on his right hand, and San Tai Tsu-shih on his left. They are said to have been sworn blood brothers.
His image has not been seen in Hong Kong or Macau, and has only been noted on one altar in SE Asia, in Singapore where he is said to have been an incarnation of Ti-ts'ang Wang. They claimed that he died in Amoy where he sank into the ground and disappeared. He is portrayed on the Singapore altar as a standing gilded figure wearing a Buddhist mitre, and holding a rattle stick in his right hand and a bowl in his left.
San Tai Tsu-shih
Another separate southern Fukienese cult appears to be confused with Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih. Three individual images have been noted on two altars, both in Yunlin county in central Taiwan, under the title of The Three Generations of Patron Saints or, as it was explained in one of the temples, that the three images represented one deity, The Third Generation Patron Saint, San Tai Tsu-shih. The main deity of the three is said to be the Second Buddha of the 31st kalpa. Some Taiwanese hagiographies claim that Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih and San Tai Tsu-shih are one and the same deity, though one of the two temple keepers refuted this and explained that Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih is the deputy to San Tai Tsu-shih.
121
he was a hero who helped pacify the San P'ing area of Changchou who then had settled in the area, and when the T'ang philosopher, Han Yu. was banished to Ch'aochou in AD 819 he and I-chung saw much of each other.
His legends are so similar to those told about Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih that it is more than likely that they have been confused and adapted by devotees. His image portrays him as a seated Buddhist monk, holding a fan in his right hand, but without any unique identifying characteristics. His testival is generally celebrated on the double sixth. It is also celebrated on two others dates, lesser festivals, the 26th of the sixth, being the anniversary of his enlightenment, and the 26th of the tenth, the anniversary of him being borne off to Heaven,
Three temples in Taiwan are dedicated to him, two in Taman and one in Nantou, though his image also appears on a number of secondary altars elsewhere in Taiwan. In a large temple in central Taman his image is the centre one of a trad flanked by Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih on his right hand, and San Tai Tsu-shih on his left. They are said to have been sworn blood brothers.
His image has not been seen in Hong Kong or Macau, and has only been noted on one altar in SE Asia, in Singapore where he is said to have been an incarnation of Ti-ts`ang Wang They claimed that he died in Amoy where he sank into the ground and chsappeared. He is portrayed on the Singapore aftar as a standing gilded figure wearing a Buddhist mitre, and holding a rattle stick in his right hand and a bowl in his left
San Tai Tsu-shih
Another separate southern Fukienese cult appears to be confused with Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih. Three individual images have been noted on two altats, both in Yunlin county in central Taiwan, under the title of The Three Generations of Patron Saints or, as it was explained in one of the temples, that the three images represented one deity, The Third Generation Patron Saint, San Tai Tsu-shuh A OLA The main deity of the three is said to be the Second Buddha of the 31st kalpa Some Taiwanese hagiographies claim that Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shih and San Tai Tsu-shih are one and the same deity, though one of the two temple keepers refuted this and explained that Ch'ing-shui Tsu-shib is the deputy to San Tai Tsu-
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