Abbot monk fortune telling _ abbot monk fortune telling video

The abbot and abbot of the temple, who is the boss? What's the difference between them?

"Bodhi has no trees, and the mirror is not Taiwan. There is nothing, so where is the dust? "

We can say a few words about these well-known Buddhist classics, but how much do we know about Buddhist culture? Buddhism has a history of more than 2,000 years since its origin, but there are different opinions about the time when it was introduced into China.

Of course, the most common saying is that it was introduced to China during the Han Dynasty. It is said that Emperor Hanming had a dream that there was a golden man flying over the main hall, and he told the ministers about it the next day. Some ministers said that this is the Buddha of the West. Hearing this, Emperor Han Ming immediately sent people to the West to worship Buddha for Buddhist scriptures. Since then, Buddhism was officially introduced into China, and its heyday was in the Tang Dynasty.

So, how much do we know about Buddhism since its development today? Today we will look at the difference between the abbot and the abbot of a Buddhist temple. We often see abbots and abbots in TV dramas or when visiting temples. Some places are called abbots, and some places are called abbots. So abbots and abbots are the same name? Although they are the supreme leaders of the temple, there are still differences between them.

Miaohe temple

Before explaining the difference between abbot and abbot, let's look at temples and temples. Before Buddhism was introduced into China, "Temple" represented the lofty status of the ancient emperors, referring to the official yamen set up by the rulers, that is, the place in charge of criminal law, such as Dali Temple, which we often hear. In ancient times, people who could work in Dali Temple were very capable, which was beyond the ordinary people's access.

The word "temple" is homophonic with "Miao", which refers to the place where the divine law is obtained. It is a place where ancient sages built ancestral temples for them after their death for future generations to pay homage or sacrifice. The positioning of the two is different, and the users are different. The temple is used by the imperial court, and the temple is dedicated to sages. After Buddhism was introduced into China, temples became places for monks to chant Buddhist scriptures and worship Buddha, while temples were places for Taoist ancestor worship. However, from now on, there is no difference between temples and temples. We all call them temples.

(Buddhism or Taoism) abbot

The abbot is a Buddhist term in the Han Dynasty, which originally meant a person who lived in a temple for a long time to maintain the Buddhist teachings of the temple and was the supreme leader in charge of a temple. But when Buddhism was first introduced to China, there were no abbots and they didn't live in monasteries. First, the development history is short, and second, the people of China still don't understand Buddhist culture.

Hundreds of years before Buddhism was introduced to China, Master Dharma first came to China to explain Buddhist scriptures. It took hundreds of years before it officially spread in China. Monks who have just become monks generally live in cliffs or caves to meditate, which is called practice. The south cave of the famous Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in China is the place where monks used to meditate.

Mogao grottoes are divided into north grottoes and south grottoes. At first, a Tianzhu monk settled here. The Mogao grottoes is located on a cliff, where he dug a hole and lived in it to practice until his death. Later, it became a place for monks to practice, which is why the Mogao Grottoes are now one of the places with the strongest Buddhist culture in China. Now when we go to the Mogao Grottoes, we can also see the grottoes where the sages once meditated and practiced.

It was not until the Tang Dynasty that the abbot officially took charge of all the affairs of the temple. Among the leaders of temples, besides the abbot, there are many monks in charge of different affairs. Later, influenced by Buddhism, Quanzhen Taoism also established the post of abbot. As the highest in religion, both of them are in charge of everything, but the abbot we generally refer to is the Buddhist abbot.

Chief monk

The early abbot refers to the island where immortals live, which is the term of Taoist Quanzhen School. Later, Buddhism quoted the word abbot, who was the place where Taoist monks or elders lived. In Buddhism, the abbot refers to the place where the temple elders or abbots live. The housing of Indian monks is based on the abbot, and the abbot is also derived from it. After the gradual improvement of the temple system in the Tang Dynasty, Baizhang Huaihai stipulated that the abbot specifically referred to the place where the abbot lived, and later directly called the abbot the abbot.

We can also see from the TV series that any temple, big or small, will have an abbot, but not every temple can see the abbot. The difference between the two is that the abbot must be a large-scale temple to set up, while the abbot will have it as long as it is a temple. The abbot may be in charge of multiple temples, but the abbot cannot. The abbot of modern society is not named casually, but is qualified to be appointed by the religious administration department and the Buddhist Association.

For example, the 29th abbot of the most famous Shaolin Temple in China is called Shi. During the war, Shaolin Temple was burned and occupied by Japanese invaders many times. But he never left, but stayed in the temple to look after the cultural relics, and stayed in the temple. Finally, the cultural relics were preserved, which showed us the Shaolin Temple today.

Shaolin can be preserved and its release is a great contribution. But only in this way, he still can't serve as the abbot. 1949 after the founding of new China, monks unanimously elected Shi as the supervisor, that is, they exercised the abbot's power. Later, it was also secularized, but he remained loyal to Shaolin Temple and protected related cultural relics from destruction. Finally, 1986, the Religious Affairs Bureau officially appointed him as the 29th abbot of Shaolin Temple.

The abbot is a highly respected monk democratically elected by the monks in the temple. Generally speaking, he is a long-term practitioner, who has contributed to the temple and has the ability to lead the monks in the whole temple. The abbot's main duty is to manage the affairs of the temple. But the abbot's words are that monks with certain official background are appointed by the government and can be said to be national cadres. The abbot has more power than the abbot, and what the abbot says is generally agreed by the government and religion, so his status and status are very different.

For example, when Shi Xing dies, Shaolin Temple is Shi Yongxin. But at that time, Shi Yongxin was not an abbot at all, just temporarily dealing with things in the temple. It was not until 1999 that he was officially appointed as the abbot by the government. It seems that the abbot is really good, and he is generally qualified after several years of investigation.

In a word, the abbot is democratically elected. Generally, the abbots of temples in small places are produced in this way, which is local because the criteria for electing abbots in each temple are different. However, the abbots are different. They are all appointed by the government's religious administration. They can only take up their posts after strict inspection, and they have national unity and must be temples of a certain scale.