Is fahai real?

Fahai is real. Fahai Zen Master is the son of Pei Xiu, a famous figure in Tang Dynasty, whose common name is Pei Wende.

According to the records of Weishan Temple in Ningxiang, Prime Minister Pei Xiu donated to build Miyin Temple in Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty for three years. At that time, a prince was seriously ill, and the emperor gathered all the famous doctors in the world to treat him, but it didn't work. Through divination, the conclusion is: if you escape into an empty door, the prince will be cured. When the emperor refused to give up, the Prime Minister sent his son Pei Wende to become a monk on behalf of the Prince. Master Ling You, the host of Miyin Temple, named the child "Fahai".

Pei Wende got the Dharma name "Fahai" when he shaved his head, and later generations honored him as Fahai Zen Master. After shaving, Master Ling You of Fahai ordered him to abstain from sex first. Fahai was responsible for chopping wood in the temple for nearly three years and carrying water for hundreds of monks in the temple for nearly three years. Fahai's sister missed her brother and came to visit him. I couldn't bear to transport water long distances every day, so I invested in building a temple and built a huge drinking platform. Since then, the problem of domestic water use in Weishan has been solved. Until today, this drinking platform still exists vaguely.

After finishing penance, Master Fahai began to practice seclusion for three years and concentrated on meditation. Three years later, Tao succeeded. The master asked Fahai to travel. Fahai passed through Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi and settled and meditated in a barren land in Jiangsu. Later, with the relics found in the barren hills and dense forests, the monk Fahai decided to rebuild the Dojo. The Zen master dug mountains and fields, worked hard, got the support of the local people and began to build temples.

In history, Zen master Fahai was an ascetic monk and a respected Zen master. Because there is a record in the history books that the Zen master Fahai drove away the white python, later generations combined some fabricated plots with history.

Feng Menglong's novel Warning in Ming Dynasty wrote that the white snake was suppressed by Fahai under the tower, which shaped the positive image of Fahai and warned everyone not to be confused by the beauty of the white snake. People and snakes can't be together. If the evil is too strong, people will get hurt. Later, with the spread of folk stories, Master Fahai changed from the image of saving people to a "confused monk" who destroyed a beautiful marriage. Especially in modern times, people pursue free love, and Fahai is portrayed as a villain.