"Outside the long pavilion, by the ancient road, the grass is green, and the sky is ......Ask you when you are going, and don't linger when you come."The song "Farewell" writes the author's mood of saying goodbye to friends at that time, fresh and elegant, sincere, poignant and melodious.
This song "Farewell" was written by Uncle Li in 1941 with ".Five friends of the end of the world".Xu HuanyuanAfter saying goodbye, I wrote it with tears. This song is almost unknown to everyone in China. Maybe there are many people who don't know Li Shutong's name nowadays, but I believe that many people have heard this song.
On October 23, 1880, Li Shutong was born in a wealthy merchant family, legend has it that on the day of his birth, a magpie came to the room with a pine branch, and the Li family who believed in Buddhism thought that this was the Buddha's auspicious gift, and then Li Shutong carefully preserved this pine branch and carried it with him for life.
When Li Shutong was six or seven years old, he began to study with his half-brother, and his brother Wenxi, who was 12 years older, was also responsible for teaching him Xi daily etiquette. His brother was very strict with him, and he began to develop a serious Xi habit at a young age, and his future achievements were largely due to this good Xi.
When Li Shutong was 7 years old, he began to learn and Xi books such as "Hundred Filial Piety Pictures", "Return to Nature", and "Aphorisms".
When Li Shutong was 8 years old, he began to read the Four Books and Five Classics, and also learned Xi calligraphy, gold and stone and other skills.
At the age of 13, Li Shutong began to learn the study of Xi and calligraphy of various dynasties, especially Wei Shu, and became a well-known genius boy in ten miles and eight towns.
In 1894, Li Shutong was already a 15-year-old young man in the blink of an eye, and this year he began to have his own thoughts, and he began to work the "Four Books and Five Classics" that his brother told him to study hard to Xi no longer as hard as before, but became very interested in singing opera, which was called "cheap industry" at that time.
He began to frequent the opera garden and became a die-hard fan, and after a long time he could sing two lines himself, so he sometimes made a cameo appearance in a certain role. Because of the reason of "loving the house and Wu", Uncle Li fell in love with the servant Yang Cuixi, and went to cheer for her every night and sent her home.
Li Shutong is a talented person, he can find some ways from watching the play, and he guides Yang Cuixi's singing voice and figure, which makes Yang Cuixi's artistic cultivation greatly improved.
Although the Li family did not restrict Li Shutong's free activities too much, they did not approve of him being with a play. Li Shutong's mother also specially found a wife for him, this is Yu, the daughter of a tea merchant.
Although Uncle Li was reluctant to do so, at that time, he could only follow his mother's wishes to marry Yu, but he never forgot his first love. It's just a pity that Yang Cuixi was later sold into an official family and later married a businessman.
March 10, 1905 is a day that Li Shutong will never forget, this day raised his mother Wang died of illness. At that time, Uncle Li and his family were still in Shanghai, and he took his wife and children to take a ship back to Tianjin.
He threw a special funeral for his mother. He didn't wear linen and filial piety, nor did he cry, he wanted to say goodbye to his mother in a sacred way.
In the huge auditorium, there is a piano, and Uncle Li sings a long song with the piano
"The mourning wanderer is helpless, at the end of the sky. But the long night is long and lonely, and the time is in a trance. Luo Yan lies in the cradle and laughs, like when she was a baby. My mother eats my cheese and powdered bait, and my father's clothes are my colored clothes. The moon is falling, the shadow of the dream is vague, do you know the past?”Li Shutong's maverick behavior shocked everyone, and the "Ta Kung Pao" at that time also carried a special report on it, saying that Li Shutong was".The Jewel of the New WorldThe death of his mother hit Li Shutong very hard, and he decided to give up his life of being a dog and horse, and after arranging his wife and children, he went east to Japan to study and find the next exit in life.
Before leaving, Li Shutong wrote the famous "Golden Wisp Song: Farewell to the Motherland and Present to the Sons of Classmates":
"Twenty articles are shocking, after all, there is nothing to talk about!Listening to the bottom of the box, the dragon roared. I can't sleep in the long night, and I can't sleep in the middle of the nightIt's the motherland, endure it!”After coming to Tokyo, Japan, he entered the oil painting department of the Tokyo Art School under the name "Li An". Later, in order to express his condolences to his mother, Li Shutong deliberately changed his name to ".Li AiDuring his study in Japan, Li Shutong's lifestyle has changed a lot, he cut off his braids, took off his long coat, and changed into a suit, he is no longer the merry genius who used to be prodigal.
Li Shutong harvested his last love in the red dust when he was learning to paint, and fell in love with the girl who acted as his painting model, at that time, this Japanese girl admired Li Shutong's talent very much, and the two naturally came together.
In April 1911, after graduating from the Tokyo Art School, Uncle Li returned to China with his Japanese wife. Originally, Uncle Li brought his Japanese wife back to China to have a showdown with his original wife, but after he came back, he found that his family had fallen into the middle of the road, so he had to arrange for two women to live in the south and the north.
Uncle Li became a monk without any signs, but he was dressed up a little like Buddhism at that time. At that time, Li Shutong's friend Xia Ya came to talk to him about the past, and the two talked about the issue of becoming a monk in a casual chat.
Xia Ya looked at his dress and teased: "You are not thorough at all in doing this, it is better to be a monk." It's good for people like us to become monks. ”
The speaker is unintentional, the listener is intentional, Li Shutong went to Hangzhou Hupao Temple before escaping into the empty door, and fasted for 17 days. After the fasting ended, Uncle Li gradually had a feeling.
In the Spring Festival of 1918, 39-year-old Li Shutong spent time in Hupao Temple, and worshiped the monk Wu as his teacher, named "Yanyin", and called "Hongyi". On the 13th day of the seventh lunar month of that year, he officially became a monk. From that moment on, there was no more Uncle Li in the world, only Master Hongyi.
Uncle Li chose to become a monk at the peak of his literature, a fact that makes it difficult for some people to accept, and many people are discussing why he wanted to become a monk
Before Li Shutong became a monk, he also wrote a letter to his Japanese wife, which contained a strand of his hair and a sum of money prepared for her as her living expenses after returning to China.
Uncle Li confessed in the letter: "I think that what lives in your body is not a vulgar and cowardly soul. I let go of you, and of the fame and wealth that I have accumulated in the world. Life is short, the limit is always coming, now it's just to advance it, we have to part sooner or later, I hope you can see through ......”
When the Japanese wife sees that she can no longer win back her husband's heart, she wants to meet him for the last time. When they met, his wife shouted, "Uncle Tong!".”
Li Shutong said: "Please call me Hongyi." ”
Wife: "Master Hongyi, please tell me what love is?"”
Li Shutong: "Love is compassion." ”
When the wife looked at her husband who turned away, she could only tear up and ask the back of the man who was going farther and farther away: "Compassion to the world, why do you hurt me alone?"”
In the back we see a Venerable Hongyi with great love, just as he said to his wife, what love is: it is compassion.
Every time Master Hongyi was preaching the Dharma, there would be a middle hall written by him on the wall behind him: "Reciting the Buddha does not forget to save the country, and it is necessary to recite the Buddha to save the country." ”
Although there are many speculations about Uncle Li becoming a monk, the author believes that he resolutely chose to become a monk after he was "enlightened".
Conclusion:
In the first half of his life, he made achievements in poetry and songs, calligraphy and calligraphy, Danqing literature and drama, and in the second half of his life, after he converted to Buddhism, he was regarded as the eleventh generation ancestor of the Vinaya and became a generation of Buddhist masters admired by the world.