Venerable Master Hai Tang, whose common family name was Fan, and his first name was Wu Disease, was a native of Jiangyou County, Sichuan Province, and was born in 1902 CE (28th year of the Qing Dynasty Guangxu). Haideng five years old lost his mother, seven years old with his uncle to learn martial arts, twelve years old because his father was killed by local bullies, determined to avenge his father. Later in Jiangyou County, a monastery, the name of the sea lamp. Note that he was eager to avenge his father's death, visited famous masters and practiced martial arts. Around 1930, there were two Shaolin master monks, who had traveled to Sichuan because their ancestral home had been destroyed by a warlord, and Hai Deng then studied Shaolin martial arts under the tutelage of the two monks. Under the painstaking teaching of the two Shaolin monks, Hai Deng learned a lot of Shaolin kung fu. It is said that he woke up at three o'clock in the morning to hear the rooster dance, hard work, and finally practiced four major stunts: First, the face of the wall Zen: Legend has it that he arrived at the Shaolin Temple in 1947, when the Dharma Master face hole Zen, into the fixed seven days and seven nights, a sensation. Second, two-finger Zen power: that is, with two fingers to support the ground, turn over upside down up to two minutes. Third, the child soft power: must be learned from the young, years of non-stop, never marry, in order to practice the whole body as soft as cotton, can head set into the drum drum barrel, the use of soft power, landing. Fourth, the plum blossom Tsubaki boxing: feet on the plum blossom Tsubaki, steady steps, not chaotic, in order to be in the ten one about three feet high plum blossom wooden Tsubaki as if walking on a level ground, the performance of the plum blossom boxing. Start practicing low tsubaki, and then gradually improve.
He went to the Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng in 1947 and lived in the Yunshui Hall for some time. Later, in 1953 and 1964, he stayed at the Shaolin Temple twice. His last visit to the Shaolin Temple was in 1982. It was because Shi Xingzheng, the monk in charge of the Shaolin Temple at that time, was sending some monks to Sichuan to study at the Buddhist College, and he passed through Jiangyou City, the hometown of Haideng. He and the sea lamps are old acquaintances and old friends reunion, mutual friendship, the sea lamps that will visit Shaolin, Xingzheng said welcome. After he returned to Henan, not long after the sea lamp with six disciples, to Shaolin hanging single live down, the following year (1983), there was a reporter interviews, said the sea lamp for the Shaolin Temple 'abbot' news. Whether he called himself the abbot of Shaolin Temple, or whether the journalists added the title to him, there is no way to find out. Later, the Central News Film Studio made a documentary for him, showing his four great skills. "In 1983, the Beijing Evening News serialized a long novel about Venerable Hai Deng, making Hai Deng the focus of the media.
Because Hai Deng made a big splash in the name of Shaolin Temple's "Abbot," the monk who was the head teacher (he was formally appointed Abbot of the Shaolin Temple in October 1986) was so upset that he moved the order of Hai Deng's disciples, seven of them, that is to say, he gave them an "expulsion order! ". Since the master does not stay guests, the sea lamp also took six disciples left the Shaolin Temple.
After Haideng's master and disciples left the temple, the people of Shaolin Temple stopped asking questions about the matter. But Dengfeng County's Propaganda Department, that foreign monks posing as Shaolin Temple abbot, the newspaper also for him to publicize, this matter can not be clarified. So, Mr. Zhen Binghao, a member of the Propaganda Department of the County Party Committee, wrote a detailed appeal, stating that Venerable Haideng was not the abbot of the Shaolin Temple. He found the previous publicity on behalf of the sea lamp 〈Henan Daily〉, 〈Zhengzhou Evening News 》and other newspapers, requesting the newspaper to be published. The newspapers were reluctant to publish their corrective statements (so as not to expose the inaccuracies in their reports). That Mr. Zhen is still reluctant, he put this appeal material entrusted to a relevant comrade Han Shuying, transferred to the head of the Chinese Buddhist Association, President Zhao Puchu, this is already 1985 years ago. Later, I got a letter from Mr. Zhao Puchu, which said:
Comrade Han Shuying:
This letter is for your information. Venerable Hai Deng is a director of the Chinese Buddhist Association and knows martial arts. Over the past few years, many newspapers have been overdoing it with their publicity coverage of him, and even movie studios have been shooting feature films for him. Not only the issue of the abbot of the Shaolin Temple, but also other matters, could not help but lose their appearance. But the matter is over. Now Comrade Zhen Binghao wrote a clarification, some not timely enough, seems to be in the newspaper and publication of this kind of report again, in the form of a letter from the readers, against the publication of the good. The above comments for reference.
The salute
Zhao Puchu 1985, 12, 16
Hai Deng masters and disciples left the Shaolin Temple returned to Sichuan, he set up a "Jiangyou City, Jiangyou Hai Deng masters of martial arts museum", because of his fame, the general study of martial arts tends to be over-ambitious. In 1987, the Sichuan TV station filmed a 20-episode serial drama "Master Haideng" for him, recording his legendary deeds. After the TV program was broadcasted, his fame spread far and wide, and he became well known in China and abroad. On December 30, 1985, he accompanied a Chinese film delegation to New York, which created a "Shaolin whirlwind" in the local Chinese community. He appeared on stage at the New Sound Theater, where his disciple Fan Yinglian easily defeated a young American boxer named Victor, who was 1.85 meters tall and weighed 160 pounds.
Venerable Master Hai Deng wrote a book entitled "Shaolin Qigong Essentials," which is about 40,000 words long and was well received by martial arts enthusiasts after its publication. He was not only a highly skilled martial artist, but also an accomplished Buddhist. In the 1950s, he preached the Diamond Sutra and Guanyin Pu Men Pin at the Shanghai Buddhist Youth Association. In his later years, he was a director of the China Buddhist Association, a member of the Seventh National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the director of the Jiangyou Sea Lantern Martial Arts Center, and the abbot of the Guanwu Mountain Temple of Ultimate Bliss. Monk Haideng was also able to compose poems, and later collected more than two hundred and twenty poems in his life and compiled them into the Shaolin Yunshui Poetry Collection, which was published by the Ba Shu Poetry Society. He passed away in Chengdu in January 1989 at the age of 86 years.
Monk Hai Deng's title as abbot of Shaolin Temple was a sham, but his martial arts skills were indeed exceptional.
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It is rumored that in recent times, Venerable Hsuan Hua and Venerable Hai Deng were fellow masters and brothers, and were both heirs to Venerable Xu Yun's Zen Linji Sect. Venerable Master Xuyun and Venerable Master Hai Deng were successively abbots of the Zhenru Zen Center on Yunju Mountain in Yongxiu County, Jiangxi Province.
Note: In the early Yuan Dynasty, the monk Xue Ting Fu Yu of Shaolin Temple was honored by the Yuan Shizuizu Kublai with the title of State Master and Abbot of Shaolin Temple, Daho. Xue Ting Fu Yu for the sake of future generations to pass on the clan without confusion, specially formulated seventy generation name. Later generations of Shaolin monks and disciples to take the name of the law has been strictly adhered to, which is also a kind of difference between Shaolin monks and other monks. These seventy names are:
Fu Hui Zhi Zi Jue, the original round can be realized.
Zhou Hong Pu Guang Zong, Dao Qing Tong Xuan Zu.
The sea of purity is as pure as the sea; the sea of tranquility is as pure as the sea; the sea of silence is as pure as the sea.
The virtues are eternal, and the wonderful essence is always firm.
From the above list of seniority numbers, Shaolin Temple in recent times, such as Su Xi, De Yang, Xing Zheng, as well as the current abbot Yongxin, it is according to the Xue Ting Fuyu monk's seniority list, which can also prove that Hai Deng is not a Shaolin Temple monk.