20080121唐师曾：法门寺 地宫 佛指舍利

《唐师曾：黄河的联想》之四：法门寺

法门寺。老鸭摄

供奉佛舍利的法门寺地宫。老鸭摄

看到师曾这张法门寺的图片，感慨万千。我曾祖朱子桥，字庆澜，浙江绍兴人，黑龙江督军。任“中东铁路护路总司令”时与入侵苏军开战，反对“武装保卫苏联”。“九一八”对日作战失利后，与唐慕潮（黑龙江财政厅长）、唐慕汾（中国义赈会会长，唐师曾的爷爷）退入陕西，创建扶风慈济院，赈灾济困，修复古刹、丛林、祖塔。先后整修大慈恩寺、大兴善寺、青龙寺、铁塔寺、泾阳大壶寺、终南净业寺、草堂寺、南五台茅蓬、华严寺杜顺和尚塔、清凉国师塔、兴教寺玄奘师徒三塔，创建大雁塔慈恩学院……（以上见西安《大慈恩寺志》等）。

“西安事变”后，朱庆澜、唐慕汾、康寄遥、李福山、江能瑞、路禾父、雷仲南、俞嗣如诸善长加固扶风法门寺真身宝塔时，发现地宫石门。因担心“圣冢”沦陷日军之手，遂谎称内有青蛇盘绕，“不敢”闯入。

1966年9月，红卫兵到法门寺“破四旧”，挖掘“美蒋特务”电台。法门寺住持良卿法师引火自焚阻止红卫兵。

1981年8月24日，法门寺砖塔西侧倒塌，发现地宫佛指舍利。据传古印度阿育王为弘扬佛法，将佛祖真身舍利分藏世界各地，建塔八万四千座。法门寺是其中之一。陕西省人民政府拨巨款重修砖塔，保护至今。

朱宛宜居士台湾

When I saw Shizeng’s photo of Fa Men Temple, I was filled with emotion. My paternal Grandfather Zhu Ziqiao, also known as Qinglan, was from Shaoxing in Zhejiang, and was a warlord in Heilongjiang. When he was the “Central Commander for the Protection of the Central Eastern Railway,” he fought the Russian Army and resisted the “armed defense of the Soviet Union.” After the “918” (September 31, 1931) setback in the initial conflict with Japan, he retreated to Shaanxi Province with Tang Muchao (head of the Treasury Department of Heilongjiang Province) and Tang Mufen (head of the China Poverty Relief Society, and Shizeng’s grandfather) and established the Fufeng Benevolent Aid Society to assist those suffering from disasters and difficulties, and to restore ancient temples, forests, and ancestral pagodas. They renovated and restored Da Ci En Temple, Da Xing Shan Temple, Qing Long Temple, Tie Ta Temple, Da Hu Temple in Jingyang County, Jing Ye Temple at Zhong Nan, Cao Tang Temple, the thatched structure at Nan Wu Tai, the Pagoda of Monk Du Shun at Hua Yan Temple, Qing Liang Guo Shi Pagoda, and the three pagodas of Xuan Jiang and his disciples at Xing Jiao Temple, one after another. They also established the Da Yan Pagoda Benevolence Academy… (for the above, see the Shaanxi “Da Ci En Temple Record,” etc.).

After the “Xi’an Incident,” Zhu Qinglan, Tang Mufen, Kang Jiyao, Li Fushan, Jiang Nengrui, Lu Hefu, Lei Zhongnan, and Yu Siru discovered an underground chamber with a stone door while reinforcing the Zhen Shen Pagoda at the Fufeng Fa Men Temple. Anxious that this “sacred burial mound” not fall into the hands of the Japanese Army, they falsely claimed that they didn’t dare “burst into” it because there was a snake coiled inside.

In September 1966, the Red Guards came to Fa Men Temple to “break the Four Olds” and to ferret out a radio transmitter of “American-Chiang spies.” Abbot Liang Qing, Master of the Law, immolated himself to stop the Red Guards.

On August 24, 1981, the west side of the brick Fa Men Temple collapsed and a mausoleum with Buddhist relics was discovered. It is said that to promote Buddhist doctrine the Indian King A Yu distributed the body part relics of the founders of Buddhist sects all over the world and established 84,000 pagodas. Fa Men Temple is one of them. The People’s Government of Shaanxi Province allocated enormous funding for the restoration of brick pagodas and has protected them to this day.

Zhu Wanyi

Retired Buddhist scholar in Taiwan