On The Min Overseas Chinese Monk Chuyet Cong And Buddhism Exchange Between China And Vietnam In The 17～(th), 18～(th) Century

Vietnam, which being contiguous to the South of China has close relations with China in the respects of history and culture. In the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, a lot of monks of China went to Vietnam and propagated Buddhism there, which was a grand occasion in the Buddhist history of South China and China-Vietnam Buddhism exchange. Chuyet Cong, an Overseas Chinese monk of Min (Fujian) was a typical example of that. But now he has still not been studied in China.Chuyet Cong (1590-1644), whose surname was Li, and his Buddhist name was Yuan Wen, usually called Chuyet Cong. He was born in Hai Cheng County, Zhang Zhou Fujian China. He went to Vietnam and propagated Buddhism there for more than 20 years and finally died in Vietnam. Today his human body is still preserved in the Phat Tich temple of Vietnam.The reasons caused to going abroad of Chuyet Cong are complicated, which was including the instability of the society and crisis of Buddhism in the late Ming Dynasty, and it was also closely related with emigration, the transport facilities of Min in the 17th century and his ideas. He carried on Chinese Zen's ideas and maintained compromising Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. He founded a Chuyet Cong Zen in the North of Vietnam, which continued for about 200 years and did great contribution to the revival of Vietnamese Buddhism in the 17th, 18th century. Together with other Chinese monks, he defused the ideas of Chinese Linji and Caodong Zen. He brought lots of Buddhism ancient books into Vietnam and played a very great role in the history of Buddhism exchanges between China and Vietnam. Having lived for morn than 20 years in Vietnam, Chuyet Cong came to be an Overseas Chinese monk, his book Chuyet Cong's Quotations is precious literature which still now rarely known by people.