Hongyi

CHINA, Zhejiang, Pinghu

Hongyi was a Vinaya Master who was well-known for his outstanding artistic talents. His original name was Li Shutong, and his alias was Wen Tao, among several others. Hongyi was an art educator, painter, calligrapher, seal engraver, musician, dramatist, and poet. From a young age, he enjoyed artistic endeavors, and at the age of 26, he moved to Japan to attend the Tokyo University of the Arts, where he studied western-style painting. After returning to China, Hongyi worked as a teacher and an art editor for the Pacific Newspaper in Shanghai. He later taught at the First Normal School in Zhejiang, and introduced western drama, music, and painting studies into the curriculum. The teacher of several renowned contemporary artists, such as Feng Zikai and Liu Zhiping, Hongyi pioneered in Chinese oil paintings, painted advertisements, and theatrical plays.
Hongyi renounced in 1918 at the age of 38 under Master Liaowu at Hupao Temple in Zhejiang. He was later fully ordained at Lingyin Temple in Zhejiang and adopted the Dharma name Yanyin. Devoted to propagating the Nanshan Vinaya school, he traveled extensively by foot to lecture on the sutras. Following the practice of Master Yinguang, Hongyi refused to accept any disciples or become the abbot of any temple. He authored several books on Vinaya, among them is Brief Manual of the Patriarchs of the Nanshan Vinaya School.
After becoming a monk, Hongyi practiced only calligraphy. He altered his style and produced works that featured scripts that were more rounded. Compositionally, the characters he scripted also became more slender, clear, and sparse. His calligraphy was said to have taken on the unique characteristics of a highly-cultivated monk.
Among his vast collection of calligraphic works, many are now kept in temples or museums around China, Taiwan, and abroad. Perfume of Precepts Permeates Universally was scripted by Hongyi for the horizontal inscribed board of the Great Hero Hall at Chongfu Temple in Fujiang. Other pieces include, Verses from the Sutra of the Ten Wheels of Ksitigarbha, kept at the Wenzhou Museum in Zhejiang; Avatamsaka Sutra - Chapter on Bhadrapala, kept at the Ho’s Calligraphy Foundation in Taipei, Taiwan; and Enter the Wisdom Trove to Liberate Endless Sentient Beings, at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Additionally, several of Hongyi’s calligraphic works on Feng Zikai’s Protecting Life Paintings were turned into bas-reliefs at the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center in Kaohsiung. In Hong Kong, the base of the Sai Fong Monastery Pagoda is engraved with Hongyi’s handwritten Diamond Sutra. His seal engraving works include Homage to Amitabha Buddha, a white-character rectangular seal, and At Ease in Any Situation, a white-character square seal.
Respected and admired by many, various paintings of Hongyi exist. The Hongyi Relic Pagoda in Quanzhou, Fujian was built to enshrine his relics and contains a portrait of him by Feng Zikai. An oil painting of Master Hongyi by Xu Beihong is kept in Hongyi Memorial Hall at Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou. In addition, there are several books on Hongyi’s life and legacy of art.