In the late Qing Dynasty, there was a Buddhist monk named Zhu Chan in the Shuanggui Hall of the famous Buddhist temple in Liangshan, Sichuan, known as the head of the Zen Forest in Shu, which was the tenth generation abbot. He was addicted to calligraphy and painting when he was young. He turned his hair into a monk when he was twenty years old, and he struggled with calligraphy and painting in the temple. The figures, landscapes, bamboo and stone paintings he made are dashing in style, unique in style, and amusing, and the winners are treasured as treasures.
The Buddhist Zen monk scorned the dignitaries and indulged all his life. Zeng Yunyou traveled to Beijing, Wuhan, Shanghai and other places to draw and sell paintings. Many people bought his paintings with heavy money. Zhu Chan’s superb painting skills were passed into the palace, and the Empress Dowager Cixi ordered him to enter the palace to paint. At that time, Fuli painters gathered together. In order to investigate the painting skills of these painters, the Empress Dowager Cixi decided to embarrass these painters. She asked the painter to use a piece of paper with a length of five feet to draw a seven-foot-high Guanyin standing portrait. The close eunuch summoned dozens of painters to the painting hall. After holding the imperial edict to the painters, he asked the Empress Dowager Cixi to paint Guanyin, and asked, “Who wants to accept the order!” The painters looked at each other, and no one would step forward. After a moment of contemplation, Zhu Zen folded his hands and said, “The poor monk is willing to take orders.” The painters stared at this monk who didn’t know the sky and the earth with suspicious eyes, and thought: The queen’s decency is not like a child’s play. Sit down firmly. The monk was so careless and courageous.
After taking the slogan, he carefully spread out the drawing paper and saw that he picked up the brush without hesitation and waved with his heart. In less than half an hour, a line with beautiful lines bent down to pick up the image of the Guanyin station in the clean water bottle and jumped on the paper. The eunuch asked: “Is this Guanyin height seven feet?” Zhu Chan pointed at the painting and said, “This Guanyin stands seven feet tall when standing straight!” The eunuch and the painters could not help but secretly shout their heads, some even shook their heads and sighed: ” Why didn’t I think of it? It’s really unpredictable, and the sea water is incomparable. At first, I looked at this monk.”
Then the eunuch sent the bamboo-painted Guanyin image to the harem, and the Empress Dowager Cixi came to life at first sight. The unconventional Guanyin image was applauded repeatedly. She did not expect that this Buddhist monk had such a genius, so clever, and solved her problems. Therefore, the Empress Dowager Cixi called on the Buddhist monk. The eunuch led Zhu Chan into the harem, and the bamboo haptics folded his hands together and said, “The poor monk knocked to see the queen mother.” Ci Xi saw the bamboo slender figure, long eyebrows, beautiful appearance, and the appearance of the Tang Tang monks described in “Journey to the West” is extraordinary, elegant manners. After asking why he became a monk, he asked again: “I don’t know why a monk has such a talent?” Zhu Chan replied, “It is the gift of the Buddha!” Cixi said: “The Buddha has such a great effect. Can I convert to the Buddha? “Zhu Chan said: “You are the queen empress today, if you must convert to the Buddha, you can only be a Buddhist monk.” Ci Xi thought Zhu Zen was reasonable, then designated Zhu Zen as her “undertaking person” to convert to the Buddha. Later, Li Lianying called Cixi the “Lafayette”.