Clerics › Religious Figure

Baozhi

Wonder-working monk of the Southern Qi and Liang, revered by Emperor Wu of Liang; tradition links him to the founding of the Water and Land rite and the Liang penance liturgy.

Also known as Master Zhi

Baozhi, also written with a different first character, was born into the Zhu family and is popularly called Master Zhi. He became a monk at seven under Sengjian on Mount Zhong and lived at the Daolin Monastery; his eccentric conduct earned him a biography in the Nanshi. Emperor Wu of Liang revered him as a teacher. Tradition holds that he and other eminent monks compiled the Cibei daochang chanfa, later called the Liang Emperor's Penance, for the soul of Empress Xi; and the Song Shimen zhengtong and other sources relate that after a dream the emperor, urged by Baozhi, searched the scriptures and composed the liturgy of the Water and Land rite, the traditional account of its origin. He died in 514.

Life and times

  1. 418 CEBornJinNorthern and Southern
  2. 514 CEDied

Records

Ordained young at Daolin Monastery, deeply respected by Emperor Wu of Liang

Until 514, Liang

The Biographies of Eminent Monks of Liang says the monk Baozhi was originally surnamed Zhu, left home young and stayed at Daolin Monastery in the capital, studying under the monk Sengjian as his preceptor and practicing meditation. The History of the Southern Dynasties calls him a monk who came and went at Mount Zhong and the cities, whom Emperor Wu of Liang served with deep respect. He died in the thirteenth year of Tianjian (514).

References (2)