Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t1.3

v1.c5.s2.t1.3

Since the bodhi tree was connected with the enlightenment of the Buddha, a part of this tree was transplanted in China. It is said that Tripitaka Zhi Yao came from India by sea in the first year of Tianjian of the Liang Dynasty, planted a bodhi tree in front of the altar of Guangxiao Temple, Guangzhou and predicted that later generations would have real Bodhisattvas (meaning Hui Neng, the sixth Patriarch of the Chan sect) to enlighten the people there. Thereafter, bodhi trees were planted in places such as Guangdong and Yunnan in China and elsewhere. Pi Rixiu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty wrote a *Poem on Tiantai Guoqing Temple in Qi and Liang Style*. In it, he wrote, “I walked 10 *li* on Guoqing Road of Songmen and fed monkeys on the platform beside the Bodhi tree. I wondered why it rained on such a sunny day, it turned out that the sea wind brought the waterfall.”