Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s4.t3.8

v1.c7.s4.t3.8

Zuo Rong (195 CE), born in Danyang (present-day Xuanzhou, Anhui), was a Buddhist in late Eastern Han Dynasty. He once gathered hundreds of people to go to his townsman Tao Qian, head of government in Xuzhou, for shelter. Tao Qian appointed him to supervise the grain transportation in Guangling (present-day in Yangzhou, Jiangsu), Xiapi (present-day in Weining, Jiangsu) and Pengcheng (present-day in Xuzhou, Jiangsu), and assigned him the head of Xiapi. According to *Liu Yao Biography* in volume IV of the *History of the Three Kingdoms*, after becoming appendage to Tao Qian, Zuo Rong indulged his subordinates slaughtering and robbed goods transported in three counties as his own. "Then he began to build a Buddha temple. The Buddha was cast with copper for body and decorated with gold, with bright and beautiful dressing and nine copper discs. Beneath were pavilions with the capacity of holding over 3,000 people to learn Buddhist texts. The temple admired many people who were interested in Buddhism around the county or other counties and altogether over 5,000 people came there. There was food and drink in every ceremony of washing figures of Buddha. People who came to visit or eat food were as many as 10,000. The cost can be calculated as hundreds of millions. This is the earliest record of building Chinese Buddhist statues in temple. This suggests that there had been group chanting of Buddhist believers in Yangze river and Huai river region. and there were scenes of ceremony of washing figures of Buddha and giving food. The reason that Zuo Rong believed Buddhism was affected by Liu ying, king of Chu, who was a Buddhism believer, and whose feud was in the Yangze River and Huai River region. Therefore, Buddhism had influence in the region. Through building Buddhist temples and Buddha statues, Zuo Rong tried to attract believers and gather people to recite sutras, in order to gain himself fame. And he also promoted Buddhism in the public by providing food and drinks and exempting believers’ corvee, expanding the influence of Buddhism.