Monk Guangqin and Dr. Chen Yikui
(Shared by Chen Guotai)
The younger generation may not know who Monk Guangqin is. But if you take a trip to Chengtian Temple in Tucheng District, New Taipei City, you will find that he is a generation of eminent monks. He was a sensational fruit master who founded Chengtian Temple and Kaohsiung’s Miaotong Temple. There is only one sentence in his Dharma: just honestly recite "Amitabha Buddha".
When Dr. Chen Yikui met the Guangqin monk, Dr. Chen was already well-known in the field of Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Others came to Chengtian Temple to ask the old monk how to practice the Dharma, and Dr. Chen cared about the health of the old monk. According to Dr. Chen in class, “The old monk practiced asceticism all year round and regretted not taking good care of his health. Nowadays, he often suffers from backaches and can’t sleep. In the end, he practiced Bhutan and sat on a wicker chair to meditate.” Dr. Chen immediately discovered that he had been meditating in Riyue Cave for many years. The dampness in the cave, coupled with eating only fruits, caused spleen dampness in the body, and the back pain caused by him made him miserable.
Taking advantage of his work in the Department of Pharmacy of Taipei Medical College, Dr. Chen went to the largest importer of Chinese medicinal materials in Dihua Street at the time, and bought the best Gonggui (to remove dampness from the spleen) with 9 steams and 9 suns Portia at his own expense, personally send it to Chengtian Temple and teach the old monk how to take it. After taking that dose of powder, the old monk’s backaches were indeed improved, but the medicinal materials were too expensive to make it easy. Dr. Chen said, “It’s not easy for the mature Peoria to be steamed and dried nine times. Unless you go to the tropical areas of Hengchun in Pingtung. Moreover, modern Zhongyao merchants are only profitable. Everything is fast and dry quickly with machines. It is impossible to steam and dry according to the ancient method. Therefore, the efficacy of modern medicine is not a significant inevitable result."
