Fukushima Keido roshi memorial stele in Jingshan Temple 福島慶道長老功德碑

福島慶道長老功德碑 photo by Jiang Wu

Fukushima Keido 福島慶道 roshi was the head of Tofukuji 東福寺 in Kyoto and an accomplished calligrapher. Many years ago, he did a Zen calligraphy demonstration at Harvard when I was there. He impressed one of his seals "Rinzai shoshu" 臨濟正宗 for me because I asked about its connection to Obaku's use of the seal in Edo Japan.

In May 10, 2015 when the conference participants toured Jingshan Temple 徑山寺 in Hangzhou, it was pleasant to find that a stone stele was erected for him on the temple site because of his contribution to the revival of Jingshan monastery. Below is the Chinese version of the inscription and a video recording of his calligraphy demonstration at Harvard.

福島慶道長老功德碑 inscription photo by Jiang Wu

千年徑山禪寺，獨攬五山禪林勝概。大宋佛鑒禪師于淩霄峰頂高登猊座，東瀛聖一國師險涉鯨波爲法而至，不辜徑山竹蓖，抖落六道情識，開基東福名藍，傳延法燈至今。
    八百載祖庭榮衰更替，一念頃本心橫貫古今。年值一九八四，日本東福寺住持福島慶道長老，履繼聖一求法之路，首度登臨徑山祖庭，目睹殘迹蕭索，心生化境儼然，遂聚東瀛禪徒之願，協力杭州佛協，共襄祖庭恢復之盛舉。
    二十餘載光陰，二十餘次登臨，福島長老于徑山之情，無异于昔日聖一國師板渡酬恩之舉。人事古往今來，信有不生不滅。于此信心堅固，徑山法燈遍傳。
    值此徑山禪寺開山1270周年之際，特立此碑紀念，以彰福島長老恢復祖庭之功績，以勵禪徒信衆重興徑山之願行。