How does one count time in Shenzhen? There are five-year plans and there are different eras: the Special Zone and Shenzhen 2.0, for example, are phrases which circulate in conversations about urban planning. The also seems to be a folk calendar that counts political eras as embodied by religious figures.

The other day, I heard someone telling the life story of the founder of Hongfa Temple, Shi Benhuan (释本焕). This story has been carved into panels on the Benhuan Pagoda, which rises above the main temple area. Key moments in this history were: leaving his family to become a monk, his training as a monk, surviving as a monk, and being elevated to the abott of Hongfa Temple, one of the first temples to be built in China during Reform and Opening. The volunteer said, “Old Abbot Benhuan (本焕老长) lived through the Republican, Establishing the Country, and Reform and Opening Up dynasties (民国、建国、改开三个朝代). Thus, he truly understood the people’s lives.”

(Question: has anyone else heard this phrasing? It caught me off guard because I usually hear “时代” or simply “等三代”. So maybe I misheard? But the conversation that followed had me convinced that I had heard “三个朝代” correctly. As I didn’t record the conversation, all I am left with is the creative inspiration that misreadings and self-doubt give rise to…)

What interests me in this narrative is how the Old Abbot’s life has not only become the context for understanding the passage of time, but also for situating Shenzhen’s history within the larger context of Chinese history, which encompasses all. Buddhist time, when embodied in realized buddha’s like the Old Abbot, becomes (like national time) larger than this dynasty or that–it is eternal time. In this context, Sun Yat-sen and Deng Xiaoping both appear as supporting characters in this narrative, as do historic symbols, such as the “big whites” from the SARS and Covid pandemics.

As the context for understanding time, the Old Abbot also legitimates power within the temple specifically and Chinese buddhism more generally. The likeness of Benhuan’s successor, Shi Yinshun (释印顺) is also carved into these panels. Indeed, the meaning of Yinshun is “smooth mind-to-mind transmission” or “smooth dharma transmission” implying that the new abbot embodies/ continues the leadership of the Old Abbot.

Thought du jour: time to reread P. Steven Sangren’s Filial Obsessions, which takes up how Chinese patriliny produces desire for and enables the institutionalization of patriarchal fantasies, such as an all-knowing and enlightened father. In turn, this structure situates sons and their piety at the ethical heart. Below, the embodied time of proper success.

(l) Benhua is shown guiding Yinshun; (r) the panel illustrates the increasing unity of teacher and student in dharma transmission.