Open Letter to the Dutch Collector of the Patriarch Zhanggong Statue
Yangchun, Fujian, China, 30 March, 2015
Open Letter to the Dutch Collector of the Patriarch Zhanggong Statue

（章公祖师故里）致章公祖师宝像荷兰收藏家的公开信
Yangchun, Fujian, China, 30 March, 2015
Dear Friend, the Collector of the Patriarch Zhanggong Statue,

亲爱的章公祖师佛像收藏者朋友：

We are villagers from Yangchun Village, Wushan Township, Datian County, Sanming
City, Fujian Province, China.
 我们是中国福建省三明市大田县吴山乡阳春村的村民。
First, let us show you the most sincere and best greetings from China.

首先向您表达来自中国最真诚最美好的问候。

We would like to tell some story of Patriarch Zhanggong. He was our ancestor like
the Saint to Westerners.
 我们想说的是，章公祖师是我们心中的祖师，就像西方所尊敬的圣人。
When he was a child, Patriarch Zhanggong moved to our village with his widow mother and according to traditional customs he could not change his surname.
章公童年时随母到我们林氏家族，按传统习俗就没有改姓。
At first, he looked for cattle for a living.
最初，他是一个放牛娃。
Later, he converted to Buddhist, always doing good and making a lot of friends.
后来，他归依佛门，广结人缘、乐善好施。
 He gathered herbs personally for other people, thus he was respected and supported deeply, and finally became a Buddha.
他亲自采药救治百姓，深受人们的尊敬和爱戴。章公德高望重，最后修成正果，坐化成佛。
The Lin tribe worshipped his Statue in the middle of the ancestral temple instead of their Lin’s ancestor which was placed on the left side of the Statue, to fully show respect for Patriarch Zhanggong.
This tradition had lasted for nearly one thousand years which was an unusual phenomenon as in China, there was no family enshrining one who didn’t  belong to his family.

林氏族人知恩图报，将其真身供奉在林氏祖祠普照堂的正堂祈拜，如今已经延续近千年。
在堂中，林氏自己祖先的牌位反而列在祖祠的偏位，这充分显示了我们对章公的无比尊敬。
在中国，很少有在自家的祖祠里供奉着别的姓氏的祖先，这也是一个与众不同的地方。