Medieval Buddhist of the Day

[Twitter, 9/16/19] Medieval Buddhists of the Day: the Wang brothers. In 559 (N. Qi) they sponsored a Quyang marble figure of (Sakyamuni and) Prabhutaratna in honor of their deceased parents. They acknowledge themselves as 王和、王思和、道人智楞三兄弟. That’s “The three brothers Wang He, Wang Sihe, and the monk Zhileng.” It reminds us that though monastics were called 出家人, “family-leavers,” they typically maintained relationships with their families and did not relinquish the responsibilities of kinship on taking vows.