Soon after the Liberation， the Mahavira Hall of Lingyin Templewas severely damaged by termites. Thanks to the fund allocated by the government， the hall acquired an entirely new appearance after the restoration. Premier Zhou Enlai even gave instructions on the sculpting of one Buddha statue in the hall so that it could be successfully and perfectly completed. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution，Lingyin Temple was in great danger of destruction， but thanks to the prestige of Premier Zhou， it survived that cultural disaster. After the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976， Lingyin Temple received another round of restoration and reopened to the public， which was warmly welcomed by the people. This also convinced the people that our government would ensure policy for freedom of religious belief in China as well as its effective implementation.In mid April of 1980， I returned to Lingyin Temple where I became a Buddhist monk after a trip to Mount Huangshan. Crowds of tourists came to visit this solemn ancient temple， but there was a lack ofinformative materials that introduced its history. Thus the idea of revising and republishing Anecdotes about Lingyin Temple came and received approval from the keepership of the temple. However，revising the book was still a challenge， as I had no original edition at hand. Mr. Ding Yunchuan learned of this and on his business trip to Beijing he brought me a first-edition Anecdotes about Lingyin Temple that he collected. It was such a great rejoicing to me.
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