Most of the Jigong we know comes from literary works. The historical Jigong (1148-1209), whose common name was Li Xiuyuan before becoming a monk, was a native of Yongning Village, Tiantai County, Zhejiang Province, and his legal name after becoming a monk. Daoji was honored as "Living Buddha Jigong" by later generations.
To be honest, the eminent Buddhist monks before Jigong was born were as solemn and sacred as the Buddhism at that time. Jigong, on the other hand, had a broken hat, a fan, a broken shoe, and a dirty robe. He was also crazy and undisciplined. He was not bound by the precepts and was fond of wine and meat. The so-called "wine and meat passed through the intestines".
Jigong's fan means "good", and holding a broken fan in his hand means "breaking good". Why destroy good deeds? What kind of good is destroyed? Break through the so-called "goodness" that is pretentious, deliberately artificial, and defined by one's own artificial "standards", and promote this kind of "goodness". To a large extent, the goodness in the world is just an appearance of kindness. The so-called vegetarian diet, the so-called releasing animals, the so-called worship and repentance, and the so-called chanting and copying sutras are all just "appearances" of kindness in a sense. It is inevitable that more and more of the world's greed and worldly desires will be mixed into it, seeking good things in this life, "blessings" in the next life, and peace. Where is the good? Yes, we also talk about helping others, but we also always emphasize the need to get good rewards and good results. It is precisely because there are so many good looks, and those who study Buddhism are imitating those pretentious ones, so Jigong was born to reflect those "looks". And after Jigong, how many people who studied Buddhism and did good deeds reflected on it?