Patriarch Ching Chwee

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. (February 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Chinese Wikipedia article at [[:zh:清水祖師]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|zh|清水祖師}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Patriarch Ching Chwee (Chinese: 清水祖師; pinyin: Qīngshuǐ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chheng-chúi chó͘-su; 1047-1101), also known as Chó͘-su-kong (Chinese: 祖師公; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chó͘-su-kong), born Tan Chiau Eng (Chinese: 陳昭應; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Chiau-èng) was a Zen (Chan) Buddhist monk during the Northern Song from Anxi County, Quanzhou. He was said to have gained supernatural powers through his skill in learning and preaching the Dharma and meditation.^[1] Through this, he is said to have saved the town of Anxi during a period of drought, bringing rain as he went from place to place. In reverence, the villagers built shrines to him and hence became a deity in Chinese folk religion.^[2]

Patriarch Ching Chwee is also known by the following nicknames:^[1]

• Dropping Nose Ancestor (Chinese: 落鼻祖師公; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: La̍k-phīⁿ chó͘-su-kong), known for the prominent nose featured in Patriarch Ching Chwee's effigies
• Black Faced Ancestor (Chinese: 烏面祖師公; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: o͘-bīn-chó͘-su-kong)

Worship of Patriarch Ching Chwee (清水祖师) is especially popular in Taiwan, where he is worshiped by local villagers for protection and in overseas Hokkien-speaking communities. His birthday is celebrated on the sixth day of the first lunar month.