Sila Reef is a small one in the sea area in front of the "Guanyin (Goddness of Mercy)'s Footstep" on the Putuo Island of Zhejiang Province, which is related to the founding of the Bukenqu Guanyin Temple and the three nations in East Asia. In the past, many Chinese and Japanese scholars held that the Sila Reef and the statue fo Guanyin worshipped in the Guanyin Temple were concerned with Huie, a Japanese monk. In their opinion, it was Huie who founded the Temple and enshrined the opinions about the time that the matter happened since the related historical records were varied. Some scholars claimed that it was in 858 according to Baoqing Siming Zhi (1225~27) and Fozu Tongi, whereas others argued it was in 863 according to Nitto gubo junreiki (by the Japanese monk Ennin) or in 916 according to Zhizheng Butuo Luojiashan Kao (published in 1341~1361). In the last analysis, the year 858 was the most credible. Very recently, some Korean scholars set forth the new point of view based on Xuanhe Fengshi Gaoli Tujng (an illustrated book about the imssion to Koryo) by Xu Jing and the name of Sila. They inferred that the temple would be concerned with Sila merchants and the monk Huie as well.
The truth was that at that time Sila merchants controlled the sea route of the three East Asian nations. Huie came to China through the sea area of Mount PUtuo for some times and he might have done some Buddhist activities there. So it is presumed the Temple was related to both Sila merchants and Huie, who might have had the similar experience in differnet time. But there is no more corroborative evidence availabe. Anothor interesting presumption is that the above two points of views are based on the same matter, which, in fact, stemmed from almost the same material except the protagonist. On the one hand, the story recorded in Baoqing Siming Zhi tells that the statue Huie brought was so heavy that he carried it with the merchant he traveled with. Though there was no indication as to his nationality, it is clear enough that he was a foreign merchant from Sila. On the other hand, many japanese monks such as Ennin often chatered Sila ships for a voyage to China.
It was said that Huie came to China by Sila ship. Judging by the relationship between Huie and the Sila merchant, the said presumption is not unwarranted. That is to say, Huie came to the Mount Putuo with the statue of Guanyin by the ship of Sila merchants, which hit the reel, and then they built the temple for Guanyin. However, sufficient evidence is needed to support the presumption.
