Emperor Shenzong of Song
Faxiu was a close friend of the Song Dynasty painter Li Gonglin, who depicted him in a painting called "Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden". As an apparently moralistic teacher, Faxiu taught his lay students in terms of karmic retribution, and he specifically urged Gonglin to give up painting horses lest he be reborn as one. Faxiu suggested he should instead repent by painting the Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteśvara. He also was in contact with Huang Tingjian, whose writing he criticized for its "seductive language". Juefan Huihong, a contemporary monk, recorded that Faxiu had a famously bad temper. He wrote of Faxiu: ...he had a severe, cold expression. [His imposing] rage [gives the impression that] he would spit [water] at people. In his life he regarded cursing as the business of Buddhism. In 1084, Faxiu was appointed to be the first abbot of Fayun Chan Monastery by Emperor Shenzong of Song, which is the origin of the "Fayun" in his name. The Great Hall there was furnished with the help of his friends, with Su Shi providing the inscription for the great bell, and Li Gonglin sculpting the main Buddha image.