View source for Repatriation of the Buddha

<xiangqi-player>
{
  "id": "songfoguidian-definition",
  "initialFen": "2b2a3/3kn4/bR2Cr3/9/3P5/3r5/9/3Cp4/2p1p4/3K5 w - - 0 1",
  "moves": [
    "b8d8",
    "d9d8",
    "d6d7",
    "d8d9",
    "d7d8",
    "d9d10",
    "d8d9"
  ],
  "initialPly": 0,
  "annotations": {
    "0": "Red to move. This is the position the encyclopedia entry uses for its worked line and the tutorial calls a position from an old manual (古谱).",
    "1": "R8=6: the chariot is offered on the general's file.",
    "3": "P6+1: the soldier advances with check for the first time.",
    "7": "P6+1 for the third time: checkmate."
  },
  "caption": "The Repatriation of the Buddha (送佛归殿): Red gives up the chariot on the general's file, then advances the soldier three times with check until the general is mated. Red to move."
}
</xiangqi-player>

<!-- Pikafish verification: the featured position (FEN 2b2a3/3kn4/bR2Cr3/9/3P5/3r5/9/3Cp4/2p1p4/3K5 w - - 0 1) is legal. At depth 20 with MultiPV 1 the engine reports "score mate 4" (mate in four Red moves) and its principal variation is exactly the recorded line R8=6 K4+1 P6+1 K4-1 P6+1 K4-1 P6+1. Every recorded move is legal, each soldier advance gives check, and the mate is forced; the recorded line is the engine's own first choice. -->

'''Repatriation of the Buddha''' (simplified Chinese: <span lang="zh-Hans">送佛归殿</span>; traditional Chinese: <span lang="zh-Hant">送佛歸殿</span>) is a mating pattern in xiangqi in which a soldier (<span lang="zh">兵</span> or <span lang="zh">卒</span>), helped by other pieces, gives one check after another and drives the opposing general (<span lang="zh">将</span> or <span lang="zh">帅</span>) until it is mated.<ref name="s001">360百科 (baike.so.com). "[https://baike.so.com/doc/2662083-2811088.html 送佛归殿]" [Repatriation of the Buddha]. 2022-07-20.</ref><ref name="s029">qq631213796 (2017-06-16). "[https://jingyan.baidu.com/article/aa6a2c143ba5590d4c19c490.html 中国象棋杀法——送佛归殿]" [Chinese xiangqi mating methods: Repatriation of the Buddha]. 百度经验 (jingyan.baidu.com).</ref> Chinese teaching material also records the same pattern as '''Three Soldier Advances''' (<span lang="zh">三进兵</span>) and '''the Eunuch Chases the Emperor''' (<span lang="zh">太监追皇帝</span>).<ref name="s002">360百科 (baike.so.com). "[https://baike.so.com/doc/6645089-6858904.html 三进兵]" [Three Soldier Advances].</ref><ref name="s054">竞阳体育 (2020-12-25). "[https://k.sina.com.cn/article_7507480051_1bf7b0df300100ycft.html 象棋百科启智初步，如何练习杀棋，学习杀法杀着有什么好方法吗？]" [Xiangqi encyclopedia primer: how to practise mating]. 新浪看点 (k.sina.com.cn).</ref><ref name="s063">七里河发布 (2024-06-23). "[http://www.toutiao.com/a7383319651797598732/ 象棋实战杀局技巧：太监追皇帝]" [Practical mating techniques: the Eunuch Chases the Emperor]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com).</ref> The pattern is a standard entry in the numbered lists of basic mating methods (<span lang="zh">基本杀法</span>) used in Chinese teaching videos and in the training content of xiangqi applications.<ref name="s013">爱下棋的冉帅 (2025-05-27). "[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1NajdzoEBU 象棋34种基础杀法之三进兵]" [34 basic mating methods: Three Soldier Advances]. 哔哩哔哩 (bilibili.com).</ref><ref name="s010">川帅锅锅 (2026-08-28). "[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1kCtN6xEpw 象棋-基本杀法-送佛归殿]" [Xiangqi basic mating methods: Repatriation of the Buddha]. 哔哩哔哩 (bilibili.com).</ref>

The name is used outside xiangqi as well. Chinese-language Go instruction uses <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> for a capturing method employed when a ladder (<span lang="zh">征子</span>) is unfavourable,<ref name="s001" /><ref name="s016">下围棋的林大个 (2021-07-21). "[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1HV411p72e 有趣的围棋~送佛归殿]" [Amusing Go: Repatriation of the Buddha]. 哔哩哔哩 (bilibili.com).</ref> and the same headword appears in writing on the Chinese trick-taking card game <span lang="zh">双升</span>, where its sense is not explained.<ref name="s035">今日头条 (2025-04-04). "[https://www.toutiao.com/article/7489403829583233551/ 象棋残局：胜局（四）·“三进兵送佛归殿”杀形]" [Xiangqi endgames: winning positions IV].</ref><ref name="s037">知乎专栏 (2023-01-08). "[https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/597415057 双升实用技术：漏一手与送佛归殿]" [Practical technique in Double Upgrade: the missed move and Repatriation of the Buddha].</ref>

Catalogue listings of the classical Chinese manuals and of the composed-problem collections record no position under the name 送佛归殿, 三进兵 or 太监追皇帝, and no manual, catalogue or reference work links the one classical position that shares the pattern's mechanism to the modern name.<ref name="s044">东萍象棋网 (records entered 2007-07-26). "[http://www.dpxq.com/hldcg/share/chess_%CF%F3%C6%E5%C6%D7%B4%F3%C8%AB/%CF%F3%C6%E5%C6%D7%B4%F3%C8%AB-%B9%C5%C6%D7%B2%D0%BE%D6/%CA%CA%C7%E9%D1%C5%C8%A4/ 《适情雅趣》分卷目录]" [Catalogue of ''Elegant Pastime'' by volume]. 东萍象棋网 (dpxq.com).</ref><ref name="s046">东萍象棋网. "[http://www.dpxq.com/hldcg/share/chess_%CF%F3%C6%E5%C6%D7%B4%F3%C8%AB/%CF%F3%C6%E5%C6%D7%B4%F3%C8%AB-%B9%C5%C6%D7%B2%D0%BE%D6/ 象棋谱大全·古谱残局集目]" [Collection index of the classical endgame library]. 东萍象棋网 (dpxq.com).</ref>

== Definition and mechanism ==

Chinese reference works define the pattern in similar terms. The 360 Baike entry files <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> under sports terminology and calls it a killing move (<span lang="zh">杀招</span>) in which a small soldier, cooperating with other pieces, harasses the enemy general step by step; it records the alternative names the Eunuch Chases the Emperor (<span lang="zh">太监追皇上</span>), Three Soldier Advances (<span lang="zh">三进兵</span>) and the Phoenix Nods Three Times (<span lang="zh">凤凰三点头</span>).<ref name="s001" /> A 2017 illustrated tutorial repeats the definition word for word and adds that the device occurs often in endgames (<span lang="zh">残局</span>) and is therefore worth learning.<ref name="s029" /> A companion encyclopedia article frames the underlying principle more broadly: the soldier is weak in isolation but decisive in many endgames, and it must hurry toward the opponent's palace (<span lang="zh">九宫</span>).<ref name="s002" />

Chinese instructional writing classifies the pattern among the <span lang="zh">杀法</span>, the "basic killing moves", a group that Chinese authors number at twenty or thirty and whose members each carry a vivid and memorable name. Within the genre a <span lang="zh">杀法</span> is either a checking sequence (<span lang="zh">连将杀着</span>, in which every move gives check until mate) or a combination that is not wholly forcing; Repatriation of the Buddha is taught as the checking type.<ref name="s054" />

The mechanism is described in three parts. A heavy piece, most often a chariot, is sacrificed on the general's file, drawing the general onto a square where the soldier can attack it.<ref name="s029" /><ref name="s002" /> The soldier then advances with a cannon standing behind it on the same file; a defender that captures the soldier leaves the capturing piece between the cannon and the general, so the cannon then bears on the general, and a defender that captures the cannon instead leaves the soldier's check unanswered.<ref name="s029" /><ref name="s013" /> The soldier finally advances with check, move after move, until the general has no escape.<ref name="s001" /><ref name="s029" />

The tutorial that supplies the standard diagram presents the device as an application of sacrifice-to-divert (<span lang="zh">弃子吸引</span>): one side gives material in order to produce the mating shape, catching the opponent unprepared.<ref name="s029" /> In that position, which the same page calls a position from an old manual (<span lang="zh">古谱</span>) without naming the manual, Red offers the chariot on the general's file (车八平六; WXF R8=6), the general advances (K4+1), and the soldier then advances three times with check (P6+1) while Black's chariot can capture neither the soldier nor the cannon.<ref name="s029" /> The encyclopedia's own worked line is the same: 车八平六, 将4进1; 兵六进一, 将4退1; 兵六进一, 将4退1; 兵六进一, and Red wins.<ref name="s001" />

The name <span lang="zh">三进兵</span> implies three advances of the soldier, and a Toutiao post about the pattern states the same feature, that the soldier advances three times to attack or control the general while other pieces seize the king.<ref name="s007">今慧技术. "[https://profile.zjurl.cn/rogue/ugc/profile/?user_id=58200433662 象棋实用杀着-三进兵]" [Practical xiangqi killing moves: Three Soldier Advances]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com).</ref> The count is a name and a shorthand rather than a strict rule: the encyclopedia's definition says only that the soldier harasses the general step by step, and the tutorial's own two worked examples use two and three advances respectively.<ref name="s001" /><ref name="s029" /> One modern list supplies a four-advance version in which the general is finally forced onto the centre file,<ref name="s030">蕾米 (2015-12-14). "[http://news.4399.com/gonglue/ttxq/cjsfds/m/582765.html 天天象棋残局攻略 卒(兵)杀法 独卒擒王]" [Endgame guide for the app ''Tian Tian Xiangqi'': the soldier mate 独卒擒王]. 4399手机游戏网 (news.4399.com).</ref> and a video lesson in the same family applies the "three nods" label to repeated chariot checks rather than soldier advances.<ref name="s014">爱下棋的冉帅 (2025-09-26). "[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV12An3zkENk 象棋杀法宝典-金鸡三点头]" [Treasury of xiangqi mating methods: the Golden Rooster Nods Three Times]. 哔哩哔哩 (bilibili.com).</ref>

== Names, aliases, and imagery ==

The pattern is known by several names whose relationship Chinese sources describe in different ways. On Baidu Baike the headword <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> is a redirect that "generally refers to" <span lang="zh">三进兵</span>, so Baidu Baike treats Three Soldier Advances as the main article title.<ref name="s004">百度百科 (baike.baidu.com). "[https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%80%81%E4%BD%9B%E5%BD%92%E6%AE%BF 送佛归殿]" [Repatriation of the Buddha]. Search-card summary.</ref> The 360 Baike entry does the reverse, making <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> the headword and the other three names its alternatives;<ref name="s001" /> the Sogou Baike entry repeats that set; and a Sina Kandian list of basic mating methods also heads the entry <span lang="zh">三进兵</span>, with the Phoenix Nods Three Times, the Eunuch Chases the Yellow Emperor and Repatriation of the Buddha in parentheses.<ref name="s031">搜狗百科 (baike.sogou.com). "[http://baike.sogou.com/v50999523.htm 送佛归殿]" [Repatriation of the Buddha]. Search-result summary.</ref><ref name="s054" /> None of these sources dates either name, and modern usage takes <span lang="zh">三进兵</span> as the primary term in some places and <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> in others.<ref name="s054" /><ref name="s063" /><ref name="s064">中国象棋教室 (2026-02-16). "[https://www.toutiao.com/a1857252785076231/ 象棋杀法大全]" [A compendium of xiangqi mating methods]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com). Post summary.</ref>

The wording of the second name is unstable. The encyclopedia writes the Eunuch Chases the Emperor as <span lang="zh">太监追皇上</span>; the 4399 endgame guide writes <span lang="zh">太监追皇帝</span>; the Sina list writes <span lang="zh">太监追黄帝</span>, with the Yellow Emperor.<ref name="s001" /><ref name="s030" /><ref name="s054" /> A 360 Kuaizixun column's summary adds a fourth alias, <span lang="zh">千里送京娘</span> ("seeing off Lady Jingniang for a thousand li", an allusion to a popular legend), which no other source records.<ref name="s006">360快资讯 (360kuai.com). "[https://www.360kuai.com/pc/9816c4cae22f168a9?cota=3&kuai_so=1 象棋残局：胜局（四）·“三进兵送佛归殿”杀形]" [Xiangqi endgames: winning positions IV]. Page title and summary.</ref> The variant <span lang="zh">送佛归西</span> ("seeing the Buddha home to the west") is used side by side with the standard name: a 2026 training lesson carries it in its title and in the narration throughout.<ref name="s012">板鸭象棋 (2026-08-05). "[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1DaMk6ZEwb 送佛归西（三进兵）的用法及应用 象棋的基本招法 象棋网络培训班（从学1到业9）第17课]" [The uses of Repatriation of the Buddha (Three Soldier Advances), lesson 17]. 哔哩哔哩 (bilibili.com).</ref>

The "three nods" family is not a simple set of synonyms. A 2025 lesson teaches <span lang="zh">金鸡三点头</span> (the Golden Rooster Nods Three Times) through examples in which a chariot kills an advisor and then gives two or three successive checks, and describes the pattern as "one check longer than <span lang="zh">进洞出洞</span>"; the presenter also says that one of the puzzles he teaches is unsound and shows the defence he found with software.<ref name="s014" /> A Toutiao list of techniques prints the Phoenix Nods Three Times and Repatriation of the Buddha as two separate entries, while the dictionary style treats them as the same technique's two names.<ref name="s065">珊瑚添绮丽 (2025-09). "[https://www.toutiao.com/a1870688590133260/ 学习象棋你有什么技巧分享——古谱与杀法名录]" [Xiangqi study tips: classical manuals and the roster of mating methods]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com). Post summary.</ref><ref name="s001" />

The 4399 guide draws an explicit distinction inside the family. It lists the pattern under the name <span lang="zh">独卒擒王</span> ("a lone soldier captures the king"), also called a soldier's last escort (<span lang="zh">一卒送终</span>), the Eunuch Chases the Emperor, and Repatriation of the Buddha, and defines it as a soldier, aided by other pieces, checking the general step by step until it is driven back to its original square. The same page adds that the difference between <span lang="zh">三进兵</span> and <span lang="zh">独卒擒王</span> is that Three Soldier Advances mates the general anywhere on the back rank, whereas <span lang="zh">独卒擒王</span> requires driving the general back to its starting square before mating.<ref name="s030" /> That rule conflicts with the encyclopedia entries and with the Sina list, which treat the names as flat synonyms, and the disagreement remains unresolved.<ref name="s001" /><ref name="s054" /><ref name="s030" />

Several of the pattern's names describe the escorting of a powerful figure home. One post describes the mate as using the soldier to press forward and give consecutive checks while the other pieces drive the enemy general back to its original square (<span lang="zh">逼回原位</span>), and another article that files the pattern under "other basic mating methods" gives the same description.<ref name="s008">欢乐雪. "[https://profile.zjurl.cn/rogue/ugc/profile/?user_id=55576670067 #送佛归殿战术你学会了吗#]" [Have you learned the Repatriation of the Buddha tactic?]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com). Post summary.</ref><ref name="s027">操机小能手 (2025-03-02). "[https://profile.zjurl.cn/rogue/ugc/profile/?user_id=866857195146455 冷门杀招逆天改命！中国象棋36种绝杀秘笈四]" [Thirty-six secret mating methods, part four]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com). Post summary.</ref> The alternative name the Eunuch Chases the Emperor and the single attestation of <span lang="zh">千里送京娘</span> belong to the same family of escorting images.<ref name="s001" /><ref name="s006" />

== The canonical position and worked lines ==

The position most often used to introduce the pattern is the one shown in the board at the top of the article: Red's chariot, cannon and soldier against a black general standing on its own file, with the chariot offered on that file and the soldier advancing three times with check. Two encyclopedia articles print the same line, and the 2017 tutorial presents the position as coming from an old manual, though it gives no manual name, chapter or number.<ref name="s001" /><ref name="s029" /><ref name="s031" />

The same tutorial also gives a shorter composed problem (<span lang="zh">排局</span>) in which Red's situation looks desperate but the technique wins at once. Red advances the soldier with check (兵六进一; WXF P6+1), Black's general steps back (K4-1), and the second soldier advance mates; the author glosses the idea as "like a eunuch chasing the emperor" and explains that Black may not take the soldier, because the cannon would then seize the king.<ref name="s029" />

<xiangqi-player>
{
  "id": "songfoguidian-two-move",
  "initialFen": "9/3k5/9/3P5/3r5/9/4R4/3C5/1c2A4/c3KAB2 w - - 0 1",
  "moves": [
    "d7d8",
    "d9d10",
    "d8d9"
  ],
  "initialPly": 0,
  "annotations": {
    "0": "Red to move.",
    "1": "P6+1: the soldier advances with check.",
    "2": "K4-1: the general must retreat.",
    "3": "P6+1: mate."
  },
  "caption": "The shortest worked form of the pattern: two soldier advances with check. Red to move; the mate is forced."
}
</xiangqi-player>

<!-- Pikafish verification: the two-advance position (FEN 9/3k5/9/3P5/3r5/9/4R4/3C5/1c2A4/c3KAB2 w - - 0 1) is legal. At depth 20 the engine reports "score mate 2" (mate in two Red moves); its principal variation is the recorded line P6+1 K4-1 P6+1, Black has no alternative defence, and the second soldier advance mates. -->

The 4399 guide's first study uses the four-advance form. Red's soldier advances with check, the general retreats twice, then the general is forced sideways onto the centre file (将4平5; WXF K4=5) and the fourth advance mates. In the recorded diagram the two generals stand on the same file, and that alignment makes the exchanges safe: at the end the black general cannot capture the soldier on the back rank, because it would then face the red general along an open file.<ref name="s030" />

<xiangqi-player>
{
  "id": "duzuqinwang-general-home",
  "initialFen": "5a3/4c4/3kb4/9/3P5/9/9/9/9/3K5 w - - 0 1",
  "moves": [
    "d6d7",
    "d8d9",
    "d7d8",
    "d9d10",
    "d8d9",
    "d10e10",
    "d9d10"
  ],
  "initialPly": 0,
  "annotations": {
    "0": "Red to move.",
    "1": "P6+1: the soldier advances with check.",
    "3": "P6+1: the second advance, again with check.",
    "5": "P6+1: the general is driven to the centre file.",
    "7": "P6+1: mate. The black general cannot take the soldier, because the two generals would then face each other on the open file."
  },
  "caption": "The four-advance form recorded as 独卒擒王: the soldier drives the general across the palace and mates on the back rank while the two generals stand on the same file. Red to move."
}
</xiangqi-player>

<!-- Pikafish verification: the four-advance position (FEN 5a3/4c4/3kb4/9/3P5/9/9/9/9/3K5 w - - 0 1) is legal. At depth 20 the engine reports "score mate 4" (mate in four Red moves); its principal variation is the recorded line P6+1 K4-1 P6+1 K4-1 P6+1 K4=5 P6+1. Playing the recorded line to the end leaves the engine with no reply, i.e. the final position is checkmate: the soldier on the back rank checks the general, and capturing it is illegal because the red general on the same open file would then face the black general. -->

Heavier versions of the same idea are recorded as well. The 4399 guide's second study sacrifices two chariots in succession on the general's file before the soldier advances four times; the encyclopedia's second worked example does the same against a general boxed in by its own cannon in the palace centre, and the Toutiao article that equates the pattern with the Eunuch Chases the Emperor opens with a double chariot sacrifice.<ref name="s030" /><ref name="s002" /><ref name="s063" /> A Toutiao post about three crossed soldiers against a single chariot describes Red winning with the same method in a soldier-heavy endgame outside the classic chariot-and-cannon setting.<ref name="s026">溪流潺潺流淌. "[https://profile.zjurl.cn/rogue/ugc/profile/?user_id=2789932809325708 三个小卒能赢车？我十年象棋白下了]" [Can three soldiers beat a chariot?]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com). Post summary.</ref>

Not every position that circulates under the name is sound. A Toutiao post asks whether a well-known <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> position leaves Red with nothing if Black simply declines to retreat the general, and the 2025 lesson on the "three nods" family withdraws one of its own puzzles after engine analysis found a defence.<ref name="s025">慢镜头. "[https://profile.zjurl.cn/rogue/ugc/profile/?user_id=3911397798579963 送佛归殿这盘棋，黑棋只要不退将，红棋是不是就没招了？]" [In this position, has Red nothing if Black will not retreat the general?]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com). Post title.</ref><ref name="s014" />

The heavier two-rook form is replayed below.<ref name="s030" />

<xiangqi-player>
{
  "id": "duzuqinwang-two-rook-sacrifice",
  "initialFen": "3k1a3/2R1n4/1R2b4/9/3P5/2P3P2/2p6/3KBA3/2CNA4/9 w - - 0 1",
  "moves": [
    "c9d9",
    "d10d9",
    "b8d8",
    "d9d8",
    "d6d7",
    "d8d9",
    "d7d8",
    "d9d10",
    "d8d9",
    "d10e10",
    "d9d10"
  ],
  "initialPly": 0,
  "annotations": {
    "0": "Red to move. The source calls this the second 独卒擒王 study.",
    "1": "R7=6: the first chariot is offered on the general's file.",
    "3": "R8=6: the second chariot is offered on the same file.",
    "5": "P6+1: the soldier's first advance, with check.",
    "9": "P6+1 for the third time; the general must step across to the centre file.",
    "11": "P6+1: mate."
  },
  "caption": "The heavier two-rook form recorded by the 4399 endgame guide as 独卒擒王2: Red gives up a chariot on the general's file twice in succession, then mates with four soldier advances. Red to move. One further red piece in the source's diagram is covered by the site's watermark, takes no part in the solution, and is not included in the position shown."
}
</xiangqi-player>

<!-- Pikafish verification: the two-rook position (FEN 3k1a3/2R1n4/1R2b4/9/3P5/2P3P2/2p6/3KBA3/2CNA4/9 w - - 0 1) is legal. At depth 20 with MultiPV 1 the engine reports "score mate 6" and its principal variation is exactly the recorded line R7=6 K4+1 R8=6 K4+1 P6+1 K4-1 P6+1 K4-1 P6+1 K4=5 P6+1; every recorded move is legal, each soldier advance gives check, and the final position is checkmate, because the black general may not capture the soldier and thereby face the red general along the open d-file. The score is unchanged at depths 20 through 26. The position was read piece by piece from the 4399 diagram, which places the three red defenders that take no part in the line on the c, d and e files of the second rank; the source's own move text names both chariots, the soldier and the general, and the engine's first choice is that same eleven-ply line. One further red piece in the diagram's lower right corner is covered by the site watermark and cannot be read; it takes no part in the solution and is omitted from the position above. -->

== Tactical components and related patterns ==

Teaching sources describe the mate as a combination rather than a single trick. The recurring devices are the sacrifice that draws the general up the file (<span lang="zh">弃车引将</span>), the cannon standing behind the soldier whose line keeps the soldier safe to advance, and the soldiers and other pieces that close the general's escape squares.<ref name="s029" /><ref name="s002" /><ref name="s012" /><ref name="s013" />

Several of the devices carry their own names in the instructional literature. The encyclopedia's second example calls the blocking piece in the palace a "nest cannon" (<span lang="zh">窝心炮</span>) and says that the soldier "borrows the cannon's strength" (<span lang="zh">兵借炮力</span>), and two video lessons use <span lang="zh">炮架</span> for the screen the cannon fires through.<ref name="s002" /><ref name="s012" /><ref name="s013" /> An iQiyi lesson is titled around <span lang="zh">借车使炮</span>, "borrowing the chariot to make the cannon work", and the title is the only text the source makes available, so the term cannot be defined from it.<ref name="s018">爱奇艺 (iqiyi.com). "[https://so.iqiyi.com/so/q_%E9%80%81%E4%BD%9B%E5%BD%92%E6%AE%BF 一盘棋让你学会送佛归殿，借车使炮 两种杀法精髓!]" [Learn the pattern in one game; borrowing the chariot to use the cannon]. Search-index title.</ref>

The attacking side's own pieces can also get in the way. A 2025 lesson in which Red has chariot, horse, cannon and soldier warns that playing the soldier mate too early fails because the soldier blocks the horse's leg (<span lang="zh">憋马腿</span>), and that the horse must first be moved to the diagonal attacking square the presenter calls <span lang="zh">八角马</span>.<ref name="s015">橘梅象棋 (2025-12-17). "[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1qZq5B8EGQ 送佛归殿]" [Repatriation of the Buddha]. 哔哩哔哩 (bilibili.com).</ref> Neither <span lang="zh">八角马</span> nor <span lang="zh">进洞出洞</span>, the pattern named in the "three nods" lesson, is defined in the sources that use the terms.<ref name="s015" /><ref name="s014" />

The study in which that warning appears is the position shown below. Red has a chariot, horse, cannon and soldier; Black has two chariots, two soldiers and a cannon; and the presenter's winning continuation from it ends in the pattern, which is why the episode carries the pattern's name.<ref name="s015" />

<xiangqi-player>
{
  "id": "s015-training-study-start",
  "initialFen": "4kr3/9/3a1R3/r1P3N2/9/9/9/4Cc3/4p1p2/5K3 w - - 0 1",
  "moves": [],
  "initialPly": 0,
  "annotations": {
    "0": "Red to move. The source uses this as the starting position of a combination study; its solution is described in the text and is not replayed here."
  },
  "caption": "The opening position of a 2025 training study on the pattern (橘梅象棋): Red has a chariot, horse, cannon and soldier, Black two chariots, two soldiers and a cannon. Red to move."
}
</xiangqi-player>

<!-- Pikafish verification: the study position (FEN 4kr3/9/3a1R3/r1P3N2/9/9/9/4Cc3/4p1p2/5K3 w - - 0 1) is legal, the side to move is not in check, and every piece stands on a legal square. At depth 20 with MultiPV 1 the engine reports "score mate 11" (mate in eleven Red moves), confirming that the study position is a forced win for Red. The block is published as a static position (moves: []), so no source move list is asserted and the engine's line is not reproduced as article content. -->

== Modern teaching and circulation ==

Repatriation of the Buddha appears in Chinese xiangqi teaching as one numbered item in a syllabus. A 2020 video course lists it as lesson 30 of a series on basic mating methods; a 2025 series numbers the pattern inside a set of thirty-four basic methods; a 2025 collection devotes a separate episode to it; a short-video series numbers it 33; and the 4399 guide belongs to a series of fixed endgame patterns.<ref name="s011">象棋-老云 (2020-03-14). "[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV13E411V715 基本杀法第30课：送佛归殿]" [Basic mating methods, lesson 30: Repatriation of the Buddha]. 哔哩哔哩 (bilibili.com). Title and cover only.</ref><ref name="s013" /><ref name="s039">哔哩哔哩 (2025-08-08). "[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV11Pt1zsEXx/ 象棋杀法宝典-送佛归殿]" [Treasury of xiangqi mating methods: Repatriation of the Buddha]. Title only.</ref><ref name="s040">西瓜视频 (2024-09-11). "[https://www.ixigua.com/7413397917433594405 残局基本杀法：33 送佛归殿]" [Basic endgame mating methods 33: Repatriation of the Buddha]. Title only.</ref><ref name="s030" /> The pattern is also embedded in the puzzle banks of the mass-market xiangqi applications: one Douyin short presents it as the solution to level 38 of the ''Tian Tian Xiangqi'' (<span lang="zh">天天象棋</span>) endgame challenge, and a Sohu post describes using it to clear level 109 of ''JJ Xiangqi''.<ref name="s021">象棋残局解析 (2022-05-15). "[https://www.douyin.com/video/7097990776520445225 天天象棋残局闯关第38关，三进兵杀法]" [''Tian Tian Xiangqi'' endgame challenge level 38: the Three Soldier Advances mate]. 抖音 (douyin.com). Index title.</ref><ref name="s041">搜狐号视频作者 (2024-09-08). "[https://www.sohu.com/a/807183759_100114195 JJ象棋沙场点兵第109关，炮兵残局，喜欢常用的一招，送佛归殿]" [''JJ Xiangqi'' level 109: the cannon-and-soldier endgame]. 搜狐网 (sohu.com). Title only.</ref>

The numbering belongs to each series rather than to the pattern's history: the lesson numbers in the sources range from 22 to 38, and one series places the pattern first in its own sequence.<ref name="s017">优酷 (index date 2015-10-30). "[https://so.youku.com/search_video/q_%E9%80%81%E4%BD%9B%E5%BD%92%E6%AE%BF 22、送佛归殿杀法]" [22: the Repatriation of the Buddha mate]. Search-index title.</ref><ref name="s038">哔哩哔哩 (2025-04-17). "[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Uj5qzTEnL/ 象棋基础杀法例释 一、送佛归殿]" [Illustrated basic mating methods, 1: Repatriation of the Buddha]. Title only.</ref>

In modern curricula the pattern is taught together with other named mating methods. A Toutiao study plan groups it with <span lang="zh">拔簧马</span>, <span lang="zh">立马车</span> and <span lang="zh">二路夹车炮</span> as techniques to be memorised and understood; a 2025 lesson places the Golden Rooster Nods Three Times in the same series as Repatriation of the Buddha; and the 4399 guide's two sacrificial studies sit inside a numbered table of fixed endgame patterns (<span lang="zh">定式</span>).<ref name="s028">运筹帷幄，决胜千里. "[https://profile.zjurl.cn/rogue/ugc/profile/?user_id=110145267801 何为象棋残局？怎样学习攻杀技巧？]" [What is a xiangqi endgame, and how should one study attacking technique?]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com). Post summary.</ref><ref name="s014" /><ref name="s030" />

Alongside the video series, the position circulates as a lecture text. The wording of the 2017 tutorial, including the chariot sacrifice, the remark that the black chariot can capture neither the soldier nor the cannon, and the closing phrase "this is the beauty of Repatriation of the Buddha", reappears in slide decks hosted on three document-sharing sites between 2018 and 2021, where the shared text points to one source rather than three independent witnesses.<ref name="s032">百度文库 (indexed 2020-05-10). "[https://wenku.baidu.com/view/b997c1d202d8ce2f0066f5335a8102d276a261bf 中国象棋杀法——送佛归殿(PPT)]" [Chinese xiangqi mating methods: Repatriation of the Buddha]. Search snippet.</ref><ref name="s033">原创力文档 (indexed 2018-07-16). "[https://max.book118.com/html/2018/0716/6112023140001205.shtm 中国象棋杀法 送佛归殿.pptx]" [Chinese xiangqi mating methods: Repatriation of the Buddha]. Search snippet.</ref><ref name="s034">豆丁网 (indexed 2021-12-10). "[https://www.docin.com/p-2889311292.html 中国象棋杀法——送佛归殿 ppt课件]" [Chinese xiangqi mating methods: Repatriation of the Buddha, slides]. Search snippet.</ref> A 2009 handbook of checking-sequence mates (<span lang="zh">连将杀</span>) is known from its bibliographic record.<ref name="s022">王聚群 (2009). 《象棋连将杀手册》 [Handbook of checking-sequence mates]. 河南科学技术出版社 (Henan Science and Technology Press). Bibliographic record.</ref>

No source gives a measured frequency for the pattern; the indications of how often it is met come from the teaching material, where one video account presents three basic endgames under the name <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> and a demonstration video shows the mate played out on an application board.<ref name="s019">云中棋苑 (2021-04-12). "[https://so.iqiyi.com/so/q_%E9%80%81%E4%BD%9B%E5%BD%92%E6%AE%BF 【云中棋苑】学会3个基础残局“送佛归殿”]" [Learn three basic endgames: Repatriation of the Buddha]. 爱奇艺 (iqiyi.com). Search-index title.</ref><ref name="s009">上周五是星期六 (2026-04-29). "[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1iZ9SBNEP1 象棋中最帅的将杀，“送佛归殿”]" [The handsomest mate in xiangqi]. 哔哩哔哩 (bilibili.com).</ref>

== Classical manuals and the attribution question ==

=== The manuals ===

Chinese writing on endgame composition repeatedly returns to two Ming manuals, <span lang="zh">梦入神机</span> and <span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span> (''Elegant Pastime'').<ref name="s043">东萍网友「667」供稿. "[http://www.dpxq.com/hldcg/share/xiangqigupu/ 中国象棋古谱介绍]" [An introduction to the classical xiangqi manuals]. 东萍象棋网 (dpxq.com).</ref><ref name="s054" />

<span lang="zh">梦入神机</span> is described in Chinese sources as the earliest surviving collection of xiangqi endgame compositions. It was already a scarce private copy in the Ming, printed at an uncertain date before the Jiajing reign, and ran to ten volumes, of which only volumes 1–3 (185 positions) and volume 7 (100 positions) survive, giving 285 diagrams in all, none with recorded moves.<ref name="s043" /><ref name="s055">360百科 (baike.so.com). "[https://baike.so.com/doc/5364536-7571718.html 梦入神机（古代象棋棋谱）]" [Meng Ru Shen Ji]. 2025-05-23.</ref><ref name="s068">今日头条. "[http://www.toutiao.com/a1803077403583499/ 中国最早的象棋谱是哪一部呢]" [Which is the earliest xiangqi manual?]. Search snippet.</ref> The surviving fragments reached modern readers through a 1949 market purchase by Zheng Guojun of Jinghai; of the 285 diagrams, 126 were also in <span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span> and were given away to players, while the rest went to Lin Youru, editor of the Fuzhou ''Xiangqi Monthly'', who removed a further 15 duplicates and supplied moves. A revised text was stencilled in Hangzhou in 1977, and a collated edition was published by Shurong Qi Yi Press in 1985.<ref name="s043" /><ref name="s055" /> The modern text is therefore a reconstruction whose moves were supplied by later editors.<ref name="s043" />

<span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span> was first printed in 1570, the fourth year of the Longqing era. Xu Zhi of Jinling selected it and Chen Xueli of Kuaiji collated it; it runs to ten volumes in eight fascicles, of which volumes 1–6 carry 550 endgame diagrams, each named with exactly four characters and followed by a one-line summary of its solution (<span lang="zh">着法提要</span>), volumes 7–8 carry the moves for those positions, and volumes 9–10 are the <span lang="zh">金鹏十八变</span> collection of complete games.<ref name="s043" /><ref name="s057">360百科 (baike.so.com). "[https://baike.so.com/doc/370475-392416.html 适情雅趣]" [Elegant Pastime].</ref><ref name="s058">360百科 (baike.so.com). "[https://baike.so.com/doc/25123431-26105126.html 中国象棋经典残局《适情雅趣》]" [The classic xiangqi endgame collection ''Elegant Pastime''].</ref> Sources that repeat the traditional account of the book's descent hedge it: the 360 Baike article says the 550 endgame diagrams are "said to be selected from" <span lang="zh">梦入神机</span> (<span lang="zh">相传选自《梦入神机》</span>), and the 1570 preface by the layman Zhuoyi Daoist says only that the anthology used good editions of <span lang="zh">金鹏秘诀</span> for complete games and <span lang="zh">梦入神机</span> for extracted positions.<ref name="s057" /><ref name="s043" /> The survival figures limit the claim: only 285 diagrams survive from <span lang="zh">梦入神机</span>, and between 126 and 141 of them are also in <span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span>, so the 550 cannot all have come from the surviving <span lang="zh">梦入神机</span>.<ref name="s043" />

Woodblock copies of <span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span> survive in several institutions. A Qing Kangxi imprint of the Dunhua Huaide Hall (<span lang="zh">清康熙敦化怀德堂刻本</span>), carrying anonymous manuscript annotations, is held by the Lanzhou Municipal Library and was entered in the second batch of the Gansu provincial register of precious ancient books in 2013 under number 0655; it is a ten-volume work in one case of five fascicles, and its title page reads <span lang="zh">適情雅趣 / 敦化懷德堂藏板 / 金鵬十八變</span>.<ref name="s085">兰州市文化和旅游局 (2022-12-30). "[https://www.toutiao.com/article/7182912708210295300/ 【馆员晒古籍（八）】省级珍贵古籍·清康熙刻本《适情雅趣十卷》]" [Librarians display rare books VIII: the Kangxi imprint of ''Elegant Pastime'']. 今日头条 (toutiao.com); source credited to 兰州市图书馆.</ref> The union catalogue of the National Central Library in Taipei lists five further holdings, among them a Kangxi-era Dunhua Studio imprint in the Palace Museum library and a National Library of China copy whose title page also reads <span lang="zh">金鵬十八變</span>.<ref name="s083">國家圖書館（臺北）古籍與特藏文獻資源. "[https://rbook.ncl.edu.tw/NCLSearch/Search/SearchResult 古籍聯合目錄：適情雅趣]" [Union catalogue of rare books: ''Elegant Pastime''].</ref> The mainland "Xiangqi Memory" digitisation project, launched by the Chess and Card Sports Management Centre of the State General Administration of Sport in 2024, uses a Dunhua Huaide Hall copy associated with Sichuan University; a version essay in a Chinese forum notes that this copy lacks an important preface and is less complete than the copy in the Japanese Cabinet Library.<ref name="s084">封面新闻 (2025-03-05). "[http://www.163.com/dy/article/JPT6007C0514D3UH.html 四部珍贵象棋古谱数字化]" [Four precious xiangqi manuals digitised]. 网易号 (163.com).</ref><ref name="s087">书格网友「崇鹂」 (2025-03-05). "[https://www.shuge.org/meet/topic/168844/ 「象棋记忆」公共展示平台]" [The Xiangqi Memory public platform]. 书格交流区 (shuge.org).</ref>

Modern editions of the manual carry two indexes, a classified index of positions and an index of mating methods and tactics (<span lang="zh">杀法战术索引</span>). Xu Jialiang's annotated <span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span> was published by Beijing Publishing House in December 1983, with the ten volumes reorganised into eight, the classified index of positions beginning at page 499 and the index of mating methods and tactics at page 502;<ref name="s061">什么值得买网友「人间废物」 (2024-07-25). "[https://post.smzdm.com/p/arrwk3pz/ 分享一本古老的象棋棋谱《适情雅趣》]" [Sharing an old xiangqi manual]. 什么值得买 (smzdm.com). Photographs of the 1983 Beijing Publishing House printing, including the contents page listing 棋势分类索引 at p. 499 and 杀法战术索引 at p. 502.</ref> Xu Jialiang's later adaptation of the same material, <span lang="zh">象棋杀局宝典——适情雅趣</span>, was published by People's Sports Publishing House in October 1998 as a 495-page book whose table of contents likewise ends with the two indexes.<ref name="s059">360百科 (baike.so.com). "[https://baike.so.com/doc/8069942-8386925.html 象棋杀局宝典（适情雅趣）]" [Treasury of xiangqi mating positions: ''Elegant Pastime''].</ref><ref name="s075">豆瓣读书 (book.douban.com). "[https://book.douban.com/subject/1585144/ 象棋杀局宝典]" [Treasury of xiangqi mating positions]. Book record for Xu Jialiang, People's Sports Publishing House, October 1998, 495 pages.</ref> A third complete modern edition, annotated by Jiang Quan, Wu Yijiang and Zhu Hezhou, was published by Shurong Qi Yi Press in November 1988 as a 620-page book.<ref name="s076">豆瓣读书 (book.douban.com). "[https://book.douban.com/subject/1438129/ 适情雅趣]" [Elegant Pastime]. Book record for the Shurong Qi Yi Press edition, November 1988, 620 pages.</ref>

Two further modern witnesses exist. A bibliography compiled by Chinese problem composers lists Xu Jialiang's two books as separate items and records an additional edition attributed to Xie Xiaxun and Du Liangyi,<ref name="s079">华工象棋论坛网友「zhaodi」 (2007-05-29). "[http://www.hgchess.com/BBS/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=15500 [转帖]残排书目,你有几本]" [Reprinted: how many of these problem collections do you own?]. 华工象棋论坛 (hgchess.com). Forum bibliography thread.</ref> and a 2009 edition from Henan Science and Technology Press states that it was adapted from a family-held woodblock copy.<ref name="s056">360百科 (baike.so.com). "[https://baike.so.com/doc/5719939-5932667.html 适情雅趣象棋谱]" [''Elegant Pastime'', the xiangqi manual]. Entry for the Henan Science and Technology Press edition of November 2009; page updated 2020-06-20.</ref>

=== The catalogues ===

The largest Chinese game-record archive catalogues the classical endgame collections position by position. Its <span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span> catalogue lists all 550 named positions across the manual's six volumes; its <span lang="zh">梦入神机</span> catalogue lists 152, and a second site's independent transcription lists 149; the archive's classical endgame library as a whole covers nineteen manuals totalling 3,012 distinct positions, and its modern composed-problem library adds a further 2,164 positions in thirteen collections.<ref name="s044" /><ref name="s045">东萍象棋网 (records entered 2007-07-26). "[http://www.dpxq.com/hldcg/share/chess_%CF%F3%C6%E5%C6%D7%B4%F3%C8%AB/%CF%F3%C6%E5%C6%D7%B4%F3%C8%AB-%B9%C5%C6%D7%B2%D0%BE%D6/%C3%CE%C8%EB%C9%F1%BB%FA/%C3%CE%C8%EB%C9%F1%BB%FA/ 《梦入神机》目录]" [Catalogue of ''Meng Ru Shen Ji'']. 东萍象棋网 (dpxq.com).</ref><ref name="s047">永乐象棋棋谱网. "[http://www.xiangqiqipu.com/Category/list-103.html 《适情雅趣》全谱目录]" [Complete catalogue of ''Elegant Pastime''].</ref><ref name="s048">永乐象棋棋谱网. "[http://www.xiangqiqipu.com/Category/list-112.html 《梦入神机》目录]" [Catalogue of ''Meng Ru Shen Ji''].</ref><ref name="s046" /><ref name="s072">东萍象棋网. "[http://www.dpxq.com/hldcg/share/chess_%CF%F3%C6%E5%C6%D7%B4%F3%C8%AB/%CF%F3%C6%E5%C6%D7%B4%F3%C8%AB-%BD%FC%CF%D6%B4%FA%B2%D0%C5%C5%BE%D6/ 近现代残排局集目]" [Index of modern composed endgames].</ref>

In those catalogues no position is named 送佛归殿, 三进兵 or 太监追皇帝, and none contains <span lang="zh">归殿</span> or <span lang="zh">归西</span>. Only three names in the whole classical library touch the pattern's vocabulary: the single <span lang="zh">佛</span> position in <span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span>, 卷三 第209局 叁参见佛; <span lang="zh">佛顶圆光</span> in the <span lang="zh">竹香斋象戏谱</span>; and <span lang="zh">圮桥三进</span>, the 293rd position of <span lang="zh">渊深海阔</span>. The only classical name containing <span lang="zh">进兵</span> is <span lang="zh">回骑进兵</span> in the <span lang="zh">蕉竹斋</span>.<ref name="s044" /><ref name="s046" /><ref name="s047" /> Two independent transcriptions of the <span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span> catalogue agree that 第209局 叁参见佛 is the only one of the 550 names containing <span lang="zh">佛</span>.<ref name="s044" /><ref name="s047" />

Each of those near-misses is a different structure from the pattern. <span lang="zh">佛顶圆光</span> is a thirty-seven-ply composed draw and opens with a red soldier already on the opponent's back rank, so its <span lang="zh">佛</span> is a literary title rather than a signal of this mating family.<ref name="s051">东萍象棋网. "[http://www.dpxq.com/hldcg/search/view_u_40442.html 竹香斋象戏谱·佛顶圆光]" [''Bamboo Fragrance Studio'': Buddha's Crown Halo]. Recorded result 和棋 (draw), 37 plies.</ref> <span lang="zh">回骑进兵</span> is an eleven-ply win in which a soldier captures a chariot and the pieces shuttle, and its title uses ordinary chess vocabulary rather than a technique name.<ref name="s050">东萍象棋网. "[http://www.dpxq.com/hldcg/search/view_u_42756.html 蕉竹斋·回骑进兵]" [''Banana and Bamboo Studio'': the horse turns back and the soldier advances]. Recorded result 红胜 (Red wins), 11 plies.</ref> <span lang="zh">圮桥三进</span> takes its name from the bridge where, by tradition, Zhang Liang met the old man Huang Shigong; the position is a nineteenth-century composed draw made in imitation of another collection, and the "three" in the title counts visits to the bridge rather than soldier moves.<ref name="s052">东萍象棋网. "[http://www.dpxq.com/hldcg/search/view_u_293840.html 渊深海阔·第293局 圮桥三进]" [''Deep and Broad Sea'': position 293, Three Visits to the Broken Bridge]. Source annotation and recorded result 和棋 (draw), 21 plies.</ref> One classical collection does record a descent claim of this kind for another position: <span lang="zh">韬略元机</span>'s position <span lang="zh">长生不老</span> is described as an early model for the later famous position <span lang="zh">七星聚会</span>, but no comparable statement is made about Repatriation of the Buddha.<ref name="s060">360百科 (baike.so.com). "[https://baike.so.com/doc/1077977-1140775.html 韬略元机]" [Taolue Yuanji]. 2025-03-06.</ref>

=== The candidate: Elegant Pastime 209, 叁参见佛 ===

The one classical position that shares the pattern's mechanism is <span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span> 卷三 第209局, <span lang="zh">叁参见佛</span> (the cartouche of the printed page reads <span lang="zh">參參見佛</span>). Its recorded result is a Red win, and its annotation reads <span lang="zh">红弃车马，兵胜</span> ("Red sacrifices the chariot and the horse; the soldier wins"), stating in one line the two-part mechanism that the modern teaching sources attach to <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span>: a heavy sacrifice followed by a soldier that decides the game.<ref name="s049">东萍象棋网 (record entered 2007-07-26). "[http://www.dpxq.com/hldcg/search/view_u_42921.html 《适情雅趣》卷三 第209局 叁参见佛]" [''Elegant Pastime'', volume 3, position 209]. Result 红胜 (Red wins), nine plies.</ref><ref name="s073">永乐象棋棋谱网 (upload 2016-08-29, byline 观棋不语). "[http://www.xiangqiqipu.com/Category/View-6860.html 第209局 叁参见佛]" [Position 209].</ref><ref name="s074">象棋道 (xqdao.com). "[http://www.xqdao.com/qipu/show/69458/ 《适情雅趣》第209局 叁参见佛]" [''Elegant Pastime'', position 209].</ref>

The position opens with the red chariot offered with check on Black's back rank (车六进一; WXF R6+1), the general capturing it sideways and then advancing twice along the file; the red horse then checks twice and is also given up, after which the soldier steps sideways and then advances with check, the last move the record gives.<ref name="s073" /> The line is carried identically by two independently maintained transcriptions, and the <span lang="zh">识典古籍</span> platform's digitised Qing woodblock print of the manual carries the same nine plies in its text layer, with the position's name printed between the neighbouring positions <span lang="zh">用兵最精</span> and <span lang="zh">士馬如雲</span>.<ref name="s049" /><ref name="s073" /><ref name="s078">识典古籍 (shidianguji.com). "[https://www.shidianguji.com/book/CADAL02095147/chapter/1lb2p15cdyipg 《适情雅趣》影像本 CADAL02095147]" [''Elegant Pastime'', digitised copy CADAL02095147]. Chapter text of a Qing-era Dunhua Huaide Hall printing.</ref>

[[File:Elegant Pastime juan 3 position 209 woodblock page.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|The page itself: ''Elegant Pastime'', position 209, titled in its cartouche 參參見佛 (the modern catalogues print the same position as 叁参见佛), from the Peking University Library copy digitised as CADAL02095147–55. The band printed under the diagram reads 白棄車馬卒勝, "White gives up the chariot and horse; the soldier wins", and the modern transcriptions of the same position print the result as 红弃车马，兵胜.<ref name="s078" />]]

<xiangqi-player>
{
  "id": "elegant-pastime-209",
  "initialFen": "4ka3/3Rn4/4b1r2/N1p6/1nP6/9/9/3C5/5r1p1/4K3c w - - 0 1",
  "moves": [
    "d9d10",
    "e10d10",
    "a7b9",
    "d10d9",
    "b9d8",
    "d9d8",
    "c6d6",
    "b6d5",
    "d6d7"
  ],
  "initialPly": 0,
  "annotations": {
    "0": "Red to move. Red sacrifices the chariot and the horse before the soldier decides the game.",
    "1": "R6+1: the chariot is offered on the general's file.",
    "3": "H9+8: the horse gives check from the side.",
    "9": "P6+1: the soldier's one advance, the last move of the recorded line."
  },
  "caption": "Elegant Pastime (适情雅趣), position 209, 叁参见佛 (printed 參參見佛): a classical position whose annotation records a chariot-and-horse sacrifice won by the soldier. The line is Red's, it wins but stops short of mate, and the position is not titled 送佛归殿."
}
</xiangqi-player>

<!-- Pikafish verification: the position (FEN 4ka3/3Rn4/4b1r2/N1p6/1nP6/9/9/3C5/5r1p1/4K3c w - - 0 1) is legal. At depth 20 the engine reports "score mate 8" (mate in eight Red moves), and the recorded nine-ply line R6+1 K5=4 H9+8 K4+1 H8-6 K4+1 P7=6 H2+4 P6+1 is legal move by move. After the ninth ply the engine still reports "mate -3" for the side to move, so the nine plies printed by the sources are a winning opening of the solution and not a complete mating line. -->

The identification of 第209局 with <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> is nevertheless unproved, and four considerations tell against it. The recorded line contains exactly one soldier advance, plus a lateral soldier step, rather than the three advances that the name <span lang="zh">三进兵</span> suggests.<ref name="s073" /><ref name="s078" /> The identification is not asserted by any manual, catalogue or reference work.<ref name="s044" /><ref name="s047" /><ref name="s049" /> The title's verb and object differ from those of the pattern's name (<span lang="zh">参见</span>, "to pay respects", against <span lang="zh">送</span>, "to send off").<ref name="s073" /> The printed text of the same Qing copy that carries 第209局 contains no occurrence of <span lang="zh">送佛</span>, <span lang="zh">送佛歸殿</span>, <span lang="zh">三進兵</span> or <span lang="zh">太監</span> anywhere in the chapters read.<ref name="s078" />

=== Evidence bearing on the attribution ===

Chinese writing has a settled convention for citing a position in this manual: a solution sheet for another position labels itself <span lang="zh">原载适情雅趣第20局</span>, "originally carried in ''Elegant Pastime'', position 20", pairs that number with the name 推强扶弱, and reproduces a correction published in a 1958 issue of the periodical ''Xiangqi Monthly''.<ref name="s071">人人文库 (upload 2022-01-13). "[https://www.renrendoc.com/paper/184769675.html [推强扶弱]患在几席残局破解]" [Solution to the endgame 推强扶弱]. 人人文库 (renrendoc.com).</ref> No Chinese source applies that formula to <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> or <span lang="zh">三进兵</span>, and the tutorial that calls its own position a position from an old manual names no manual, chapter or position number at all.<ref name="s029" /><ref name="s071" />

Two bodies of printed apparatus bear on the question. A technique headword would appear in the indexes appended to Xu Jialiang's two editions even where no position is named after it, and the 1998 volume's table of contents confirms that both indexes exist, but no published source reproduces their headwords.<ref name="s059" /><ref name="s075" /><ref name="s061" /> The one-line summaries (<span lang="zh">着法提要</span>) that the 1570 manual prints under every position could likewise describe the pattern without naming it, but no published source reproduces them.<ref name="s043" /><ref name="s044" /><ref name="s080">道易五术书社 (5shubook.com). "[https://www.5shubook.com/tag/xiangqizhongjuchutan.html 象棋中局初探]" [Document page carrying a 读秀-style record of the 1998 edition, SS号 10411092]. Page not retrievable; record only.</ref> The "Xiangqi Memory" digitisation platform, launched in 2024, publishes page images of the manuals, and <span lang="zh">适情雅趣</span> is among its first four.<ref name="s053">书格网友「墨雲」 (2025-03-26). "[https://www.shuge.org/meet/topic/170623/ 象棋记忆数据库公布四部棋谱古籍]" [The Xiangqi Memory database publishes four classical manuals]. 书格交流区 (shuge.org).</ref><ref name="s084" /><ref name="s088">中国新闻周刊 (2026-07-15). "[https://www.toutiao.com/article/7662388490306421274/ 全国首个体育古籍专题数据库上线]" [The first national sports rare-book database goes online]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com).</ref>

Some attributions in the teaching material do not concern this pattern. A video lesson on the basic mates says that one of its positions is taken from the old manual <span lang="zh">梦入神机</span>, but the attribution is spoken rather than printed, it gives no position number, and the manual's transcribed catalogue of 152 names contains no such name.<ref name="s013" /><ref name="s045" /> A 2023 teaching article attributes a spring-horse problem to a Ming manual and describes one move in its solution as "luring the Buddha back to the hall" (<span lang="zh">引佛归殿</span>), but the phrase describes a move inside a horse problem rather than a position title, and the manual is written <span lang="zh">入梦神机</span> there; that article therefore says nothing about Repatriation of the Buddha.<ref name="s066">东乡石峪村 (2023-07-11). "[http://www.toutiao.com/a7252304298267197964/ 学习「弹簧马」的杀法]" [Studying the spring-horse mating method]. 今日头条 (toutiao.com). Post summary.</ref>

== Other senses of the name ==

The headword belongs to Go as well as to xiangqi. The 360 Baike entry carries a second definition for <span lang="zh">围棋</span>: <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> is a method of capturing stones used when a ladder (<span lang="zh">征子</span>) is unfavourable, and the entry remarks that it is not an advanced technique and should be within the reach of ordinary amateurs.<ref name="s001" /> The same wording appears in the Douyin Baike entry, which is available only as a search summary.<ref name="s003">抖音百科 / 头条百科 (baike.com). "[https://m.baike.com/wiki/%E9%80%81%E4%BD%9B%E5%BD%92%E6%AE%BF/3907466 送佛归殿]" [Repatriation of the Buddha]. Region-blocked; search summary only.</ref>

Two Chinese Go videos give the sense independent support. A 2021 interactive puzzle titled <span lang="zh">有趣的围棋~送佛归殿</span> asks the viewer how to capture the white stones and corrects the wrong branches with remarks about liberties (<span lang="zh">气</span>);<ref name="s016" /> a 2020 teaching short pairs the headword with the Go term <span lang="zh">宽征</span>, a wide ladder.<ref name="s020">弘通围棋 (2020-05-23). "[https://www.ixigua.com/search/%E9%80%81%E4%BD%9B%E5%BD%92%E6%AE%BF 『2分钟学会围棋』送佛归殿—宽征]" [Learn Go in two minutes: Repatriation of the Buddha—wide ladder]. 西瓜视频 (ixigua.com). Search-index title.</ref> Both videos carry the headword only in their titles, and no Chinese Go text defining either <span lang="zh">送佛归殿</span> or <span lang="zh">宽征</span> accompanies them, so the Go sense rests on the encyclopedia entry and those two titles.<ref name="s001" /><ref name="s016" /><ref name="s020" />

The headword also appears in writing on the Chinese trick-taking game <span lang="zh">双升</span>. A Toutiao endgame article states that in <span lang="zh">双升</span> the term is a kind of strategy, and a Zhihu column carries the pattern as part of its title, while the extract of it that is published restates the xiangqi definition and alias set rather than the card-play sense.<ref name="s035" /><ref name="s037" /> Neither source explains what the card-play strategy is.<ref name="s035" /><ref name="s037" />

== Reading the notation ==

The move lines in this article are given in Chinese notation and in standard WXF notation. In the notation the sources use, the file numbers in each player's moves are counted from that player's own side of the board, as the quoted lines show, <span lang="zh">进</span> and <span lang="zh">退</span> mark forward and backward moves, and <span lang="zh">平</span> marks a sideways move within a rank; one Chinese explainer glosses <span lang="zh">车八平六</span> as "the red chariot moves from file eight across to file six", the first move of the line shown in the board at the top of the article.<ref name="s036">光环助手 (2023-02-03). "[https://www.ghzs.com/ttxq/1708 术语讲解 天天象棋 车八平六是什么意思]" [Terminology: what does 车八平六 mean?]. 光环助手 (ghzs.com).</ref> The WXF form of that move is R8=6: the piece code, its starting file, the kind of move, and the destination file or the number of points moved. Black's moves are written with Black's own file numbers, so the same square can carry different numbers in a Red move and a Black move: in the line above, the red chariot crosses from file 8 to file 6 while the black general stands on Black's file 4.<ref name="s036" /><ref name="s001" />

The move lists quoted in this article reproduce the Chinese notation exactly as printed, including the black general's file numbers; each move is read from the side that makes it, and the interactive boards follow the same convention.<ref name="s001" /><ref name="s030" /><ref name="s073" />

== See also ==

* [[Child Worships Buddha]]
* [[Elbow horse]]
* [[Secrets Inside the Orange]]

== References ==

{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Xiangqi mating patterns]]
[[Category:Xiangqi terminology]]

<!-- Final adversarial review (editorial pass D)
Reviewed article_source_audit.md against sources.json, source_material.md and
featured_image.json. Nine narrowly scoped corrections (eleven textual edits)
were applied; no new factual content was introduced and nothing was removed
except the unsupported wording listed below.

1. Romanisation: 林幼如 is Lin Youru, not "Lin Yuru" (s043, s055).
2. s079 records an edition attributed to Xie Xiaxun and Du Liangyi; the
   unsupported characterisation "photographic edition" was dropped.
3. The 第209局 line: 车六进一 checks along Black's back rank and the general
   captures the chariot with the sideways move 将5平4 (e10-d10), so "sacrificed
   on the general's file" was corrected; re-checked with Pikafish depth 20.
4. The annotation 红弃车马，兵胜 was glossed "drives the general to its death";
   weakened to "decides the game", because the nine recorded plies stop short
   of mate (Pikafish depth 20: mate 8 from the diagram, mate -3 after ply 9).
5. The uncited superlative about the two Ming manuals now carries citations
   (s043, s054) and a wording the sources support; the s043 definition was
   moved to that first use so no reference is defined after it is used.
6. "the featured board at the top of the article" -> "the board at the top of
   the article" (two places), removing internal project vocabulary.
7. "the article therefore says nothing" -> "that article therefore says
   nothing", making the referent explicit.
8. Mechanism sentence: the sacrifice draws the general onto a square the
   soldier attacks (Pikafish depth 20 confirms the soldier's check).
9. "Reading the notation": the direct address to the reader was removed.

Re-verification in this pass
- All six <xiangqi-player> payloads parse as JSON and match
  featured_image.json (order, ids, FEN, moves, ply counts): the featured
  songfoguidian-definition (mate 4), songfoguidian-two-move (mate 2),
  duzuqinwang-general-home (mate 4), duzuqinwang-two-rook-sacrifice (mate 6),
  the static s015-training-study-start (legal; mate 11 for Red) and
  elegant-pastime-209 (mate 8, with mate -3 left after the nine recorded
  plies). Each recorded line is the engine's own first choice at depth 20.
- The two-rook payload's rank-2 defenders (炮 c2, 马 d2, 士 e2) were checked
  against source_files/s030/4399_duzuqinwang_2.jpg and match the diagram; the
  position in that diagram with one further red piece under the site watermark
  is the payload shown.
- 76 named references; none is used before it is defined.

Visual handoff (publication stage)
- The inline file reference resolves only once
  source_files/s078/facsimile/cadal02095149_juan3_p209_canjianfo_1280.jpg is
  uploaded as "Elegant Pastime juan 3 position 209 woodblock page.jpg", with
  the credit Peking University Library / CADAL02095149 and the public-domain
  basis recorded in featured_image.json. No other visual is outstanding.
-->