Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t19: Dongchu
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t19
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Dongchu
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Dongchu was a modern Chinese Buddhist and Buddhist scholar. Before he became a monk, he was surnamed Fan and styled Deng Lang. He was named Dongchu as a monk. People usually called him Presbyter Dongchu (Dongchu Zhang Lao in Chinese). He was born in Tai County, Jiangsu Province (now Jiangyan District, Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province). Dongchu became a monk of the Jiangsu Guanyin'an in 1920 and Monk Jingchan helped him to wear cassock and shave his hair according to ritual. He took complete precepts in Changlong Temple, Baohua Mountain in 1927. In 1931, he went to Zhenjiang Zulin Temple Buddhist College and acknowledged Ai Ting and Nan Ting as Masters. In 1934, he graduated from Xiamen Minnan Buddhist Seminary founded by Master Taixu. He used to serve as the Monastic Manger of Zhejiang Jiaoshan Dinghui Temple, head of Jiaoshan Buddhist College, publisher of ‘*Zhong Liu*’ monthly magazine, and was entrusted by Master Taixu to launch training classes for event personnel of the Buddhist Association of China. In 1949, he went to Taiwan for discipline in Shandao Temple and created the monthly magazine ‘*Humanity*’. In 1950, he shut himself in Beijing Facang Temple and devoted himself to reading. In 1956, he founded the Centre for Chinese Buddhist Culture and appointed himself as the
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Dongchu
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Director of the centre. He compiled and published the ‘*Tibetan Tripitaka*’ and committed himself to revitalise Chinese Buddhism from the perspective of academic culture. He founded the ‘*Buddhist Culture*’ magazine in 1965 and started to serve as a consultant of the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies since 1967. He went to the United States to promote Buddhism at the invitation of Buddhist Association of the United States in 1975. In 1977, he established the Scholarship for Buddhist Culture in order to encourage young Buddhist monks and nuns to study further.
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He published the monograph ‘*History of India-China Buddhist Communication*’ (1968) that has showed the communication channel for India and China Buddhism since the Han and Tang Dynasties and the process of strengthening the communication and integration of Indian and Chinese cultures in transmission of sutras and doctrines. In 1971, he went to India in order to enrich the contents of the book and to accomplish his long-cherished wish of investigation in India. He had a deeper understanding of Indian human customs and the source of Buddhist system through worshiping holy land, visiting scenic spot and visiting prominent personages. He found in Sarnath the tablet inscription Dai Jitao wrote during his visit in India in 1940 and took it back. After visiting India, the book was republished with added data: (1) Visit of Dai Jitao in India, (2) Rejuvenation of Indian Buddhism, (3) Buddhism of Indonesia and (4) Visit of Rabindranath Tagore in China.
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His other works *Prajnaparamitahrdaya Sutra History of Thought* (1972), *History of Buddhism in Modern China* (1974) and *The True Meaning of Zen* (1975) were compiled into *Collected Works of Master Dongchu* (1987).
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(Qiao Anquan)