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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t3: Taixu

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t3

Language
English

Taixu

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Taixu (January 8, 1890 - March 17, 1947) was a Chinese Buddhist monk and philosopher. He was named Gan Sen as an infant and commonly named Lv Peilin. He was born in Haining, Zhejiang Province, and his family origin was Chongde (present-day Tongxiang), Zhejiang Province.

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In May 1904, Taixu was tonsured and he became a monk of Xiaojiuhua Temple in Pingwang, Wujiang City. He was given the religious name ‘Wei Xin’ and Master Zang Nian gave him the Chinese style name ‘Taixu’. He was initiated into monkhood with Master Zang Nian in Ningbo Tiantong Temple in December 1904, during which he showed his extraordinary memory by remembering all kinds of vinaya fluently within a short time. In 1907, he went to Xifang Temple in Cixi City to read Tripitaka and was inspired somewhat after reading the Mahaprajna Paramita Sutra. He went to Nanjing in 1909 and studied in the Jetavana, founded by Yang Renshan Lay Buddhist. In 1911, he went to Guangzhou to promote Buddhist doctrines and was elected to be the Abbot of Baiyun Mountain Shuangxi Temple. In 1912, Tai Xu together with Yang Renshan Lay Buddhist founded the Association for the Advancement of Buddhism that was later integrated with the General Buddhist Association of China headed by Ji Chan. He was chosen to be the Chief Editor of The Buddhist Monthly, and he put forward the Buddhist Revolution with the slogan of "Doctrine Revolution, System Revolution, Property Revolution" that was opposed by ‘the conservatives’. In 1914, he went to Xiling Zen Temple on Mount Putuo, Zhejiang Province for practising in a closed room of meditation. In 1917, he walked out of the room and went to Taiwan and Japan for giving lectures and researching on local Buddhism. In 1980, he returned to China and founded the Jue Society together with Chen Yuanbai and Zhang Taiyan et al. Jue Society Series, later named Sound of the Tides, was published and never suspended in 30 years. In 1922, he founded Wuchang Buddhist Institute. In 1924, he made preparations for the establishment of the World Buddhist Federation and appointed himself as the President. In 1925, he led a Buddhist delegation to attend the East Asian Buddhist Conference held in Tokyo, Japan and studied Japanese Buddhism once again. In February 1927, he founded the Buddha Dharma Sangha Garden - Jue Yuan and became the abbot of Nanputuo Temple, and the concurrent President of Minnan Buddhist College. In 1928, he founded the Chinese Buddhist Association. In the same year, he went abroad for researches and gave lectures on Buddhism respectively in Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United States of America. He also prepared to set up the World Buddhist Center as suggested by French scholars. In 1931, he went to Sichuan and established the Han-Tibetan Buddhist Teaching College in Xuyun Temple, Beian, Chongqing City for the communication of Han and Tibetan cultures and harmonising national sentiments. He was also involved in initiating the establishment of Sino-Indian Cultural Society in Nanjing in May 1935. In 1939, he organised a Chinese Buddhist visiting mission, and they set out from Yunnan to Myanmar, Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), India, Thailand and the South Sea Islands. In 1945, he became a member of the Standing Committee of the Buddhist Organization Committee of China. On New Year’s Day of 1946, he was awarded with the Religious Leader Victory Order. On March 17, 1947, he died in Yufo Temple, Shanghai.

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Taixu

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He made great contributions to patriotic apologetics, and spared no effort to cultivate Buddhist talents and consolidate the Buddhist system. The Buddhist education schools founded

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Complete works of the Master Taixu

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by him include Wuchang Buddhist Institute, Minnan Buddhist College, World Buddhist Center, Chongqing Han-Tibetan Buddhist Teaching College, Xi’an Pali Tripitika Institute and Beijing Buddhist Research Institute. He also founded a number of Buddhist journals, including the monthly magazine - Sound of the Tides and Awakening the Multitude Weekly News. His works include The Reorganization of the Sangha System (1929), Interpretation of New Monks, New Cittamatra, Fa Xiang Wei Shi Xue and True Reality Theory (1940).

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In 1940, he arrived in Calcutta, India and was welcomed by Maha Bodhi Society and the Visva-Bharati University. During his visit, he met Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru and Tan Yunshan, etc. He also visited Buddha-gaya, Varanasi, among other Buddhist holy lands. He used to send Fa Hang to Ceylon and India to spread Mahayana and study Pali and Sanskrit, as he sought further cultural cooperation between India and China. In order to establish life Buddhism and spur the universalisation of Buddhism, he also dispatched monk students to China’s Tibet, India, Ceylon and other places to study, and thus to engage in researches on Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan. He knew *Vinaya*, *Sutras* and *Abhidhamma Tripitaka*, religious doctrines and theories of different schools. He also delved into studies in ancient philosophers and even science and philosophy. His disciple, Yin Shun sorted out his works and compiled them into Complete Works of Master Tai Xu, that was published by Religious Culture Press. The book has altogether seven million words, and is divided into four parts and 20 sections, and 60 volumes.

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*(Zhang Ran)*

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