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Liáng Qǐchāo 梁啓超 (1873-1929)
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Liáng Qǐchāo 梁啓超 (1873-1929) was one of the most important Chinese thinkers of the early 20th century. A reformer and journalist, he was also a polymath and scholar of note, and some of his work focused on the history of Chinese Buddhism.
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Biography
Liáng had a classical education growing up and received both his xiùcái 秀才 and jǔrén 舉人 degrees. Between earning these two degrees he became acquainted with Kāng Yǒuwéi 康有為 in Guǎngzhōu 廣州. Through Kāng he was exposed to many modern ideas, especially political ones. The two of them began to work together for the political reform of China. In 1896 in Nánjīng 南京 he met Tán Sìtóng 譚嗣同, a student of Yáng Wénhuì 楊文會. They became friends, and Liáng's thinking influenced Tán's Rén xué 仁學.
The reformers' activities reached a head after Kāng was granted an audience with the Emperor, who agreed to enact many of Kāng's suggestions. A coup by the Empress Dowager in September 1898 put an end to the Hundred Days' Reform. Many were executed, including Tán Sìtóng. Liáng fled to Japan, where he lived for 14 years until the establishment of the Republic in 1912.
Liáng's time in Japan proved formative to his thought. In Japan he took advantage of a major intellectual shift that was occurring there, and was able to study much of the material that was being translated from Western languages into Japanese at the time. He followed Social Darwinist ideas with particular attention and he continued to write and push for the reform of Chinese politics, society, language, and religion. Through his writings, he also influenced the modernization of the Chinese language by popularizing such Japanese translational neologisms as "religion" (zōngjiào 宗教) and "science" (kēxué 科學).
After the founding of the Republic, Liáng returned to Chin and participated in the new government. In 1918 he traveled to Europe on a fact-finding mission. This marked another major shift in his thinking. Witnessing the destruction wrought there by World War 1, Liáng lost faith in the omnipotence of Western society and backed away from his push for the radical reform of Chinese politics. Instead, he began to focus his efforts on education reform. He personally taught at many of the best universities established at the time.
In his later life, Liáng became more interested in the history of Chinese thought, including Buddhism. His earlier thinking on Buddhism had been heavily influenced by his teacher Kāng Yǒuwéi, but after his return from Europe he deepened his studies, often taking advantage of contemporary Japanese scholarship. His support fro the idea current among some Japanese scholars that the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith 大乘起信論 had been penned in China and not in India, eventually led to the "Debate Over the Authenticity of the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith" 大乘起信論真偽辯 among Buddhist intellectuals in China.
Liáng died in Běijīng 北京 on January 19, 1929.
Important Works
- Liáng wrote a great many works during his lifetime. The majority of these were collected in 飲冰室合集, which was first published in 40 volumes in 1932.
- His important essays on Buddhism were collected and published as Fóxué yánjiǔ shíbā piān 佛學研究十八篇 (Eighteen Buddhists Studies Essays) (First edition Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1935).
- Contents:
- 1. 中國佛法興衰沿革說略
- 2. 佛教之初輸入
- 3. 印度佛教概觀
- 4. 佛陀時代及原始佛教教理綱要
- 5. 佛教與西域
- 6. 又佛教與西域
- 7. 中國印度之交通
- 8. 佛教教理在中國之發展
- 9. 翻譯文學與佛典
- 10. 佛典之翻譯
- 附錄一. 《大乘起信論考證》序
- 附錄二. 佛教心理學淺測
- 附錄三. 支那內學院精校本《玄奘傳》書後
- 附錄四. 《大寶積經·迦葉品》梵藏漢文六種合刻序
Notes
References
- Yú Língbō 于凌波, ed. Xiàndài Fójiào rénwù cídiǎn 現代佛教人物辭典 (A Dictionary of Modern Buddhist Persons), 2 vols. Taipei: Foguang, 2004. Pp. 1.999b-1001b.
- English Wikipedia entry.