The Jetavana Hermitage (Zhǐhuán jīngshè 祇洹精舍 ) was a groundbreaking, but short-lived Buddhist seminary 佛學院 founded by Yáng Wénhuì 楊文會.
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This school was founded by Yáng Wénhuì 楊文會 at the site of his Jīnlíng Scriptural Press 金陵刻經處 in Nánjīng 南京. The school aimed at a preparatory education for able, young Chinese Buddhists, both monastic and lay, for further study in Indic-Buddhist languages Sanskrit and Pali in India itself. They also sought to revitalize Buddhism in India through retranslations of lost Indian texts from Chinese Buddhist scriptures back into Indic languages. The long-term goal was to combine the Mahayana and Hinayana teachings (which were believed to be represented in the South- and Southeast-Asian Theravada tradition) into a new "higher" global Buddhism. The initial idea for this school came from Dharmapala, a Sri Lankan anāgārika, through his request to Yáng Wénhuì to send Chinese Buddhists to India for the revitalization of Buddhism there. The school developed a three-leveled program: three years of basic studies in the Jetavana Hermitage, i.e. in China; two years study of Sanskrit literature in Japan; and the main course of three years Sanskrit studies in India.[1] Since the school closed down due to financial difficulties only after one academic year, no student ever left China for further study in this program. Nevertheless, the school was exceptional in that both the student body and teaching staff included monks and lay people together. This was probably the first time in Chinese history that laymen taught Buddhist subjects to monks.[2] Courses included not only classes on Buddhism, but also English and the basics of Pāli and Sanskrit. Although this institution was short-lived, many its students went on to have significant impacts on Chinese Buddhism in the 20th century.
Section Editor: Erik Hammerstrom