Foxue yuan 佛學院

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Buddhist Seminaries (Fóxué yuàn 佛學院)

Contents

History

According to Welch, the term "Fóxué yuàn" was invented (or at least pioneered) by Tàixū 太虛 with the naming of the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary 武昌佛學院, which opened in 1922. Welch states, "Many of the innovations he (Tàixū) made there proved popular, and by 1945 almost all seminaries in China had become 'institutes for Buddhist studies'[1] in name, if not in substance. To varying degrees they adopted what Tàixū had adopted from lay schools and abroad."[2]

In addition to those schools explicitly identified as "Fóxué yuàn", there were a large number of Buddhist schools founded in China during the first half of the 20th century that catered to monastic and mixed lay/monastic student bodies. Welch lists 72 such seminaries in operation between 1912 and 1950.[3] He estimates, very tentatively, that somewhere on the order of 7,500 Buddhist seminarians graduated in China during those years. Although this estimation is based on incomplete data, it demonstrates that thousands of monks and nuns received their education at Buddhist Seminaries.


Erik Hammerstrom


Buddhist Seminaries Associated with Tàixū 太虛[4]



Other Seminaries Established Between 1900 and 1950[6]



Seminaries Established After 1950



Notes

  1. This is Welch's literal translation of "Fóxué yuàn".
  2. Welch, 107
  3. Welch, 285-287
  4. Unless otherwise liited, all information comes from Welch (p. 286). The numbers in parentheses are Welch's estimates of typical enrollment, which he admits are very rough.
  5. The enrollment here is from Welch (p. 198-199), but he is incorrect regarding the dates. He says it ran for two years, but all other sources agree it closed in 1925.
  6. Unless otherwise listed, all information comes from Welch (p. 286).
  7. Shì, 1.79.
  8. Welch, 9.
  9. Yú, p. 2.1152b-c (from the entry for Zhìguāng 智光)
  10. Renamed 天寧佛學院 in 1931.
  11. Welch refers to this as the 安徽佛學校 or 迎江佛學院. Welch, 285.
  12. Shì, 1.206.
  13. This latter date comes from Welch (286), who refers to this seminary as "K'ao-yu Fo-hsüeh yuen."
  14. Yú, 2.1658a. (From the entry for Yīngcí 應慈)
  15. Welch, 286.
  16. Yú Língbō reports that this seminary was started in 1932 (p. 1.338c.), but Welch says it only ran from 1922 to 1923. Welch (p. 286).
  17. Welch says this seminary began in 1935.
  18. Yú, 1.780b-783b from the entry for Hú Zǐhù 胡子笏)
  19. Welch falsely says this only ran from 1946 to 1947.
  20. Yú, 1.802b-803a, from the entry for Tánxū 倓虛)
  21. Yú, 2.1279c-1280c. (From the entry for Cízhōu 慈舟)

References

  • Pittman, Donald. Toward a Modern Chinese Buddhism: Taixu’s Reforms. (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2001), 99.
  • Shì Dōngchū 釋東初. Zhōngguó Fójiào jìndài shǐ 中國佛教近代史 (A History of Early Contemporary Chinese Buddhism), in Dōngchū lǎorén quánjí 東初老人全集 (Complete Collection of Old Man Dongchu), vols. 1-2. Taipei: Dongchu, 1974 Pp. 2.896.
  • Welch, Holmes. The Buddhist Revival in China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.
  • 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.
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