Zhonghua fojiao zonghui 中華佛教總會

The Chinese Buddhist General Association (Zhōnghuá Fójiào zǒnghuì 中華佛教總會; CBGA) was a short-lived, early national Buddhist organization, likely the earliest of its kind in China.

History

• 1912 - ca. 1914; 1917 - 1919 (as the Chinese Buddhist Association 中華佛教會)
• Location(s): Shànghǎi 上海, Běijīng 北京

The association was set up by Jìchán 寄禪 and others, including Dàojiē 道階, on April 1, 1912. It received official recognition only after the death of Jìchán in November, 1912. Yěkāi 冶開 was named president in 1913. It published Fójiào yuèbào 佛教月報 (Buddhist Monthly) in Shànghǎi for four months in 1913, but ceased to function around 1914.

In 1917 Zhāngjiā 章嘉 and Qīnghǎi 清海 revived it in Běijīng as the Chinese Buddhist Association 中華佛教會, but it was disbanded by the authorities in 1919 for having been (re)established illegally.

Section Editor: Erik Hammerstrom

References

• 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. 1.102-105.
• Welch, Holmes. The Buddhist Revival in China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968. Pp. 35-39.