Tang Dayuan 唐大圓

Táng Dàyuán 唐大圓 (ca. 1890 - 1941)

Born ca. 1890 in Wǔgāng 武崗, Hú'nán 湖南 Died February 1, 1941 (Mínguó 民國 30) in Bǎoqìng 寶慶, Hú'nán of illness

Notable Associates: Fǎfǎng 法舫 Huánxíng 遠行 Jiǎng Wéiqiáo 蔣維喬 Shǐ Yìrú 史一如 Tàixū 太虛 Yìnguāng 印光

Article editor: Erik Hammerstrom

Táng Dàyuán 唐大圓 (ca. 1890 - 1941) was a colleague of Tàixū, a noted lay teacher of monks, and scholar of Consciousness-Only 唯識 thought.

Biography

Táng took refuge under Yìnguāng 印光 in 1912. In his early years as a Buddhist, he practiced Pure Land, but after reading the first issues of Hǎicháo yīn 海潮音 he began to take a strong interest in Consciousness-Only 唯識 thought.

Táng was a long-time resident of Wǔchāng 武昌. In 1922, he accepted the invitation of Wú Bìhuá 吳璧華 to come to Wēnzhōu 溫州 to lecture and propagate the dharma. That same year, he met Tàixū 太虛, who hired him in April to head the Hankou Right Faith Society's 正信會 Buddhist Studies Institute 佛教講習所, which was just getting started. When the Institute's first group of students graduated in August, its name was changed to the Wǔchāng Buddhist Seminary 武昌佛學院. When the Seminary opened in September, Tàixū initially took on the duties of teaching Consciousness-Only, eventually Táng took over.

In 1924, Táng replaced his colleague Shǐ Yìrú 史一如 editing the Hǎicháo yīn. This same year Táng, Tàixū, and students of the Wǔchāng Buddhist Seminary became embroiled in a debate over the authenticity of the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith 大乘起信論真偽辯. Their principle opponents in this debate were Ōuyáng Jìngwú 歐陽竟無 and his students at the China Inner Studies Institute 支那內學院 in Nánjīng 南京.

Táng was invited to Shànghǎi 上海 in 1925 to lecture on Consciousness-Only thought and edit the eponymous periodical of the Shànghǎi Lay Buddhist Association 上海佛教居士林. The Association also published several of Táng's works on Consciousness-Only, which he had written for the nonspecialist.

With the arrival of the Northern Expedition, the Wǔchāng Buddhist Seminary was forced to shut down. Around this time, Táng started the magazine Dōngfāng wénhuà 東方文化, for which he was the principal contributor. He also taught at Nánjīng’s Southwestern University 東南大學 along with Jiǎng Wéiqiáo 蔣維喬. Táng briefly went to Běijīng 北京 with Tàixū on a lecture tour in 1927, but came back on August 19 of that year. That fall he opened a library in Chángshā 長沙, Hú'nán, inaugurating it with a lecture series on Consciousness-Only.

In July, 1928, Tàixū organized a monks' training group as part of the Chinese Buddhist Association 中國佛教會. This training group was headed by Táng and the monk Huánxíng 遠行. In 1929, acting on a letter sent by Tàixū who was abroad, they created at Wǔchāng the World Buddhist Studies Center 世界佛學苑 on April 14. Fǎfǎng 法舫 took over running the Center in 1932. Later, Táng started the Eastern Culture Research Bureau 東方文化研究苑 in Wǔchāng, and got Tàixū to lecture there.

Táng remained in Wǔhàn 武漢 during the war, dying of illness on February 1, 1941.

Major Works

• Fóxué yǎnjiǎng jí 佛學演講集 (Lectures on Buddhism)
• Wéishì de kēxué fāngfǎ 唯識的科學方法 (The Scientific Method of Consciousness-Only)
• Wéishì fāngbiàn tán 唯識方便談 (Basic Talks on Consciousness-Only)
• Wéishì sānzì jīng 唯識三字經 (The Consciousness-Only Three Character Classic)
• Wéishì yánjiù shùyào 唯識研究述要 (Essential Points on Consciousness-Only Research)

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. 2.682-687.
• Yú Língbō 于凌波. Zhōngguó jìndài Fómén rénwùzhì 佛門人物志 (Biographical Almanac of Early Contemporary and Modern Chinese Buddhism), vol. 5. Taipei: Huiju, 1999. Pp. 254-269.
• 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. 1.809a-811c.