Méi Guāngxī 梅光羲 (1880-1947)
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Méi Guāngxī 梅光羲 (1880-1947) was a major scholar of Consciousness-Only 唯識, he provided financial backing both to the Jinling Scriptural Press 金陵刻經處 and the Chinese Inner Studies Institute 支那內學院.
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Méi was born into a literary family in Nánchāng 南昌 and received a classical education. He received first the xiūcái 修才 degree, and then in 1898 the jǔrén 舉人 degree. Thanks to the influence of his friend Guì Bóhuá 桂伯華, who had turned to Buddhism after the failed political reforms of 1898, Méi began to be interested in Buddhism, and in 1902 visited Yáng Wénhuì 楊文會 in Nánjīng 南京 and studied under him. It is said that from this time onward Méi dedicated himself to reading nothing but Buddhist books, and doing nothing but Buddhist practices. He kept up correspondence with Yáng and the two had a student-teacher relationship.
In 1903 Méi was dispatched by then-Viceroy of Húguǎng Zhāng Zhīdòng 張之洞 to Japan to receive a military education. After completing this program, he entered Waseda University 早稲田大学 and studied politics and economics. In 1907 he returned to China where he served in a number of government positions in Húběi 湖北 and Guǎngzhōu 廣州. In 1910 he met Tàixū 太虛 in Guǎngzhōu and gave him a copy of the recently-republished Discussion of the Discourse on the Theory of Consciousness-Only 成唯識論述記 by Kuījī 窺基, which Tàixū kept with him and would often read.
After the revolution of 1911, Méi worked for the government in Běijīng 北京 in a variety of positions. Around 1921 he was appointed to a position in Shāndōng 山東 province and moved to Jìnán 濟南.
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