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Article Editor: Erik Hammerstrom
Yuèxiá 月霞 became abbot of Xīngfú Temple in 1917. He hoped to create a Buddhist Seminary, possibly similar to Huáyán University 華嚴大學, which he ran from 1912 to 1916. When Yuèxiá died in Hángzhōu 杭州 that fall, it fell to Yīngcí 應慈 to start the school, which he did in 1919.
Welch estimates the school had an average enrollment of 40 students.[2]
Cízhōu 慈舟, a former student at the original Dharmadhatu Seminary, set up three "franchises" of this seminary. Their curricula seemed to have centered around Cízhōu's lectures on the Huáyán Sūtra 華嚴經, thus they should probably be thought of more as extended lecture series, rather than stand-alone seminaries.
Located at Yǒngquán Temple 湧泉寺 on Gǔshān 鼓山 in Fúzhōu 福州. Classes began in 1933 and lasted until spring of 1936.
Located at Fǎhǎi Temple 法海寺, also in Fúzhōu. Cízhōu began lecturing in 1936, but left the course soon after it started when he received an invitation from Tánxū 倓虛 to come lecture at the latter's Zhànshān Temple Buddhist Seminary 湛山寺佛學院 in Qīngdǎo 青島. From that point the course was led by Dàoyuán 道源, another former student of the Xīngfú Temple branch of the Dharmadhatu Seminary.
Located at Jìnglián Temple 淨蓮寺 in Běijīng 北京. In the winter of 1936, Cízhōu became abbot of Jìnglián Temple. Another Dharmadhatu Seminary began in February of 1937 and ended in the spring of 1939.