Tan Sitong 譚嗣同

Revision as of 02:24, 24 May 2009

Tán Sìtóng 譚嗣同 (1865-1898)

• Born 1865（Tóngzhì 同治 5)
• Died September 28, 1898 (8/13 Guāngxù 光緒 23)
• Name 名: Sìtóng 嗣同
• Style names 號: Zhuāngfēi 壯飛
• Courtesy names 字: Fùshēng 復生

Biography:

From Liúyáng County 瀏陽縣, Húnán 湖南. Tán was the son of an official and received a standard classical education growing up. He lived his early days in Běijīng 北京 and Gānsù 甘肅. When he was 12 he died for three daysm the returned to life, which is why his courtesy name was "Reborn."

It appears that like many literati of his time he grew up with little knowledge or interest in foreign people or foreign ideas. This changed after he turned 24, when he followed his father to the city of Wuchang when the latter was stationed. Tán’s father was serving as the governor of Wuchang, and as a result Tán likely came in contact with any of the brightest minds in that rapidly developing city.

In 1893, Tán traveled to Shànghǎi 上海 where he met John Fryer, the head translator of the Jiangnan Arsenal. At that time, he also bought a number of the scientific and technical books published by the arsenal. These books and the outcome of the First Sino-Japanese War had a tremendous impact on Tán, as he abandoned the classicism and ethnocentrism of his youth and began reading widely in Western learning. It was also during this period that he became interested in Buddhism.

In 1896, Tán met Fryer again on a visit to Tiānjīn 天津. At that time, Fryer showed him fossils and an X-ray machine. That same year, Tán accepted an official position in Nanjing an made the acquaintance of Yáng Wénhuì 楊文會, in whose house he lived and with whom he studied Buddhism. It was in that year, too, that he answered a request by a newspaper publisher in Hong Kong to write an introductory piece on Buddhism. The result of this effort, probably finished by February of 1897, was his Rén xué 仁學 (A Study of Humaneness).

Tán arrived in Běijīng on September 7, 1898 to participate in the Hundred Days' Reform. The reforms failed, and he was executed on September 28.

Major Works:

仁學

譚嗣同全集

References:

Chan, Sin-wai. Buddhism in Late Ch’ing Political Thought. (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1985), 55-74.

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), , 2:1726c-79c.