Foxue yuan 佛學院

Revision as of 22:42, 6 June 2009

Buddhist Seminaries: Fóxué yuàn 佛學院

Welch claims that this term was invented (or at least pioneered) by Tàixū 太虛 in reference to the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary 武昌佛學院 in 1922. He states, "Many of the innovations he (Tàixū) made there proved popular, and by 1945 almost all seminaries in China had become 'institutes for Buddhist studies' in name, if not in substance. To varying degrees they adopted what Tàixū had adopted from lay schools and abroad."^[1]

Welch lists 72 such seminaries in operation between 1912 and 1950, for which he includes the dates during which they were active. He also includes the average number of monks (or nuns) enrolled.^[2]

Welch estimates, very tentatively, that somewhere on the order of 7,500 Buddhist seminarians graduated in China between 1912 and 1950. Although this estimation is based on incomplete data, it demonstrates that thousands of monks and nuns received their education at Buddhist Seminaries.

(Incomplete) List of Buddhist Seminaries associated with Tàixū

• 武昌佛學院 1922－ intermittent, ended in 1934, briefly moved to Shanghai in 1937 (70)^[3]
• 藏文學院 1924-1925 (50)^[4]
• 閩南佛學院 1925-1939 (80)
• 柏林教理院 1930－1931
• 漢藏教理院 1931-1949 (60-100)
• 武林佛學院 1946-1948 (30)

Other Important Seminaries

• 觀宗研究社, later 弘法學院 1918-1939 (200)
• 安徽僧學校 1922 - 1924 (20)^[5]
• 景賢學佛社 1924 - 1927, when this became the 閩南佛學院
• 弘慈佛學院 1924 - 1934^[6]
• 竹林佛學院 1931 - until at least 1935
• 焦山佛學院 1934 - 1937, 1940 - 1948 (~300 total students)
• 中國佛學院 1956-1966; ?? - present

Notes:

1. ↑ Welch, 107
2. ↑ Welch, 285-287
3. ↑ The numbers in parentheses are Welch's very rough estimate of typical enrollment
4. ↑ The enrollment here is from Welch (p. 198-199), but he is incorrect regarding the dates. He says it ran for two years, but all other sources agree it closed in 1925.
5. ↑ Welch refers to this as the 安徽佛學校 or 迎江佛學院. Welch, 285.
6. ↑ Welch, 286.

References:

Pittman, Donald. Toward a Modern Chinese Buddhism: Taixu’s Reforms. (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2001), 99.

Shì Dōngchū 釋東初. Zhōngguó fójiào jìndàii 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. (Taibei: Dongchu, 1974), 2:896.

Welch, Holmes. The Buddhist Revival in China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.