Minnan Buddhist Seminary: Mǐnnán fóxué yuàn 閩南佛學院
This seminary was founded in 1925 by the abbot of Nán pǔtuó 南普陀 Temple in Xiamen. In 1921, Chinese businessman Tan Kah Kee (Chén Jiāgēng 陳嘉庚) donated a large amount of money to Establish Xiamen University 廈門大學. This University was build on land seized from Nán pǔtuó Temple. In response, the abbot ordered the opening of the Jǐngxián Buddhist Study Society 景賢學佛社 at the temple. He invited Chángxǐng 常惺 to run it.
When the abbot retired in 1927, Tàixū 太虛 became abbot of Nán pǔtuó Temple and head of the Society, which he renamed the Minnan Buddhist Seminary. As with the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary 武昌佛學院, the school was run in a modern way and not like a traditional Buddhist study hall. Students sat at desks in rooms where teachers made copious use of blackboards. In addition to classes on Buddhist scripture and doctrine, students studied history, geography, psychology, and Japanese language, and many of these classes were taught by laymen. This curriculum, which was similar to the one used at the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary, had been adapted by Tàixū from a Japanese school.
A associated school, the Yǎngzhèng Buddhist Seminary 養正佛學院 housed in the same buildings, was funded in the mid 1930s, and taught a more elementary curriculum.
The school closed down in 1939 due to the Second Sino-Japanese War, though it briefly revived after the War ended.
The Minnan Buddhist Seminary is once again in operation, having been reopened in 1985.[1] One of its first lecturers after it reopened was .
References:
Welch, Holmes. The Buddhist Revival in China. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968), 110-114.