Dai Jitao 戴季陶

Revision as of 04:50, 18 May 2009

Dài Jìtáo 戴季陶 (1890-1949)

Dài was a politician and ideologue who supported Buddhist activities under the rubric of "National Salvation" (jiùguó 救國).

• Born January 1, 1890 (11/26 Guāngxù 光緒 16) in Guǎnghàn 廣漢, Sìchuān 四川
• Died February 21, 1949 (Mínguó 民國 38) at Guǎngzhōu 廣州, Guǎngdōng 廣東
• Youth name: Liángbì 良弼^[1]
• Name 名: Chuánxián 傳賢 (after 1925)
• Style name 號: Tiānchóu 天仇
• Courtesy names 字: Xuǎntáng 選唐; Jìtáo 季陶
• Dharma name 法名: Bùkōng 不空^[2]

Biography

Dài was born to a once prosperous family who had moved to Sìchuān from Zhèjiāng 浙江 during his great-great-grandfather's generation. His family made a living as potters and Dai was the youngest of four children, hence his name Jìtáo (Youngest Potter). Dái's mother (née Huáng 黃) taught him Buddhist practice from a young age.

Between 1902 and 1905 he studied in a school in Chéngdū 成都 that prepared students for studying in Japan. He traveled to Japan in 1905 to study law and politics at Nihon Daigaku 日本大学 in Tokyo.

In 1922 he had a dramatic conversion experience during a suicide attempt en route by steamer from Hànkǒu 漢口 to Yíchāng 宜昌. Distraught at not being able to broker a truce between the Sìchuān warlords and Sun Yat-sen, he leaped into the river, only to be saved by a glowing halo of Buddha-light (fóguāng 佛光).

Dài married Niǔ Yǒuhéng 鈕有恆 in Shànghǎi 上海 in 1911. She was very active in Buddhist practice and her dharma name was Liánhuā 蓮花.

Dài wrote about 90% of his works related to Buddhist subjects during the period 1930-1937. He asked Oūyáng Jìngwú 歐陽竟無 to compile a selection of sutra readings for laypeople, which was published by the China Inner Studies Academy (Zhīnà nèixuéyuàn 之那內學院) in 1931 as Zàijiā bùdú nèidiǎn 在家必讀內典.

In 1940 he visited Buddhist sites in India and attempted to negotiate a political alliance with India against the Japanese based on the common Buddhist heritage of India and China.

Important Works

• "The Reform of China's Religions and the Task of National Salvation." Radio Broadcast on National Central Radio, March 22, 1933.

Also see List of Buddhist Works by 戴季陶

Notes

1. ↑ Perhaps a rǔmíng 乳名 or a xuémíng 學名
2. ↑ Skt. aśūya, perhaps a reference to Amoghavajra, 705-774 CE

References:

Chén Tiānxí 陳天錫, ed. and corr. Dài Jìtáo xiān shēng wén cún 戴季陶先生文存. 4 vols. Taipei: Zhōngguó guómíndǎng zhōngyāng wěiyuánhuì, 1959.

Shi Dongchu 釋東初, ed. Dài Jítáo xiān shēng fó xué lùn jí 戴季陶先生佛學論集. Taipei: Huayan lianshe puti fotang yinhang, 1981.