Duhuan 度寰

Dùhuán 度寰 (1905-1988)

A monk, student of esoteric Buddhism, and doctor of Chinese medicine. He was a living link in the Chinese Buddhist tradition through the Cultural Revolution.

Biography

From Ānqìng 安慶 in Ānhuī province, Dùhuán was sent by his family to tonsure at age 9. At 17 (1922) he enrolled at the Ānhuī Monastic School 安徽僧學校, where he studied under Chángxǐng 常惺 and Chísòng 持松. In 1925, he went to Minnan Buddhist Seminary 閩南佛學院. One or two years later, he went to Shànghǎi to study medicine at the Chinese Medical College 中醫學院, and a year later began practicing medicine at Shèngxiān Temple 聖仙寺. There studied esoteric Buddhism udner Chísòng, who was living there at the time. In 1952, the two of them went to Jìng'ān Temple 靜安寺, where Chísòng became abbot and began teaching esoteric Buddhism.

During the Cultural Revolution, Dùhuán left his robes, but he took them up again after 1979. In 1981, the Shanghai Buddhist Seminary 上海佛學院 was re-formed, and Dùhuán taught there. In 1987, he was named abbot of Jìng'ān Temple. He died of illness in 1988.

References:

• 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. Pp. 1.747b-748a.