Shi Dongchu 釋東初

Shì Dōngchū 釋東初 (1908-1977)

Dōngchū was a prolific monk of the Cáodòng branch 曹洞派 of the Chán school 禪宗 who wrote and published many key works on modern Chinese Buddhism.

Biography

Dōngchū was tonsured in 1920 at the Guanyin monastery 觀音庵 in Jiāngsū by one Jìngchán 靜禪, and took the full precepts in 1929 at Baohua shān 寶華山. In 1934 he graduated from the Minnan Buddhist Seminary 閩南佛學院 and began teaching at the Jiaoshān Buddhist Seminary 焦山佛學院 located at Dìnghuì Temple 定慧寺 on Jiāo Mountain 焦山 in Zhènjiāng 鎮江, Jiāngsū. He taught at the Seminary until 1937. In 1935 he received transmission in the Cáodòng branch 曹洞派 of the Chán school 禪宗 at that temple.

In 1949 Dōngchū came to Táiwān and became active in reorganizing the Chinese Buddhist Association 中國佛教會 there. In the same year he began the periodical Human Life Magazine 人生雜誌 at Fazang Temple 法藏寺 in Běitóu 北投, where he had established himself with the help of the Taiwanese Sōtō priest, Zēng Pǔxìn 曾普信.

Important Works

• 中印佛教交通史 (1968)
• 中日佛教交通史 (1970)
• 佛敎藝術 (1972)
• 中國佛教近代史, 2 vols. (1974)
• 蔣總統與佛教 (1975)
  • The five previous works can be found at 東初老人全集 maintained by Dharma Drum Buddhist College.
• 戴季陶先生佛學論集 (1981)

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. 1.642b-645a.