Wang Hongyuan 王弘願

Wáng Hóngyuàn 王弘願 (1876-1937)

A lay Buddhist of the Republican period, and an important, but highly controversial, proponent of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism 東密.

• Style name 號: Layman Yuánwǔ 圓五居士
• Courtesy name 字: Mùhán 慕韓
• Dharma name 法名: Hóngyuàn 弘願

Biography

When young, he received a traditional Confucian education. He received the Xiùcái 秀才 degree when he was 23 (1899). He taught at the Cháozhōu Middle School 潮州中學堂 for eight years, becoming principle after the founding of the Republic, though he left this position soon thereafter. He eventually returned to the Cháozhōu Middle School to teach.

At age 40, Wáng began to read about Buddhism, and he began with the Huáyán Sūtra 華嚴經. He was unable to understand it, so he began to study under Yíguāng 怡光 at Kāiyuán Temple 開元寺 with whom he developed a strong friendship.

In 1921 Wáng published his most famous work, Mìzōng gāngyào 密宗綱要 (Essentials of the Esoteric School), which was a translation of a work by Gonda Raifu 權田雷斧 (1846-1934). Wáng's work attracted Gonda's attention, in in June, 1924, Gonda and several of his colleagues came to Kāiyuán Temple in Cháozhōu to transmit Esoteric Buddhism. Wáng received both of the two levels of abiṣeka 灌頂, or esoteric initiation, at that time. For this occasion he wrote ‘’Jìnggào hǎnèi fóxuéjiā shū 敬告海內佛學家書 (Letter of Proclamation to all the Buddhist Scholars in China).

It was at this time that Wáng began to come into conflict with Tàixū 太虛, who was critical of the lifestyles led by Japanese Buddhist priests, and the loose behavioral standards that esoteric Buddhism seemed to imply. Tàixū was especially nonplussed by Wáng's assertion that lay Buddhists can give abiṣeka to ordained Buddhists. Wáng also attracted the criticisms of many other Buddhists at the time, such as Fǎfǎng 法舫, and Yìnguāng 印光. The criticisms can also be seen in how Wáng is treated by the historian of modern Chinese Buddhism, Shì Dōngchū 東初.^[1]

In 1926, Wáng traveled to Japan and became a 49th-generation Ācārya 阿闍梨 (or teacher) in the Shingon 真言 school. Upon his return to China, he gave esoteric initiation to thousands in Cháozhōu, Guǎngzhōu 廣州, Hong Kong, and Shàntóu 汕頭.

He became much less active after 1931.

Important Works

• 大日經疏
• 佛教解行特刊序
• 金剛頂經義訣
• ‘’Jìnggào hǎnèi fóxuéjiā shū 敬告海內佛學家書 (Letter of Proclamation to all the Buddhist Scholars in China)
• Mìzōng gāngyào 密宗綱要 (Essentials of the Esoteric School)
• 圓五居士文集，詩集

Notable Students

Notes

1. ↑ Shì Dōngchū 釋東初. Zhōngguó Fójiào jìndài 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. Taipei: Dongchu, 1974 Pp. 426-433.

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. 159c-162b.