Fajie xueyuan 法界學院

Contents 1 Dharmadhatu Seminary: Fǎjiè xuéyuàn 法界學院 2 The Main School 3 Branches 4 Notes

Dharmadhatu Seminary: Fǎjiè xuéyuàn 法界學院

Erik Hammerstrom

The Main School

• 1919 - 1934^[1]
• Location(s): Xīngfú Temple 興福寺, Yúshān 虞山 in Chángrè County 常熱縣, Jiāngsū 江蘇

Yuèxiá 月霞 became abbot of Xīngfú Temple in 1917. His hope was to create a Buddhist Seminary, possibly similar to Huáyán University 華嚴大學, which he ran from 1912 to 1916. When Yuèxiá died in Hángzhōu that fall, it fell to Yīngcí 應慈 to start the school, which he did in 1919.

Welch estimates the school had an average enrollment of 40 students.^[2]

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Notable Teachers

• Chángxǐng 常惺
• Chísōng 持松
• Yīngcí 應慈

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Notable Students

• Cízhōu 慈舟

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References:

• 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. 1.205.
• Welch, Holmes. The Buddhist Revival in China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.
• 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. 1:754c-757b. (Entry for Chísōng 持松)

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Branches

Cízhōu 慈舟, a former student at the original Dharmadhatu Seminary, set up three "franchises" of this seminary. Their curricula seemed to have centered around Cízhōu's lectures on the Huáyán Sūtra 華嚴經, thus they should probably be thought of more as extended lecture series, rather than stand-alone seminaries.

1. Yǒngquán Temple 湧泉寺 on Gǔshān 鼓山 in Fúzhōu 福州. Classes began in 1933 and lasted until spring of 1936.

2. Fǎhǎi Temple 法海寺 in Fúzhōu. Cízhōu began lecturing in 1936, but left the course soon after it started when he received an invitation from Tánxū 倓虛 to come lecture at the latter's Zhànshān Temple Buddhist Seminary 湛山寺佛學院 in Qīngdǎo 青島. From that point the course was led by Dàoyuán 道源, a former student of the Xīngfú Temple branch of the Dharmadhatu Seminary took over.

3. Jìnglián Temple 淨蓮寺 in Běijīng 北京. In the winter of 1936, Cízhōu became abbot of Jìnglián Temple. Another Dharmadhatu Seminary began in February of 1937 and ended in the spring of 1939.

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Teachers

• Cízhōu 慈舟
• Dàoyuán 道源

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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. 2.1278b. (from the entry for Cízhōu 慈舟)

Notes

1. ↑ Welch, 286.
2. ↑ Welch, 286.