Karl Ludvig Reichelt 艾香德

Karl Ludvig Reichelt (1877-1952)

Chinese name: Ài Xiāngdé 艾香德 Born 1877 in Norway Died 1952 at Tao Fung Shan 道峰山 in Hong Kong

Notable Associates: Johannes Prip-Møller Tàixū 太虛

Article editor: Erik Hammerstrom

Karl Ludvig Reichelt: Ài Xiāngdé 艾香德 (1877-1952) was a Protestant missionary from Norway who worked in China from 1903 to his death in 1952. He was acquainted with many important Chinese Buddhists and his sympathetic attitude toward Buddhism is well known.

Biography

Reichelt was originally sent to Húnán 湖南. From 1913 to 1920, he taught at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Húběi 湖北. From 1922 to 1927 he ran the Christian Mission to Buddhists at his center, Jǐngfēng shān 景風山 in Nánjīng 南京. It closed after it was looted during the Northern Expedition.

From July 23 to August 11, 1923, he participated in the World Buddhist Federation 世界佛教聯合會 held at Mt. Lú 廬山.^[1]

In 1931, he founded Tao Fung Shan 道風山 in Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong 香港. The buildings were designed by Johannes Prip-Møller. Reichelt worked there for the remainder of his life.

Reichelt is famous for his sympathetic approach to studying Buddhism. To be sure, his sympathy toward and interest in Buddhism was rooted in the belief that Mahāyāna Buddhism was a form of Christianity. In his missionary work, he explicitly targeted Chinese Buddhists, and made free use of Buddhist imagery, temple motifs, liturgical elements, and even an incense burner in his missionary centers.^[2] Nevertheless, he learned quite about Chinese Buddhism, and wrote several good works on the subject.

Major Works

• Meditation and Piety in the Far East. Translated from Norwegian by Sverre Holth. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1954.
• Religion in Chinese Garment. Translated from Norwegian by Joseph Tetlie. New York: Philosophical Library, 1951. (Written in 1912-1913)
• Truth and Tradition in Chinese Buddhism. Translated from Norwegian by Kathrina Van Wagenen Bugge. Shanghai, 1928.

Notes

1. ↑ Welch, 55.
2. ↑ Welch, 186.

References and Resources

• Notto R. Thelle. "Karl Ludwig Reichelt, 1877 - 1952: Christian Pilgrim of Tao Fong Shan." In Gerald Anderson, et al., eds., Mission Legacies: Biographical Studies of Leaders of the Modern Missionary Movement (Maryknoll: Orbis Press, 1994): 216-224.
• Welch, Holmes. The Buddhist Revival in China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.
• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity
• History of Tao Fung Shan (pdf)
• Wikipedia: Tao Fung Shan