Short bio.
Biography
He received tonsure and ordination at age 16 (1876) under Yàokān 藥龕 at Sānfēng Temple 三峰寺 in Chángrè County. After ordination he studied English, Japanese, and Sanskrit, in addition to poetry, epigraphy, and painting.
In 1881 he received full ordination at Jiāngtiān Temple 江天寺 at Jīnshān 金山 in Zhènjiāng 鎮江. At Jiāngtiān Temple he studied under abbot Dàdìng 大定, receiving dharma transmission from him.
In 1892 he accepted the invitation of Liza Roos (Mrs. Silas Hardoon 羅迦陵) to lecture at her Kalaviṇka Hermitage 頻伽精舍 on Jìng'ān Road in Shànghǎi 上海.
Around the time of the Hundred Days' Reform, he got to know Zhāng Tàiyán 章太炎, Wú Jìnghéng 吳敬恆, and Cài Yuánpéi 蔡元培. When the latter organized the Chinese Education Association 中華教育會 in 1902, Zōngyǎng joined Cài, Jiǎng Zhìtián 蔣智田, Jiǎng Wéiqiáo 蔣維喬, Huáng Yánpéi 黃炎培, Wáng Xiǎoxú 王小徐, and others to form the group in Shànghǎi. When Cài left the group, Zōngyǎng took over as president, reorganizing the group as the Patriotics Study Society 愛國學社. This society ran boys and girls schools, and published the Sū bào 蘇報, which Zōngyǎng contributed articles for. In December of 1903, Cài, Wú, and others associated with the Society had to flee to Japan because of what they printed there and their other revolutionary activities. With the financial support of Liza Roos, Zōngyǎng also went to Japan.
In Japan, Zōngyǎng shared a room with Sun Yat-sen and joined his Revolutionary Alliance 同盟會. He returned to China in 1908, where he again took up residence at Kalaviṇka Hermitage. That same year, Liza Roos, acting on Zōngyǎng's behest, paid for a printing of the Buddhist canon in 8,406 volumes. It is called the Kalaviṇka Canon 頻伽大藏經.
After the Revolutionary of 1911 (Tàixū 太虛 was living with Zōngyǎng when it broke out), Zōngyǎng was invited by Sun Yat-sen to come to Nánjīng 南京 to particiapte in the government, but Zōngyǎng declined, choosing instead to go live in obscurity.
In [[1914], he became 首座 at Jiāngtiān Temple. From 1916 to June of 1919, he practiced in sealed confinement. Where his period of practice was over, he traveled to Qíxiá Mountain Temple 棲霞山寺 in Nánjīng. He lived out the rest of his years there.
Important Works
Notable Students Liza Roos (Mrs. Silas Hardoon) 羅迦陵 (a refuge disciple of Zōngyǎng)
Notes
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), 1:567c-571a.