Dai Jitao 戴季陶

Dài Jìtáo 戴季陶 (1890-1949)

Dài was a politician and ideologue who supported Buddhist activities under the rubric of "National Salvation" (jiùguó 救國).

• Born January 1, 1890 (11/26 Guāngxù 光緒 16) in Guǎnghàn 廣漢, Sìchuān 四川
• Died February 21, 1949 (Mínguó 民國 38) at Guǎngzhōu 廣州, Guǎngdōng 廣東
• Youth name: Liángbì 良弼
• Style name: Tiānchóu 天仇
• Courtesy names: Chuánxián 傳賢; Xuǎntáng 選唐
• Dharma name: Bùkōng 不空 ^[1]

Biography

Dái was born to a once prosperous family who had moved to Sìchuān from Zhèjiāng 浙江 during his great-great-grandfather's generation. His family made a living as potters and Dai was the youngest of four children, hence his name Jìtáo (Youngest Potter). Dái's mother (née Huáng 黃) taught him Buddhist practice from a young age.

Between 1902 and 1905 he studied in a school in Chéngdū 成都 that prepared students for studying in Japan. He traveled to Japan in 1905 to study law and politics at Nihon Daigaku 日本大学 in Tokyo.

In 1922 he had a dramatic conversion experience during a suicide attempt en route by steamer from Hànkǒu 漢口 to Yíchāng 宜昌. Distraught at not being able to broker a truce between the Sìchuān warlords and Sun Yat-sen, he leaped into the river, only to be saved by a glowing halo of Buddha-light (fóguāng 佛光).

Dài married Niǔ Yǒuhéng 鈕有恆 in Shànghǎi 上海 in 1911. She was very active in Buddhist practice and her dharma name was Liánhuā 蓮花.

Dài wrote about 90% of his works related to Buddhist subjects during the period 1930-1937.

In 1940 he visited Buddhist sites in India and attempted to negotiate a political alliance with India against the Japanese based on the common Buddhist heritage of India and China.

Important Works

Notes

1. ↑ Skt. aśūya, perhaps a reference to Amoghavajra, 705-774 CE

References:

Chén Tiānxí 陳天錫, ed. and corr. Dài Jìtáo xiān shēng wén cún 戴季陶先生文存. 4 vols. Taipei: Zhōngguó guómíndǎng zhōngyāng wěiyuánhuì, 1959.

Shi Dongchu 釋東初, ed. Dài Jítáo xiān shēng fó xué lùn jí 戴季陶先生佛學論集. Taipei: Huayan lianshe puti fotang yinhang, 1981.