Ordered by date of birth
| Name | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Yáng Wénhuì 楊文會 | 1837 - 1911 | Yáng has been called the progenitor of the modern Buddhist revival in China; he established a sūtra publishing house and school for monastics in Nánjīng 南京 |
| Timothy Richard 李提摩太 | 1845 - 1919 | Welsh missionary who spent 40 years in China, and who studied and published on Buddhism in China |
| Nanjō Bunyū / Nanjio Bunyiu 南条文雄 | 1849 - 1927 | A priest of the Ōtani 大谷 sect of Japan's Jodō Shinshū 浄土真宗 school. He studied at Oxford with famed orientalist Max Müller, and collaborated with Yáng Wénhuì 楊文會 on a number of Buddhist projects. Chief among which was the reprinting of Buddhist texts held in Japan, but lost in China. |
| Jìchán 寄禪 | 1852 - 1912 | A famous Chán master and poet during the late Qing. He was an important person in transitional Qing-Republican Buddhism. |
| Yuèxiá 月霞 | 1858 - 1917 | An important teacher and Chán master of the late Qing and early Republican periods. He was associated with several early Buddhist schools, including Huáyán University 華嚴大學 |
| Yìnguāng 印光 | 1861 - 1940 | Credited with reviving the Pure Land school 淨土宗 in China |
| Zōngyǎng 宗仰 | 1861 - 1921 | A Jiāngnán 江南 monk, most famously associated with revolutionary activities in Shànghǎi 上海 in the first decade of the 20th century |
| Shī Shěngzhī 施省之 | 1865 - 1945 | A government official, first as a diplomat to the U.S. during the late Qing, then in the offices of the various state-run railroads of the late Qing and Republican periods. He was very active in Shanghai lay Buddhism during the last two decades of his life. |
| Ōuyáng Jiàn 歐陽漸 | 1871 - 1943 | Lay Buddhist teacher and founder of the Chinese Inner Studies Institute 支那內學院 |
| Dīng Fúbǎo 丁福保 | 1874 - 1952 | Writer and publisher, best known for his Great Dictionary of Buddhism 佛學大辭典 published in 1922, a translation of Bukkyō daijiten 仏教大辞典 by Oda Tokunō 織田徳能 |
| Shǐ Yīrú 史一如 | 1876 - 1925 | A scholar of Buddhist Logic, translator of works of Japanese Buddhology, and early confederate of Tàixū 太虛. He taught at the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary 武昌佛學院 during its first year |
| Zhū Fèihuáng 朱芾煌 | 1877 - 1955? | Zhū is best known for his Dictionary of Dharmalakṣaṇa 法相辭典 (1939) |
| Xú Wèirú 徐蔚如 | 1878 - 1937 | He ran two major Buddhist presses in Běijīng and Tiānjīn in the 1920s and 1930s. His presses and his own lectures and scholarship focused on Huáyán 華嚴 materials. |
| Yuányīng 圓瑛 | 1878 - 1953 | A towering figure of Republican Buddhism, and a critic of Tàixū's more radical suggestions for reform. He was president of the Chinese Buddhist Association 中國佛教會 from 1928 to 1937. He was also the abbot of a number of important temples in the Jiāngnán 江南 region. |
| Hóngyī 弘一 | 1880 - 1942 | An educated and literate leader of the New Culture movement, who turned his back on modernity to become a monk |
| Méi Guāngxī 梅光羲 | 1880 - 1947 | A major scholar of Consciousness-Only 唯識, he provided financial backing both to the Jinling Scriptural Press 金陵刻經處 and the Chinese Inner Studies Institute 支那內學院 |
| Zhāng Huàshēng 張化聲 | 1880 - 19?? | Teacher at the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary 武昌佛學院 and a colleague of Tàixū 太虛 |
| Lǚ Bìchéng 呂碧城 | 1883 - 1943 | Probably the most famous Chinese Buddhist woman of the Republican period, Lǚ was a poet, journalist, and lay Buddhist |
| Qū Yìngguāng 屈映光 | 1883 - 1973 | A prominent minister of the Republican era, he held many posts including that of governor of Shāndōng 山東 in 1919. He was initiated into esoteric Buddhism in 1929. |
| Dài Jìtáo 戴季陶 | 1890 - 1949 | A politician and ideologue who supported Buddhist activities under the rubric of "National Salvation" (jiùguó 救國) |
| Tàixū 太虛 | 1890 - 1947 | One of the most influential Chinese Buddhist figures of the modern era, a reformer who established seminaries and Buddhist periodicals, such as his long-running Hǎicháo yīn 海潮音 |
| Táng Dàyuán 唐大圓 | 1890? - 1941 | A colleague of Tàixū 太虛, a noted lay teacher of monks, and scholar of Consciousness-Only 唯識 thought |
| Shànyīn 善因 | 1890? - 19?? | He and Kōngyě 空也 were Tàixū’s 太虛 early right-hand men. Shànyīn was particularly interested in Consciousness-Only 唯識 and Madhyamaka thought. |
| Yù Huìguān 玉慧觀 | 1891 - 1933 | A Korean-born Chinese businessman, politician, and lay Buddhist |
| Huìjué 會覺 | 1892 - 1971 | One of Tàixū's leading disciples, and a teacher of monks |
| Dàyǒng 大勇 | 1893 - 1929 | A Hàn 漢 monk who was famous for teaching Japanese Esoteric Buddhism 東密, as well as leading a group to Tibet to study Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism 西密 |
| Chísōng 持松 | 1894 - 1972 | A famed teacher of Esoteric Buddhism |
| Chángxǐng 常惺 | 1896 - 1939 | A prominent teacher, associated with several important early seminaries, as well as the Chinese Buddhist Association 中國佛教會 of 1929 |
| Lǚ Chéng 呂澂 | 1896 - 1989 | A student of Ōuyáng Jiàn 歐陽漸, headed his Chinese Inner Studies Institute 支那內學院, and remained a prominent figure in Chinese Buddhism after 1949. |
| Dàxǐng 大醒 | 1899 - 1952 | A student of Tàixū 太虛 and leader of the Minnan Buddhist Seminary 武昌佛學院 |
| Mǎnzhì 滿智 | 18?? - 19?? | One of Tàixū's right-hand monks from the mid 1920s and to mid 1930s, and the founding president of the Sino-Tibetan Institute 漢藏教理院 in Sìchuān |
| Zhōu Shújiā 周叔迦 | 1899 - 1970 | An important scholar and teacher of Consciousness-Only thought during the Republican period, and a founding member of the Chinese Buddhist Association 中國佛教協會 |
| Dàyú 大愚 | dates unknown | Founder of an immensely popular lineage of Esoteric Buddhism in Republican China |
| Yóu Zhìbiǎo 尤智表 | 1901 - 19?? | A Harvard-trained engineer and a lay Buddhist. He was the author of two important books on science and Buddhism, which were published in the 1940s |
| Fǎzūn 法尊 | 1902 - 1980 | A prominent teacher of esoteric Buddhism, and longtime principal of the Sino-Tibetan Institute 漢藏教理院 in Chóngqìng 重慶 |
| Zēng Pǔxìn 曾普信 | 1902 - 1977 | A Taiwanese Sōtō priest |
| Jǐng Chāngjí 景昌極 | 1903 - 1982 | An educator and a student of Ōuyáng Jiàn |
| Fǎfǎng 法舫 | 1904 - 1951 | A close disciple of Tàixū 太虛, and was involved with many of the Buddhist seminaries and organizations associated with him |
| Dùhuán 度寰 | 1905 - 1988 | A monk, student of esoteric Buddhism, and doctor of Chinese medicine. He was a living link in the Chinese Buddhist tradition through the Cultural Revolution. |
| Lǐ Yuányīn 李元音 | 1905 - 2000 | Third patriarch of the Seal-Mind School 印心宗 |
| Jùzàn 巨贊 | 1908 - 1984 | A Buddhist teacher who participated in the War of Resistance and worked closely with the Communist government after the founding of the PRC |
| Dān Péigēn 單培根 | 1917 - 1995 | A student of consciousness-only and Chinese medicine |