Wáng Hóngyuàn 王弘願 (1876-1937)
Courtesy name: Shīyù 師愈
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| Erik Hammerstrom |
A lay Buddhist of the Republican period, and an important proponent of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism 東密.
Biography
When young, he received a traditional Confucian education. He received the Xiùcái 秀才 degree when he was 23 (1899). He taught at the Cháozhōu Middle School 潮州中學堂 for eight years, becoming principle after the founding of the Republic, though he left this position soon thereafter. He eventually returned to the Cháozhōu Middle School to teach.
At age 40, Wáng began to read about Buddhism, and he began with the Huáyán Sūtra 華嚴經. He was unable to understand it, so he began to study under Yíguāng 怡光 at Kāiyuán Temple 開元寺 with whom he developed a strong friendship.
In 1921 Wáng published his most famous work, Mìzōng gāngyào 密宗綱要 (Essentials of the Esoteric School), which was a translation of a work by Gonda Raifu 權田雷斧 (1846-1934). Wáng's work attracted Gonda's attention, in in June, 1924, Gonda and several of his colleagues came to Kāiyuán Temple in Cháozhōu to transmit Esoteric Buddhism. Wáng received both of the two levels of abiṣeka 灌頂, or esoteric initiation, at that time. For this occasion he wrote ‘’Jìnggào hǎnèi fóxuéjiā shū 敬告海內佛學家書 (Letter of Proclamation to all the Buddhist Scholars in China).
It was at this time that Wáng began to come into conflict with Tàixū 太虛, who was critical of the lifestyles led by Japanese Buddhist priests, and the loose behavioral standards that esoteric Buddhism seemed to imply.
In 1926, Wáng traveled to Japan and became a 49th-generation Ācārya 阿闍梨 (or teacher) in the Shingon 真言 school.
Important Works
Notable Students
Notes
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