Qu Yingguang 屈映光

Qū Yìngguāng 屈映光 (1883-1973)

Courtesy name 字: Wénliù 文六 Dharma name 法名: Fǎxián 法賢 Born 2/6 1883 (Guāngxù 光緒 9) in Línhǎi county 臨海縣, Zhèjiāng 浙江 Died October 19, 1973 in Taiwan 台灣

Notable Associates: Dàyǒng 大勇 Duàn Qíruì 段祺瑞 Lǐ Guótài 李國泰 the Panchen lama 班禪 Wáng Yìtíng 王一亭

Article editor: Gregory Adam Scott

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.

Biography

Qū recieved a traditional education, but in 1903 after graduating from the Chìchéng public school 赤城公學 in Hángzhōu 杭州 he joined the revolutionary Guāngfù Society 光復會. In 1909 he founded the newspaper Fēngyǔ Bào 風雨報 in Shànghǎi 上海.

After participating in the Xīnhài revolution 辛亥革命, Qū held a number of political posts, rising to the governor of Shāndōng in 1919. In 1926 he resigned from his position as the home minister of the Běiyáng government 北洋政府, after which he traveled abroad spreading the Dharma, never again to return to a formal government position.

Qū took refuge under a number of masters, including Dàyǒng 大勇, and the Panchen lama 班禪. In 1929 he was initiated into esoteric Buddhism, taking the dharma name Fǎxián 法賢.

In 1934 he organized a Bodhi Study Society 菩提學會 along with figures such as Duàn Qíruì 段祺瑞 and Wáng Yìtíng 王一亭. The society was dedicated to translating Tibetan scriptures and spreading the Dharma. With the outbreak of war in 1937, he organized disaster relief and monastic first aid services in Shànghǎi. After the fall of that city to the Japanese, he retreated to Chóngqìng 重慶. While in Sìchuān he continued to study esoteric Buddhism from Tibetan teachers. One of his students there was Lǐ Guótài 李國泰, who later received transmission from Qū.

In 1949 Qū went to Taiwan, where he settled in Dàxī 大溪, Táoyuán county 桃園縣 and devoted his life to spreading esoteric teachings. He also acted as a political advisor.

Important Works

• 金剛經詮釋
• 心經詮釋

References:

• Shì Dōngchū 釋東初. Zhōngguó Fójiào jìndài shǐ 中國佛教近代史 (A History of Early Contemporary Chinese Buddhism), in Dōngchū lǎorén quánjí 東初老人全集 (Complete Collection of Old Man Dongchu), vols. 1-2. Taipei: Dongchu, 1974 Pp. 2.542-544.
• 佛教百科: 屈文六
• 浙江在線: 屈映光