Sanshi xuehui 三時學會

Three Times Study Group: Sānshí xuéhuì 三時學會

An influential lay Buddhist study group that focused on Indian Buddhism, particularly Consciousness-Only.

• 1927 - after 1956 (activities were likely intermittent during the Second Sino-Japanese War)
• Location(s): Běijing 北京

Based in Běijing 北京, this group was founded in 1927 by Hán Qīngjìng 韓清淨, Zhū Fèihuáng 朱芾煌, Xú Sēnyù 徐森玉, and Ráo Fēnghuáng 饒風璜. This group had grown out of the Dharmalakṣaṇa Research Association 法相研究會, which the same men had founded in 1921. It was dedicated to the practice and study of Indian Buddhism, as well as the translation and printing of Buddhist scriptures. The primary activity of the group was the holding of lectures given by members of the group. Hán lectured once every week, primarily on Dharmalakṣaṇa. Membership was around 60 people.

The name of this group comes from a pànjiào 判教 scheme that divides the Buddha's teachings into three time periods, which were the teachings of existents 有教, the teachings of emptiness 空教, and the Middle Way 中道. For this group, the middle way was exemplified by Consciousness-Only and Dharmalakṣaṇa 唯識法相 thought.

Erik Hammerstrom

Notes

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. 1.305.
• 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: Fóguāng, 2004. Pp. 2.1680a-1682b. (Entry for Hán Qīngjìng 韓清淨)
• 互動百科 - 三時學會