Xiong Shili 熊十力

Xióng Shílì 熊十力 (1885-1968)

Author of the Xīn wéishì lùn 新唯識論 (A New Treatise on Consciousness-Only), Xióng was a philosopher and revolutionary of the late Qing and Republican periods. His thinking combined Confucianism and Buddhism.

Biography

Xióng's father was a teacher in private academies and Xióng's family was fairly poor when he was young. His father started Xióng's educated, but died when he was still young. Xióng went to study in a school in another town, but due to his poverty he was forced to stop his studies.

Xióng became very pro-Hàn after reading Wáng Chuánshān yíjí 王船山遺集 (The Collected Writings of Wáng Chuánshān), and at age 18 suì 歲 (ca. 1902), he and some other youths from his town went to Wǔchāng 武昌 to join the army. While in the army, the things he saw led him to become a supporter of revolution. To this end, in 1904, he and some friends started the Science Night School (Kēxué bǔxí suǒ 科學補習所), which was dedicated to promoting the idea of revolution. Xióng continued to work for revolution, organizing among the military and participating in a group of people from his hometown who supported revolution. He returned to Huánggāng to agitate for revolution, but returned to Wǔchāng in 1911 when the revolution began. After the revolution, he served in Wǔchāng's new government, then traveled to Guǎngzhōu 廣州 to assist Sun Yat-sen's nascent Nationalist government in 1916.

Important Works

Notable Students

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. 2.599-604.
• 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: Foguang, 2004. Pp. 2.1442a-1444c.