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Bǎojìng 寶靜 (1899-1940)
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Bǎojìng 寶靜 (1899-1940)
A well-traveled lecturer, patriarch of the Tiāntái School, and Dìxián's 諦閑 main disciple and dharma heir.
Biography
Bǎojìng's father worked in Shànghǎi 上海 and Bǎojìng graduated from the Dàtóng Academy 大同學院 there. After his graduation, he decided to ordain and in 1915 he was tonsured at Língyǐn Temple 靈隱寺. His parents had not approved and family members sought him out at the temple to demand that he return to lay life. He refused and it was five years before this rift with his family was mended.
In 1916, Bǎojìng was ordained at the Upper Fāngguǎng Temple 上方廣寺 on Mt. Tiāntái 天臺山. After ordination he studied the Lotus Sūtra 法華經 at Língyǐn Temple until 1918, when he traveled to Níngbō 寧波 to enroll at the Guānzōng Research Society 觀宗研究社 being started by Dìxián 諦閑. (For a list of his classmates, see the page for that school.)
When the first class of students completed their studies in 1921, the Society disbanded. Bǎojìng requested that Dìxián allow the Society to become a full-fledged school. The name was changed and it became known as either the Dharma Propagation Research Society 弘法研究社, or the Dharma Propagation Academy 弘法學院. Bǎojìng oversaw the school from 1921 to 1923.
From 1923 to 1925, Bǎojìng lived an itinerant life, traveling to carious important Buddhist sites, and studying Chán at Jiāngtiān Temple 江天寺. He then returned to Guānzōng Temple 觀宗寺, and worked closely with Dìxián.
In 1926, Bǎojìng was invited to come to Guǎngzhōu 廣州, where he lectured at various temples. He lectured on the relationship between the revolution and Buddhism, as well as on Buddhist scriptures. In the summer of that year, he helped a group of laymen organize the Guǎngzhōu Buddhist Propagation Society 廣州弘佛學社. From late 1926 to 1927, Bǎojìng lectured in Hong Kong 香港 and helped establish a local chapter of the Propagation Society there.
At Dìxián's request, Bǎojìng returned to Guānzōng Temple in 1929, where he resumed teaching at the Dharma Propagation Academy. During his time there, he oversaw the establishment and publication of the Hóngfǎ shèkān 弘法社刊 (Periodical of the Dharma Propagation Society), and the building of a school for poor children.
In 1930, Bǎojìng visited Buddhist sites in Burma and lectured in Malaysia. He left Guānzōng Temple that year to lecture in Yúnnán 雲南. In 1932 Dìxián became ill and asked him to come to Shànghǎi, where he transmitted the dharma to Bǎojìng, making him a 44th generation lineage-holder of the Tiāntái School. Dìxián died on May 19 of that year. After Dìxián's death, Bǎojìng became abbot of Guānzōng Temple. He continued as abbot of the temple for the rest of his life, though he often traveling to other parts of Jiāngnán 江南 to give sūtra lectures.
In 1939 a group of lay Buddhist in Hong Kong established the Dharma Propagation Hermitage 弘法精舍 in order to attract Bǎojìng to spend more time in Hong Kong. Bǎojìng went there that year, but left in 1940.
Bǎojìng died unexpectedly on November 29, 1940 at Yùfó Temple 玉佛寺 in Shànghǎi (the same temple where his master, Dìxián had died roughly eight years before).
Important Works
- 寶靜大師全集
- 大乘起信論講義
- 佛遺教經講義
- 觀世音菩薩普門品講義
- 修習止觀坐禪法講術
Notable Students
- 斌宗
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. 2.920.
- 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. 2.1759a-1762b.