One of Tàixū's right-hand monks from the mid 1920s and to mid 1930s, and the founding president of the Sino-Tibetan Institute 漢藏教理院 in Sichuan.
Biography
From Sichuan. Little is known about his youth. He left home at Wūyóu Temple 烏尤寺. In 1922， he tested in to the first class at the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary 武昌佛學院. He studied for 2 years and graduated in July, 1924. After graduating, he went to Nanjing to study Consciousness-Only 唯識 thought with Oūyáng Jìngwú 歐陽竟無, making him one of the few of Tàixū's 太虛 disciples to do so.
In the summer of 1925 he was invited by Tàixū to Lúshān 廬山 to participate in a special camp to study Buddhism and English for propagation purposes. He was joined at this camp by Dàxǐng 大醒 and others. In 1925, he served as Tàixū's recorder when the latter served as a delegate at the East Asian Buddhist COnference 東亞佛教大會 in Japan. In 1926, he was sent by Tàixū to teach at the Minnan Buddhist Seminary 閩南佛學院 at Nán pǔtuó Temple 南普陀寺 in Xiamen. That winter, he took over running the Minnan Buddhist Seminary after Huìjué 會覺 left. Mǎnzhì ran the school until Dàxǐng 大醒 and Zhīfēng 芝峰 came to help, at which point he went back to teaching.
In 1931, Tàixū asked him to come to Shanghai to edit the Hǎicháo yīn 海潮音, which had been in Tàizhōu 泰州 for the previous 3 years. Mǎnzhì edited it at Shanghai Buddhist Books 佛學書局 for over a year. After this, he went to Chongqing to set up the Sino-Tibetan Institute 漢藏教理院. Mǎnzhì arrived in the Spring of 1932. There he oversaw the renovation of a fallen-down temple, and the Institute held opening ceremonies on August, 12. Mǎnzhì left in 1934, when Fǎzūn 法尊 came to help. His whereabuts and activities after this are unknown.
References:
Shì Dōngchū 釋東初. Zhōngguó fójiào jìndàii 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. (Taibei: Dongchu, 1974), 2:894-898.
Yú Língbō 于凌波. Zhōngguó jìndài fómén rénwùzhì 佛門人物志 (Biographical Almanac of Early Contemporary and Modern Chinese Buddhism), vol. 5. (Taipei: Huiju, 1999), 244-248.
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), 2:1438c-1439c.