Shanghai fojiao jingye she 上海佛教淨業社

Shànghǎi Buddhist Pure Karma Association: Shànghǎi fójiào jìngyè shè 上海佛教淨業社

A Shànghǎi lay society dedicated to charity and the practice of Buddhism.

• 1923 - 19??
• Location(s): the Garden of Awakening 覺園 in Shànghǎi 上海

This organization was formed after the Shànghǎi World Buddhist Lay Association 上海世界佛教居士林 split in 1922 (the other part became the World Lay Buddhist Association 世界佛教居士林). There was significant overlap in the membership of the two groups.

The Society engaged in a number of different activities. In addition to Buddhist recitation sessions for its members, it ran an orphanage and a free medical clinic. It also ran Buddha's Voice Radio XMHB from the 1930s to 1940. The magazine Jìngyè yuèkān淨業月刊 (Pure Karma Monthly) was published here from 1926.

As an important nexus of Shànghǎi Buddhism, this organization provided resources of money, space, and members to a number of other organizations. For several years after its founding in 1929, the Chinese Buddhist Association 中國佛教會 was headquartered here. The Pure karma Society also hosted the Bodhi Study Society 菩提學會 in the mid 1930s.

'Notable Members:

• Guān Jiǒngzhī 關絅之
• Huáng Hánzhī 黃涵之
• Shī Shěngzhī 施省之
• Wáng Yītíng 王一亭

Notes

References:

• Welch, Holmes. The Buddhist Revival in China. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968. Pp. 41, 76, 311.