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Dàxǐng 大醒 (1899-1952)
- Born 1899 (Guāngxù 光緒 25) in Dōngtái 東台, Jiangsu 江蘇
- Died December 13, 1952 (Mínguó 民國 41) in Táiběi 台北, Taiwan 台灣
- Lay surname: Yuán 袁[1]
Biography
From Jiangsu. At the age of 23 (in 1922), he graduated from Dōngtái 東台 Normal University. He read Hānshān's 憨山 Mèngyóu jí 夢游集 and Yìnguāng's 印光 bestselling writings and decided to leave home. He ordained under under Xiàngzhī 讓之 at Yangzhou's Tiānníng Temple 天寧寺 in 1924. After ordination, he heard Tàixū 太虛 lecture and as a result entered the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary 武昌佛學院 during its second term. In the summer of 1924, he went to Lúshān 廬山 to a special camp to study Buddhism and English for propagation purposes, along with Mǎnzhì 滿智 and Huìjué 會覺. This was part of the World Buddhist Federation 世界佛教聯合會. In March, 1928, Dàxǐng, Zhīfēng 芝峰 and Mǎnzhì were instructed by Tàixū to take over the Minnan Buddhist Seminary 閩南佛學院 in Xiamen. That same year Dàxǐng also started producing the magazine Xiàndài sēngqié 現代僧伽 (Modern Sangha), which became Xiàndài fójiào 現代佛教 (Modern Buddhism) in 1932.
In 1932, Dàxǐng and Zhifeng away left the Minnan Buddhist Seminary. The following year, Dàxǐng went to Shàntóu 汕頭 in Northern Guangdong, where he continued working on Xiàndài fójiào. He also began editing the Hǎicháo yīn 海潮音 the same year. In 1935, he went to Japan to look at the state of Buddhism there, and wrote a record of it when he came back. He then went back to Jiangsu and started the Juejin Buddhist Seminary 覺津佛學院, which also had its own periodical. When the War of Resistance broke out in 1937, Dàxǐng organized and headed a monks’ brigade, which trained to protect Buddhism and the nation, but after the government moved, he stopped and moved to Shanghai’s Jìng'ān 靜安 Temple.
At the end of the war, Dàxǐng became head secretary of the new Chinese Buddhist Association. In summer of 1946 he succeeded TX to become abbot of Zhejiang’s Xuědòu Temple 雪竇寺. At the beginning of 1949 he moved to Tawain, bringing the Hǎicháo yīn with him. In Taiwan, he lived at Taipei’s Shàndǎo Temple 善導寺, but high blood pressure forced him to move to Xinzhu 新竹 in 1950. After a year he moved back. In March of 1952 he had a stroke that paralyzed half his body, and he died on December 13th.
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), 2:901-906.
Yú Língbō 于凌波. Zhōnguó jìnxiàndài fójiào rénwù zhì 中國近現代佛教人物志 (Biographical Almanac of Early Contemporary and Modern Chinese Buddhism). (Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua, 1995), 222-229.
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), 1:56c-58c.