Fohua xin qingnian hui 佛化新青年會

Association for the Buddhacization of the New Youth (Fóhuà xīn qīngnián huì 佛化新青年會) A major national organization of young lay and ordained Buddhists active in the 1920s.

History

Inspired by lectures given by Tàixū 太虛, Zhāng Zōngzài 張宗載 and Níng Dáyùn 寧達蘊 founded the Běijjīng New Young Men's Buddhist Association 北京佛教新青年會 in 1923. The title of this organization clearly draws from the rhetoric of Chén Dúxiù 陳獨秀, who mooted the idea of the "New Young Person" 新青年 in Běijīng in 1917. Tàixū later had the name changed to the "Association for the Buddhacization of the New Youth." Within three years of its formation, more than 10,000 people had joined and there were branches in Xiàmén 廈門, Tàiyuán 太原, Shànghǎi 上海, Wǔhàn 武漢, and Quánzhōu 泉州. They received the support of Hú Ruìlín 胡瑞霖, Cài Yuánpéi 蔡元培, Liáng Qǐchāo 梁啟超. ^[1]

On April 26, 1924, the Association, along with Dàojiē 道階 hosted Rabindrananth Tagore at Fǎyuán Temple 法源寺.^[2]

Before the the Northern Expedition began in 1927, the northern and southern branches of the Association split, but the rejoined afterward.^[3]

Notable Members

Notes

1. ↑ Shì, 1.306-308.
2. ↑ Shì, 1.309.
3. ↑ Shì, 1.313.

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