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Fǎfǎng 法舫 (1904-1951)
Fǎfǎng was a close disciple of Tàixū 太虛, and was involved with many of the Buddhist seminaries and organizations associated with him. Fǎfǎng was particularly involved in international activities, and worked in Chinese, Japanese, English, Pāli and Snaskrit. He edited and wrote a large number of articles for the Hǎicháo yīn 海潮音 as well.
- Born 1904 (Guāngxù 光緒 30)
- Died October 3, 1951 (Mínguó 民國 40) in Sri Lanka
- Lay surname: Wáng 王[1]
Biography
Fǎfǎng was born in farming family in Hubei. He was orphaned by a severe drought there in his youth, and as a result he went to live at a charity school run by Fǎyuán Temple 法源寺 in Beijing (Map[2]). With the help of Yáo Jiājǐng 姚家井 he took tonsure under Shìàn 是岸 at Guānyīn Temple 觀音寺 in 1921. He was 17. He received full ordination at Fǎyuán Temple under Dàojiē 道階 the same year.
In 1922, Fǎfǎng traveled to Wuchang to be a part of the first class at the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary 武昌佛學院. He graduated in 1924. After graduation, Fǎfǎng traveled to Beijing to attend the Tibetan Language School 藏文學院. In 1925, he joined the Residing-in-Tibet Dharma Studies Group 留藏學法團. Fǎfǎng did not make it to Tibet. Instead, he returned to Wuchang to help Dàjìng 大敬 look after the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary, which had been requisitioned by the army as part of the Northern Expedition in fall of 1926.
In 1930, Tàixū sent Fǎfǎng to Beiping to assist Chángxǐng 常惺 run the newly established (and very short-lived) Bólín jiàolǐ yuàn 柏林教理院. There, he lectured on the Abhidharma-kośa. After the school shut down the following year, Tàixū asked him to go back to Wuchang to head the library at the World Buddhist Studies Center 世界佛學苑, which had been set up by Táng Dàyuán 唐大圓 in 1929. He also began editing the Hǎicháo yīn. Fǎfǎng worked at the library from 1932 to 1936, during which time he also ran the Buddhist Studies Research Department 佛學研究部 at the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary. There he oversaw research being carried out by 27 graduates of various Buddhist Seminaries in China. Among them were Huìjué 會覺, Zhīfēng 芝峰, Yìnshùn 印順, and Dàxǐng 大醒. He was sometimes associated with the Right Faith Society 正信會 sometimes. After the start of the War of Resistance, he moved to Sichuan with Fǎzūn 法尊 to work at the Sino-Tibetan Institute 漢藏教理院, where he worked for 2 or 3 years.
In 1941, Fǎfǎng received permission to travel to Sri Lanka (through Burma) for more than a year, and then on to India, where he arrived in February, 1943. There he studied English, Sanskrit, and Pali. Upon his return to China, he opened a Pali Studies Institute in Xi’an, the purpose of which was exchange of monks between Sri Lanka and China. After Tàixū died in the spring of 1947, Fǎfǎng traveled to Malaysia and Hong Kong, meeting with Chinese communities in southeast Asia. He then briefly took over the Wuchang Buddhist Seminary again, starting a new term. During the summer and winter of 1949, he lectured in Hong Kong. The lectures he gave in May, 1949, at Hong Kong's Dōngliān juéyuàn 東蓮覺苑 on Consciousness-Only thought where later collected and published as Wéishì shǐguān jí qí zhéxué 唯識史觀及其哲學 (Consciousness-Only: Its Historical Viewpoint and Philosophy). Fǎfǎng eventually settled in Sri Lanka where he lectured on Chinese Buddhism at a Sri Lankan University. He died of a brain hemorrhage in Sri Lanka on October 3, 1951.
Major Works:
Fóxué duìyú rénshēg zhī kànfǎ 佛學對於人生之看法 (Buddhist Views of Human Life)
Jīngāng jīng yǎnjiǎg cí 金剛經演講詞 (Lectures on the Diamond Sūtra)
Wéishì shǐguān jí qí zhéxué 唯識史觀及其哲學 (Consciousness-Only: Its Historical Viewpoint and Philosophy)
Yī gè fóxuézhě de chéngxù 一個佛學者的程序 (One Buddhist Scholar's Process)
Yìndù zhī wénhua rén 印度之文化人 (A Man of Indian Culture)
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), 2:898-900.
Yìnshùn 印順, “Fǎfǎng fǎshī xíngzhuàn 法舫法師行傳 (Record of the Actions of Master Fǎfǎng),” in Fǎfǎng 法舫, Wéishì shǐguān jí qí zhéxué 唯識史觀及其哲學 (Consciousness-Only: Its Historical Viewpoint and Philosophy). (Taipei: Tianhua, 1998, reprint (n.p.: 1950)), 1-3.
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), 1:680a-683a.