The Invasion of Jinshan (Dànào Jīnshān[1] 大鬧金山) was a conflict between reformist and conservative factions over the proper use of Jīnshān monastic property.
In January 1912, Rénshān 仁山 went to Nánjīng 南京 to petition the government to change Jīnshān Monastery 金山寺 in Zhènjiāng 鎮江 into a modern monastic school 僧學堂. In Nánjīng he met with his former classmate Tàixū 太虛 and they began to work together to set up the Association for the Advancement of Buddhism 佛教協進會. Tàixū was based at Pílú Temple 毘盧寺 at this time.
Rénshān and Tàixū joined forces and went to Jīnshān. There, they stayed at Guānyīn Pavilion 觀音閣 (located at the Jīnshān Monastery), where Rénshān had taken tonsure. A conference was held at the principal monastery on Jīnshan, Jiāngtián Temple 江天寺, and the two announced to an audience of two to three hundred monks and four hundred lay people that they planned to use the Monastery's resources to run a new school for monastics. This met with fierce opposition from the officers of the monastery, including the abbot, Qīngshú 青权 and the guest prefect, Shuāngtíng 霜亭. The reformers won, and the next day they began going over the monastery's accounts and drawing up plans for the school.
The officers did not back down, and in mid-February they led a group of workmen and stormed the nascent school's headquarters. Rénshān and others were injured. Although the former officers were sentenced to prison terms after Rénshān appealed to the authorities, the school did not ultimately materialize. Tàixū's reputation as a reformer of Buddhism was established by this incident, but the results of this were not immediately good for his reputation. Somewhat disgraced, he was forced to retreat from the public scene for a number of years.
Section Editor: Erik Hammerstrom