Mei Guangxi 梅光羲

Méi Guāngxī 梅光羲 (1880-1947)

Name 名: Guāngxī 光羲[1] Courtesy name 字: Xiéyún 擷芸 Born 1880 (Guāngxù 光緒 6) in Nánchāng 南昌, Jiāngxī 江西 Died 1947 (Mínguó 民國 36) in Chóngqìng 重慶, Sìchuān 四川 of illness

Notable Associates: Dīng Fúbǎo 丁福保 Ōuyáng Jiàn 歐陽漸 Tàixū 太虛 Yáng Wénhuì 楊文會

Article editor: Gregory Adam Scott

Méi Guāngxī 梅光羲 (1880-1947) was a major scholar of Consciousness-Only 唯識, he provided financial backing both to the Jinling Scriptural Press 金陵刻經處 and the Chinese Inner Studies Institute 支那內學院.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Important Works 3 Notes 4 References

Biography

Méi was born into a literary family in Nánchāng 南昌 and received a classical education. He received first the xiūcái 修才 degree, and then in 1898 the jǔrén 舉人 degree. Thanks to the influence of his friend Guì Bóhuá 桂伯華, who had turned to Buddhism after the failed political reforms of 1898, Méi began to be interested in Buddhism, and in 1902 visited Yáng Wénhuì 楊文會 in Nánjīng 南京 and studied under him. It is said that from this time onward Méi dedicated himself to reading nothing but Buddhist books, and doing nothing but Buddhist practices. He kept up correspondence with Yáng and the two had a student-teacher relationship.

In 1903 Méi was dispatched by then-Viceroy of Húguǎng Zhāng Zhīdòng 張之洞 to Japan to receive a military education. After completing this program, he entered Waseda University 早稲田大学 and studied politics and economics. In 1907 he returned to China where he served in a number of government positions in Húběi 湖北 and Guǎngzhōu 廣州. In 1910 he met Tàixū 太虛 in Guǎngzhōu and gave him a copy of the recently-republished Discussion of the Discourse on the Theory of Consciousness-Only 成唯識論述記 by Kuījī 窺基, which Tàixū kept with him and would often read.

After the revolution of 1911, Méi worked for the government in Běijīng 北京 in a variety of positions. Around 1921 he was appointed to a position in Shāndōng 山東 province and moved to Jìnán 濟南.

This section is incomplete and more content needs to be added. You can help by contributing text, images, or suggestions.

Important Works

• Essential Outline of the Fǎxiàng School 相宗綱要, 1920
• Continuation of Essential Outline of the Fǎxiàng School 相宗綱要續編
• 大乘相宗十勝論
• 相宗史傳略錄
• 因明入正理論節錄集注
• 法苑義林章唯識注
• 相宗新舊兩譯不同論 (1931)

Notes

1. ↑ Sometimes incorrectly rendered as xī 曦.

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 Pp. 2.650-660.
• Yú Língbō 于凌波. Zhōngguó jìnxiàndài fójiào rénwù zhì 中國近現代佛教人物志. Běijīng 北京: Zōngjiào wénhuà chūbǎnshè 宗教文化出版社, 1995. Pp. 474-481.
• 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. Pp. 1.1002b-1004c.