Lectures in Buddhism
Nanjing (and Wuchang) · 1928
T
Taixu
Taixu
1890 CE–1947 CE · Modern · Haining
1890–1947 CE
Taixu (1890–1947 CE) was the leading reformer of modern Chinese Buddhism and the originator of 'Buddhism for human life' (rensheng fojiao), the seed of what became Humanistic Buddhism. Born in Haining, Zhejiang, and ordained young in the Linji Chan school, he worked to modernize monastic education, build national Buddhist organizations, and reorient the tradition toward this-worldly ethics and social engagement rather than rites for the dead. Though many of his institutional projects were unfinished at his death, his ideas profoundly shaped later figures such as Yinshun and Hsing Yun. His life is well documented.
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Stop 1 of 2Born
Haining
What they did here
DOCUMENTED: born in Haining; became a Linji-school monk in his teens and received early training at monasteries near Ningbo.
About Haining
Haining, in Zhejiang province, China, was the birthplace of two leading figures of modern Chinese Buddhism: the reformer Taixu (born 1890), founder of the Wuchang Buddhist Institute and an advocate of 'humanistic Buddhism,' and his disciple the scholar-monk Yinshun, who later became a major Buddhist intellectual in Taiwan.
In Haining at the same time
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Taixu’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Taixu’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.