Networks and Bridges: Nuns in the Making of Modern Chinese Buddhism

Abstract

Buddhist women have been building modern Chinese Buddhism for over a century and have been instrumental in the globalization of Buddhism. This article focuses on how Chinese Buddhist nuns constructed new networks, and their role as “bridges” between eras, people, institutions, and regions in modern times. The first section contextualizes the “Buddhist Revival” in turn-of-the-century China, and highlights the reforms of Buddhist modernizer Taixu regarding Chinese Buddhist women, particularly in the field of education. The second section discusses several networks of Buddhist women spanning a time-period from the late nineteenth century to the present, including those of two eminent nuns, Longlian and Tongyuan. I also discuss some reasons for the evolution of Taiwan's flourishing order of nuns and highlight networks of Taiwan nuns connecting Taiwan, China, Japan, and Hong Kong. The mission of these nuns past and present has been education, the key to the development of the nuns’ order and to the flourishing of Chinese Buddhism today.

Keywords:

• Buddhist networks
• Chinese Buddhist Revival
• Buddhism in Taiwan
• Buddhist women's education
• globalizing Buddhism
• Longlian 隆蓮
• Taixu 太虛, Tongyuan 通愿

Notes

 1 Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank, “The Globalization of Chinese Buddhism: Clergy and Devotee Networks in Twentieth-Century China,” International Journal of Asian Studies, 2, no. 2 (2005), 217.

 2 In this essay, “nuns” may refer variously to: fully ordained nuns; bhikkhunī; novice nuns, sāmaṇerī; and Japanese-trained nuns who hold the Bodhisattva vows. This essay also highlights Taiwan's strong tradition of zhaigu (female adherents of various sects called “vegetarian religions”), some of whom, though technically not “nuns” (they had not taken the tonsure nor took sāmaṇerī or bhikkhunī vows), lived celibate lives in nunneries and practice together with tonsured nuns.

 3 Charles B. Jones, Buddhism in Taiwan: Religion and the State, 1660–1990 (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1999), 47.

 4 Lai Yonghai, ed., Zhongguo fojiao tongshi (History of Buddhism in China), vol. 14 (Nanjing: Jiangsu Renmin Chubanshe, 2010), 126–27. In English, see for example, Kenneth Ch'an, “Recession and Decline: Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties,” in Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964), ch. XVI. For Arthur Wright, as for many scholars, the apogee of Buddhism in Chinese history was the Tang Dynasty. Arthur Wright, Buddhism in Chinese History (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1959).

 5 Lai, 14, 131–32.

 6 Holmes Welch, The Practice of Chinese Buddhism, 1900–1950 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972), 250–51.

 7 Ibid., 96–97.

 8 For an overview of this appropriation, see Xue Yu, Buddhism, War, and Nationalism: Chinese Monks in the Struggle against Japanese Aggressions, 1931–1945 (New York and London: Routledge, 2005), 20–36.

 9 Lai, 14, 134–46.

10 Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank, Making Religion, Making the State (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009), 52–55.

11 For discussions of Taixu's reforms regarding monks’ education, see Welch 1968, and Pittman 2001.

12 Lydia H. Liu, Rebecca E. Karl, and Dorothy Ko, eds., The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013), 190.

13 Ibid., 241–50.

14 He Jianming, “Luelun Qingmo Minchu de Zhongguo Fojiao nüzhong” (On Chinese Buddhist women during the late Qing and early Republican era), Foxue yanjiu (Buddhist Studies) (1997), 204.

15 Liu, Karl, and Ko 2013, 34; 43–48. See also Dina Lowy, The Japanese New Woman: Images of Gender and Modernity (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007). On female education and publications in China in the late Qing, see Yuezhi Xiong, “The Theory and Practice of Women's Rights in Late-Qing Shanghai, 1843–1922,” in Beyond the May Fourth Paradigm: In Search of Chinese Modernity, edited by Kai-Wing Chow, et al. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008), 78–80. On the influence of Meiji Japan on the development of late Qing “new writings” and the founding of new schools in China for girls and women, see Joan Judge, The Precious Raft of History: The Past, The West, and the Women Question in China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008).

16 Shi Taixu, Taixu zizhuan (Autobiography of Taixu) (1956; 1970), ch. 17.

17 Don A. Pittman, Toward a Modern Chinese Buddhism: Taixu's Reforms (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 2001), 40–45.

18 He Jianming, “Luelun Qingmo Minchu de Zhongguo fojiao nuzhong” (Buddhist Women in late Qing-Early Republican China), Foxue yanjiu (1997), no. 2: 204–05.

19 He Jianming 1997, 205.

20 Ibid., 206.

21 “Youpoyi jiaoyu yu fohua jiating” (Laywomen's education and the making of Buddhist families), November 1935 speech at Donglian Buddhist Institute, Hong Kong. Hai Chao Yin (Sound of the tide), 17, no. 2. Laywoman Zhang Lianjue 張蓮覺 founded Tung Lin Kok Yuen, the first Buddhist school for girls in Hong Kong at which many reformist monks from Jiang-Zhe area lectured, including Taixu. Today the Tung Lin Kok Yuen is a Buddhist Institute for nuns, part of a large transnational Buddhist philanthropic enterprise.

22 For example, “Zenyang zuo xiandai nuzi” (How to be a modern woman), a November 1930 lecture at the Sichuan Number Two Women's Normal, printed in Hai Chao Yin, 12.6.

23 Hai Chao Yin, 7, 10.

24 Hai Chao Yin, 16.2.

25 Taixu asserted that the compilers of the earliest sutras, in order to sever monks’ attachment to lust and love, inserted the anti-women discriminatory passages in the sutras. Taixu's interpretation of gender equality in Buddhism was that gender is determined by the karma of past lives. One gender is not higher and lower than the other, and all humans equally are endowed with Buddha-nature and have the potential to become enlightened. Shi Taixu, Taixu dashi quanshu (Collected works of Master Taixu), 26 (1956; 1970), 334–36.

26 Shi Taixu, 26 (1956; 1970), 334–36.

27 Shi Taixu, “Biqiuni de zeren” (The responsibilities of nuns), speech at Dizang Nunnery Institute, Winter 1930. Shi Taixu 1970, “Speeches,” ch. 18: 323–24.

28 See Yuan Yuan, “Chinese Buddhist Nuns in the Twentieth Century: A Case Study of Wuhan,” Journal of Global Buddhism, 10 (2009), 383–84.

29 See He Jianming 1997, 5.

30 See MFQ Xianian Huang 2006 and MFQB Xianian Huang 2008.

31 Besides Taixu's Wuchang Buddhist Seminary for Nuns, he supported the other two Buddhist Institutes for women in Wuhan, the Bodhi Pure Abode, led by the nun Hengbao 恒寶, and the Bajing Institute, led by the nun Derong 德容. For vital details about the Bodhi Pure Abode, see Yuan, “Chinese Buddhist Nuns in the Twentieth Century,” 384–87.

32 Ibid., 386.

33 Ibid., 391, 395.

34 Ibid., 391.

35 Zhenhua was born in Xinghua, Jiangsu. He was a prolific scholar and served as Abbot of Yufo Temple in Shanghai.

36 See He Jianming 2001.

37 Ashiwa and Wank 2005, 220–21. The authors refer to Welch 1967, 403–05.

38 Ashiwa and Wang, 2005, 220.

39 For details on Tongyuan, I rely on Wen 1991 and Qiu 2006, 22–23.

40 Christian Cochini, Guide to Buddhist Temples of China: History and Cultural Heritage of the Han Nationality (Macau: Macau Ricci Institute, 2008), 361–63.

41 Ibid., 361–62.

42 Taixu's reformist student and colleague Nenghai helped pioneer a new Sino-Tibetan Buddhist tradition in China mainly drawing upon Linji Chan, dGe Lugs Pa tantra, and the Agamas. See Ester Bianchi, The Iron Statue Monastery, Tiexiangsi: A Buddhist Nunnery of Tibetan Tradition in Contemporary China (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2001).

43 See Xue Yu, 151–55.

44 Yuan, 398.

45 MFQB vol. 78:9.

46 Xue Yu, 109, 113–16, 121, 154, 156, 160–61, 175, 190–96.

47 Pittman, 255–60. See Welch, Buddhism Under Mao (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972) for details about how post-1949 Communist policies affected Buddhists and Buddhist institutions.

48 Qiu 2006, 19–20.

49 Chen Mowu, “Longlian fashi de Foxue rensheng yu hongfa shixian” (Master Longlian's Buddhist journey and her achievements), Wenshi zazhi (Literature and History) (2012), 8.

50 Ruijing Mao, “The Most Outstanding Bhiksuni Contribution to Education in Contemporary China,” paper presented at the United Nations Day of Vesak Conference, Maha Chulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya University, Bangkok, Thailand, June 2012.

51 See Ashiwa and Wank, 128.

52 Zhao Peicheng, “Gaige kaifang yilai de Wutaishan Fojiao” (Wutaishan Buddhist development since the 1980s), Wutaishan yanjiu (1994), 14, 16.

53 Qiu 2006, 22–23; Wen 1991.

54 In dual ordination, nun ordinands received the precepts from a fully ordained monk sangha (at least five) and then from the fully ordained nun community (at least five). See Li Yuchen, “Fojiao lianshe yu nüxing zhi shehui canyu” (Buddhist Lotus Associations and women's public participation) (2000), 341–42.

55 Chen Xiuhui, “Chengdu Wenshuyuan juxing erbuseng shoujie fahui” (Ordination ceremonies held in Wenshuyuan of Chengdu), Fayin, vol. 2 (1982), 21.

56 Bianchi, The Iron Statue Monastery, 34–36; Qiu 2007, 299.

57 Chen Mowu 2012, 8.

58 Sichuan Nizhong foxueyuan (Sichuan Bhikkhunī Buddhist Studies Institute)  < http://www.nzfxy.org/col.jsp?id = 141> [Accessed May 18, 2014]; Li Pengzhen, “Sichuan sheng foxie pu Tai canfang jiaoliutuan dao Taiwan ge fojiao changsuo canfang jiaoliu” (The Sichuan Provincial Buddhist Association's Visiting Delegation tours Taiwan's Buddhist sites). Zhongguo minzu zongjiaogang (China Ethnic and Religious Web), < http://www.mzb.com.cn/html/Home/report/123363-2.htm> [Accessed May 18, 2014].

59 Cochini, 455–56.

60 For more information on Tzu Chi, see Julia C. Huang, Charisma and Compassion: Cheng Yen and the Buddhist Tzu Chi Movement (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), and DeVido, Taiwan's Buddhist Nuns.

61 See the Taiping Charities website: < http://www.tpcs.org.cn/tpcs/index.asp> [accessed May 18, 2014].

62 He Jianming 2001, 80–82.

63 Jones 1999, 66.

64 See, Shi Jianye, Zuoguo Taiwan Fojiao zhuanxingqi de biqiuni – Shi Tianyi (Shi Tianyi: the nun who experienced Buddhist Transition in Taiwan) (Taipei: Zhongtian Press, 1999), 11–12; Shi Chuandao, “Buddhist Women in Taiwan,” in Bridging Worlds: Buddhist Women's Voices Across Generations, edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo (Taipei: Yuan Chuan Press, 2004), 63; Stephania Travagnin, “Ven. Miaoqing and Yuantong Chan Nunnery: A New Beginning for Monastic Women in Taiwan,” in Tsomo, 83–96.

65 For more details on the Four Great Temples of Taiwan, see Jones 1999, 37–63 and Kan 1999.

66 Travagnin, 83–96.

67 Jones, 47.

68 Jones 1999, 60.

69 Yü Chün-fang, “Humanistic Buddhism and Buddhist Nuns in Taiwan,” Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore, 168 (Special issue on women in Chinese religions) (2010), 191–223; Yü Chün-fang, Xiangguang Zhuangyan –Wuyin Fashi xingzhuan (Biography of Master Wuyin) (2010), 34; Kan Zhengzong, Chongdu taiwan Fojiao (Taiwan Buddhism revisited) (Taipei County, Xizhi: Daqian, 2004), 273–74.

70 I have relied on Shi Jianye (1999) and Yü Chün-fang's Xiangguang Zhuangyan –Wuyin Fashi xingzhuan (2010) for information on Tianyi.

71 See Chun-fang Yu, Passing the Light: The Incense Light Community and Buddhist Nuns in Contemporary Taiwan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2013) and DeVido, Taiwan's Buddhist Nuns, ch. 5.

72 See Kan 2004, 117–19, 266.

73 Ibid., 388–90.

74 Ibid., 500–03.

75 In 1972 Huayan opened the Huayan Buddhist Institute, aimed at nuns and those aspiring to be nuns. Li Yuchen 2000, 288, 305; Caituan faren Taibeishi Huayan lianshe, et al., Huayan lianshe liushi zhounian jinian tekan (Huayan Buddhist Institute Sixtieth Anniversary Special Issue), (2013), 22.

76 Shig Hiuwan 1995; 1998.

77 Chen 2006, 21.

78 Shig Hiuwan 1986, 16, 25.

79 Ibid., 7, 25, 67, 72, 76.

80 See DeVido, Taiwan's Buddhist Nuns, for more details.

81 According to Ven. Chao Hwei of Luminary Buddhist Institute, Taiwan.

82  < http://www.chinabuddhism.com.cn> [Accessed April 14, 2013]. Unfortunately, there is no specific number for nuns. BAC also states there are 3000 Tibetan temples and 12,000 monks and nuns in several sects of Tibetan Buddhism. This and the rising popularity of Tibetan Buddhism among the ethnic Chinese deserve further research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elise A. DeVido

Elise Anne DeVido received her doctorate in History and Asian Languages from Harvard University. She lived in Taiwan for a number of years and there she served as Secretary-General of the Taipei Ricci Institute, and taught history at National Chengchi University and at National Taiwan Normal University. She has published works on women and gender in Chinese and in Vietnamese Buddhism; on the transnational Buddhist revivals of the early twentieth century; and on Engaged Buddhism. SUNY Press published her book, Taiwan's Buddhist Nuns, in 2010. She is currently Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Duke University.