A Twentieth-Century “Pure Land Patriarch”: An Exploration of Master Yinguang’s Buddhist World through Epistolary Connections=二十世紀的「淨土宗祖師」：透過書函探索印光法師的佛教世界
印光大師=Master Yinguang; 淨土=Pure Land; 民初宗教=Republican Period Religion
摘要
This paper explores the religious life of the Republican era Buddhist monk Yinguang (1862-1940) through select letters he wrote to a wide range of students and spiritual companions. Through translations and analyses of Yinguang’s letters to the laywoman Xu Fuxian and the layman Li Bingnan (Dharma name: Deming), and to the monks Ti’an and Dixian, I develop a textured image of the man Yinguang through “micro-histories,” or moments of personal exchange. Yinguang’s letters to recipients of diverse backgrounds (gender, religious affiliation, socio-economic status) reveal that he moved fluidly between religious worlds (Confucian, Chan, Tiantai, Pure Land) and cannot be reduced to a representative of one school,” as the title “Pure Land patriarch” suggests. This preliminary study of epistolary sources instead depicts Yinguang at several particular moments in time: Yinguang as an accomplished scholar, a Pure Land devotee, a historian, a public lecturer, a traveler, a hermit, a calligrapher and a prolific letter writer.
"Introduction 1 ▪ Was Yinguang a Pure Land Patriarch? 1 ▪ Modern Conceptions of Chinese Buddhism 6 ▪ Cultivating Pure Karma 9 ▪ Methodology and Source Texts 13 Chapter One: Yinguang’s Letter to the Laywoman Xu Fuxian 20 ▪ The Contemporary Buddhist Sangha 21 ▪ Lay and Monastic Buddhism in Republican China 25 ▪ A Lotus Within a Fire: Confucian and Buddhist Views on Pure Land Practice 31 ▪ Yinguang’s Independent and Non-Sectarian Approach to Cultivation 34 ▪ Yinguang’s Views of Female Buddhist Cultivation 38 ▪ Yinguang’s Views of Women Generally 44 ▪ Translation: Letter to the Laywoman Xu Fuxian 46 Chapter Two: Yinguang’s Letter to the Layman Li Bingnan 58 ▪ Li Bingnan’s Early Life and Career 60 ▪ Yinguang’s Buddhist-Confucian Analysis of the Cultural Crisis 66 ▪ Yinguang the Practical Confucian Leader 71 ▪ Conclusion 76 ▪ Translation: Second Letter Response to the Layman Li Deming 77 Chapter Three: Yinguang’s Letter to the Monk Ti’an 81 ▪ The Northern Star Among all the Stars 79 ▪ The Dharma Ending Age 80 ▪ Chan History According to Yinguang 93 ▪ Yinguang’s Analysis of the Two Truths 97 ▪ The Inconceivable Ultimate Truth of Total Integration 100 ▪ Conclusion 102 ▪ Translation: Letter to the Monk Ti’an of Great Flourishing Goodness Temple 104 Chapter Four: Yinguang’s Letter to the Monk Dixian 110 ▪ A Brief Biography of Dixian (1858-1932) 111 ▪ Crossing Paths: Solitary Retreat on Putuo Mountain 114 ▪ Yinguang’s First Letter to Dixian: Striving for Mental Stability 115 ▪ Instructions on Relying upon the Bodhisattva Guanyin 122 ▪ In the Dharma there is no High or Low 126 ▪ Yinguang’s Letter to Dharma Master Dixian 127 ▪ Translation: Letter Inquiring about Dixian’s Health 130 Conclusion 134 Bibliography 137 "
