Their story
Taixu was born in 1890 in Zhejiang and became a monk at sixteen. Reading the works of Chinese reformers of the late Qing, he became convinced that Buddhism had to modernise to survive.
After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, he campaigned for reform of the monasteries, education of monks and engagement with society, meeting strong resistance from conservative abbots. He spent three years in retreat on the island of Putuoshan, then founded the Wuchang Buddhist Institute in 1922 and journals that spread his ideas.
In 1928–29 he toured Europe and the United States, calling for international Buddhist cooperation, and during the war with Japan he led missions to South and Southeast Asia. He died in Shanghai in 1947.
The world they lived in
Republican China was torn by revolution, warlords and invasion. Reformers attacked religion as superstition, and the state seized monastery lands for schools.
Their contribution
He proposed that Buddhism should serve this life and this world, through education, social welfare and moral renewal, rather than focusing on death rituals and the afterlife.
Teachings and works
Collected works (Taixu dashi quanshu)
Many volumes of essays and lectures.
Haichao yin (Sound of the Tide)
The reformist journal he founded in 1920.
Related teachings
Their legacy
His student Yinshun developed his ideas as 'Humanistic Buddhism', which inspired the great Taiwanese movements Tzu Chi, founded by Yinshun's disciple Cheng Yen, and Fo Guang Shan.
History and tradition
What history can establish
His life is fully documented.
