Stefania Travagnin
I have unpacked important ‘Sangha education networks’ centred on the figures of local monks like Shengqin 聖欽 (1869-1964), 遍能 (1906-1997), 昌圓 (1879-1945), and the lay intellectual Wang Enyang 王恩洋 (1897-1964). As for the latter, I have also researched an important cross-province Sichuan-Nanjing network centred on him and his lecturing career.
The monk Changyuan 昌圓 (1879-1945) was crucial in the Republican period for his role in developing Buddhist education for nuns in Chengdu, and his overall position in Republican Sichuan Buddhism. The monk Bianneng 遍能 (1906-1997) is another key case study in my research, as he was born in the end of the Qing dynasty and lived through the first Republican period, the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the Cultural Revolution, and the beginning of the new opening to religion post-1980. Bianneng is the leading figure of a ‘diachronic network’ and crossed several Buddhist centres during his career. Active in many Buddhist areas like Mt. Emei, Leshan, Chengdu, and Chongqing, he is considered the most important figure in Sichuan for the modern development of Sangha education. Wang Enyang 王恩洋 was another educator, involved in several structures of learning, and active between Sichuan and Nanjing. The Dongfang Cultural and Religious Institute 東方文教研究院, located at Shengshui Monastery 聖水寺, in Neijiang, was one of these schools. The Fawang Institute of Buddhist Studies 法王寺佛學院, located at Fawang Monastery 法王寺, in Luzhou 蘆洲, was an important education centre for the Sangha in the final years of the Republican era, and had monks like the well-known Yinshun 印順 (1906-2005). I have presented research results in invited lectures, and included some data in my publication on nuns. Articles on other education leaders will be out in 2024.
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