A Study Of Master Yin-guang

In the last years of Qing Dynasty and the initial stage of the Republic of China ,traditional Buddhism was attacked by people, who wanted to occupy the property of temple investing in national education,or criticized Buddhism was superstitious belief.At the same time,some internal factors that has negative effect also injured the vitality of traditional Buddhism ,such as losing contact with reality and ignoring religious practice.Facing the difficult position,Master Yin-guang advocated propagating transmigration and punitive justice,attaching importance to the introspection of morality and strengthenning the practice of Pure Land,in order to reform and revive traditional Buddhism.The lifetime of Master Yin-guang could be separated into three period.In the juvenile period,he studied Confucianism under the direction of his elder brother.On account of the effect of Confucianist Zhu-xi,he also violently criticized Buddhism.When he was about fifteen years old,Master Yin-guang often failed ill.For this reason,he gradually became interested in the thoughts about life and world of Buddhism.By pondering and choosing,Master Yin-guang accepted the doctrines of Buddhism in the end.Meanwhile,he decided to adopt monastic life.When he was twenty-one years old,Master Yin-guang abadoned worldly life.He came to the famous mountain on the south of Xi-an city,and became a disciple of Master Dao-chun.Master Dao-Chun was a monk of Ch'an school,but Master Yin-guang showed interest in Pure Land as soon as he was a novice.When he readthe book that introduced Pure Land written by Long-shu Wang,Master Yin-guang determined to practice and propagate the doctrines of Pure Land.At the beginning of his monastic life.Master Yin-guang lived with Master Dao-chun in Zhong Nan Mountain. In 1886,he went to Zi Fu Temple.which was a very famous monastery of Pure Land in the outer suburbs of Bei Jing.Three years later,he migrated to Bei Jing city where he continued to practice concentration on Pure Land.In 1893,Master Yin-guang was invited to go to Pu-tuo Mountain by Master Hua-wen, and lived there for thirty-seven years.When he lived in Pu-tuo Mountain,Master Yin-guang still exerted oneself to practice concentration on Pure Land.In 1914,He-nian Gao who was a layman published Master Yin-guang' articles on a Buddhist magazine.In1918,Wei-ru Xu,who was a layman too,published Master Yin-guang'articles which named The Collected Works of Master Yin-guang.Because his thought was widely spread by publication and many people asked advice of him ,Master Yin-guang had to pay more attention to propagate doctrine.In a general comment,to publish scripture and set up monastery of Pure Land is the major contribution of Master Yin-guang.After Wei-ru Xu published The Collected Works of Master Yin-guang,Master Yin-guang repulished the work,and published The Collected Works of Master Yin-guang II .Besides,he also published many other Buddhist works,such as The Complete Works of An-shi Zhou,The Five Scripture of Pure Land and Pure Land Saints etc.What he published mainly focused on transmigration,morality and Pure Land,but these aspects just were the key of Buddhist revival.Besides publication,Master Yin-guang also conducted and set up many monasteries of Pure Land.Ling-yan Temple is the best example.Certainly,there are some others;for instance, Fa-yun Temple in Nan Jing,Qing-lian Temple in Jiang Xi etc.Five rules formulated for these monateries,not only responded the voice of monastic reformation,but also accelerated the great development of Pure Land in modern times.If we want to find the guiding principle of Master Yin-guang' thought,karmamust be the only result.In his opinion,karma is not only the kernel of Buddhist doctrines,but the truth of the world.To slow down the turbulence of society and remedy the decay of monastic order,Master Yin-guang insisted on propagating karma.At the same time,he also pointed out the harm to karma that was caused by the censure of Confucianists and the confusion of folk religions.To contrast with others,Master Yin-guang paid more attentio...