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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2025
After the Japanese colonization of Taiwan in 1895, various Japanese Buddhist sectarian traditions arrived in Taiwan and those bringing them actively approached local Buddhist monks and monasteries for cooperation. After 1915, Taiwanese monks separated into two factions: one faction headed to mainland China to study, and the other to Japan. At the same time, indigenous Buddhist traditions in Taiwan gradually developed into four sectarian groups, whose founders all shared deep ties with the Yongquan Temple of Drum Mountain (Gushan) in Fujian province on the mainland. Japanese Buddhists targeted them in particular for co-optation. Venerable Shanhui, who is the focus of this article, was the founder of one of these lineages. Venerable Shanhui was inducted into the Japanese Sōtō Zen sect and was appointed as the abbot of the Lingquan Temple by the head priest (kanchō) of the Sōtō sect in August 1907. Between 1911 and 1939, Venerable Shanhui was active in various chaplaincies in mainland China and Southeast Asia. In December 1933, he returned to Taiwan from Singapore via Hangzhou, where he became president of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society. In August 1939, Shanhui accepted the invitation of Narita Hōzui, then abbot of the Sōtō Zen temple Chōtokuin in Shanghai, to leave Taiwan and perform missionary work at temples in central China. This article also examines the existence of two different Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist societies and Shanhui’s relationship to them.
1 Ishikawa Sodō was an eminent monk of the Sōtō Zen sect, serving as the abbot (J. jūshoku) of various temples, including the Gōtoku Temple in Tokyo and the Saijō Temple in Kanagawa. In 1905, he became the chief abbot (J. kanju) of the Noto Sōji Temple in Ishikawa prefecture, and in 1906, he was appointed as the head priest (J. kanchō) of the Sōtō Zen sect. He passed away on 16 November 1920, at the age of 80.
2 Such as Ven. Huey-Yen, ‘The interaction between monks of Soto Zen in Japan and Buddhist monks in Taiwan’, Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies, vol. 11, July 1998, pp. 119–153; and Canteng, Jiang, ‘Riju qianqi Taiwan beibu xin fojiao daochang de jueqi—Jilong Yuemeishan Lingquansi yu Taibei Guanyinshan Lingyunsi’, in Canteng, Jiang, Taiwan fojiao bainian shi zhi yanjiu, 1895–1995 (Taipei: Nantian shuju, 1996), pp. 127–146.Google Scholar
3 Venerable Jingfeng was the twenty-second generation of the Caodong Chan sect at Drum Mountain. Originally from Putian, Fujian, his Dharma name was Guoche. His secular surname was Zhou and he was active during the late Qing period and the early years of Republican China. Little is known about his life. See Xuyun, Ven., Jiaozheng xing deng ji (Fuzhou: Gushan Yongquansi, 1934), p. .Google Scholar
4 Tim-chun, Li, ‘Taiwan fojiao shi ziliao: Shangpian Caodongzong shi’, Taiwan fojiao jikan, vol. 25, no. 1, November 1971, pp. 4–5.Google Scholar
5 In 1898, Shanzhi returned to Taiwan from Drum Mountain in Fujian. He resided at the Qingning Temple in Keelung. Later, he recommended that Shanhui become a monk at Drum Mountain. Wu Deliang’s identity is unknown but he was most likely a devoted follower.
6 Taihoku shaji shūkyō kankōkai, ‘Lingquansi’, in Taihokushūka ni okeru shaji kyōkai yōran (Taihoku: Taiwan shaji shūkyō kankōkai, 1933).
7 Li, ‘Taiwan fojiaoshi ziliao’, p. 5.
8 Shanhui, ‘Taiwan fojiao ershinian huigulu’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, 17 June 1915, section 69.
9 ‘Caodongzong Lingquansi’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, 18 January 1906, section 5.
10 When Taiwan became a Japanese colony, the various sects of Japanese Buddhism actively sought to affiliate with local temples in Taiwan in order to extend their influence on the island. Among them, the Sōtō Sect and the Myōshinji branch of the Rinzai Sect had the greatest opportunities because, like the Buddhist sects in Taiwan, they also belonged to the Chan/Zen lineage system. In 1906, when Shanhui took over the leadership at the Lingquan Temple, which was under construction, the temple chose to join a Japanese Buddhist sect, like many other temples in Taiwan did, in order to attain better development. This system of affiliating with Japanese sects stands in contrast to the administrative distinction between Japanese and Korean Buddhism implemented by the colonial regime in colonial Korea. See Ilmee Kim, Hwansoo, The Korean Buddhist empire: A transnational history (1910–1945) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018), pp. 222–224.Google Scholar
11 ‘Kiirun no jien kenritsu’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, 30 May 1907, section 5.
12 Taihoku shaji shūkyō kankōkai, ‘Lingquansi’.
13 Li, ‘Taiwan fojiao shi ziliao’, pp. 16–19.
14 ‘Qingzhu luocheng’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō (Chinese edition), 13 November 1911, section 3.
15 Regarding Japanese Buddhist activities in Fujian, see Kan Cheng-Tsung, ‘Zhimin chuqi (1895–1906) Riben Dong Benyuansi pai de Fujian de huodong—yi ‘Xiamen shijian wei zhongxin’, in Taiwan fojiao de zhimin yu hou zhimin (Taipei: Boyang wenhua, 2014), pp. 75–90.
16 ‘Jie seng yun you’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, 29 May 1911, section 3.
17 ‘Bian ji sheng lu’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, 8 October 1911, section 3.
18 Nai Lansheng, ‘Lü min sui lu’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, 5 June 1914, section 6.
19 Xuyun, ‘Yuanlang chanshi’, in Zengxiao Gushan liezu lian fang ji (Fuzhou: Gushan Yongquansi, 1935), pp. 33–34.
20 Ibid., p. 34.
21 ‘Shanhui heshang gui tai’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō (Chinese edition), 13 September 1924, section 4.
22 ‘Shanhui shangren lai zha (1)’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō (Chinese edition), 18 May 1925, section 4.
23 ‘Shanhui shangren lai zha (3)’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō (Chinese edition), 23 May 1925, section 4.
24 ‘Lingquansi Jiang Shanhui cizhi wei moushi yinze yu houren xuanju Dexin shangren’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, 25 July 1933, section 4.
25 ‘Lingquansi fodian gaizhu luocheng shi’, Nanying fojiao, vol. 11, no. 5, May 1933, p. 52.
26 ‘Tongxin’, Nanying fojiao, vol. 11, no. 5, May 1933, p. 54.
27 ‘Lingquansi zhuchi shicha xianman’, Nanying fojiao, vol. 11, no. 6, 1933, p. 42.
28 ‘Shanhui heshang yu bianji Zishu’, Nanying fojiao, vol. 11, no. 7, 1933, p. 88.
29 Taiheiyō sensō kenkyūkai, Manshū teikoku (Tokyo: Kawade shobo shinsha, 1999), p. 72.
30 Sōtōshū kaigai kaikyō dendōshi henshū iinkai, Sōtōshū kaigai kaikyō dendōshi (Tokyo: Sōtōshū sōmukachō, 1980), p. 48.
31 Although the Manchu Qing government did not recognize Japanese Buddhism’s right to undertake missionary work, Japanese Buddhists did not adhere to this restriction and continued their activities covertly under extraterritoriality privileges. See Kan, ‘Zhimin chuqi (1895–1906) Riben Dongbenyuansi pai de Fujian de huodong—yi “Xiamen shijian wei zhongxin”’, pp. 75–90.
32 Sōtōshū kaigai kaikyō dendōshi henshū iinkai, Sōtōshū kaigai kaikyō dendōshi, p. 56.
33 Ibid., pp. 54–56.
34 ‘Indo ryokōki—Shanhui oshō yori Kamura-shi he no shoshin’, Nanying fojiao, vol. 13, no. 3, March 1935, pp. 14–15.
35 Li, ‘Taiwan fojiao shi ziliao’, pp. 18–19.
36 Chia, Jack, Monks in motion: Buddhism and modernity across the South China Sea (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020), pp. 25–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Yongquan Temple, where Shanhui had been ordained, had established connections to Southeast Asia, as Shanhui’s own ordination master, Miaolian (1824–1907), had previously been abbot of Kek Lok Temple in Penang and his successor Benzhong was also a Yongquan monk.
37 ‘Taiwan zongjiao daibiaozhe Jiang Shanhui shangren da zhuzuo Xin Xiyouji yiji jinjiang dengkan’, Fengyue bao nanfang shiji, vol. 179, 15 July 1943, p. 24. The identity of the ‘the leading members of the Japanese and Chinese military and political circles’ mentioned in the text is unknown; Shanhui did not specify.
38 ‘Kōshū hikōjō wo shūgeki, teki ki jū yotai wo funsai, kūchūsen deha sandai wo iotosu, ikō wo arawashita ware kaigun ki’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, 27 February 1932, section 2.
39 ‘Kōshū seifu kōgi, ware hikōki hikō dōchi’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, 15 March 1932, section 8.
40 According to ‘Ying Club—Members’ Biographies: Chuang Yupo (1882–?)’, Chuang Yingchee was a native of Taiwan and his original name was Chuang Yupo. Yingchee was his pen name and he self-proclaimed as the owner of the ‘Manor of Butterfly Dreaming’. He was born in 1882, the eighth year of the Guangxu reign, and studied under Huang Keli. He engaged in business after Japan’s colonization of Taiwan in 1895. In 1900, he joined the Ying Club and served as president of the Kobe Taiwanese Business Association (Ch. Jianghu taishang xiehui), maintaining good relationships with the Taiwanese, mainland Chinese, and Japanese literati. In 1937, he established the Hanshin-Taiwan General Association of Business and Industry (Ch. Banshentai zong shanggong hui) and served as an adviser. In 1939, he went to Hainan Island for business expansion and promoted activities related to Chinese literature. With the Hainan literati, he formed the Shousuyin Society. The year of his passing is unknown. Chuang Yupo once studied poetry under Xie Xueyu. In 1935, he requested Xie Xueyu to select his poems for the collection Mengdiezhuang yincao. Subsequently, Chuang also published Qiongyou shicao and Shouzhuang yinshiji. Source: https://2019.tpps.org.tw/forum/biography/pages?id=233, [last accessed on 3 May 2022].
41 Chuang Yingchee, ‘Chao Nanhai Putuoshan ji (1)’, Fengyuebao nanfang shiji, vol. 74, 17 October 1938, p. 7.
42 Ibid., p. 7.
43 From Shiyu jikan, vol. 1, October 1936, no page number.
44 This is another name for the Tiantai school of Buddhism. This states that Pinjue was very accomplished in Tiantai teachings and practices. Zhiguan refers to the system of meditation practised in the Tiantai tradition. It consists of two parts: zhi (calming the mind) and guan (insight into the true nature of things).
45 Jueran, ‘Yuantongjiangsi zhi jinxiguan’, Shiyu jikan, vol. 1, October 1936, p. 18.
46 From Fohaideng, vol. 2, no. 5–6, April 1937, p. 32.
47 Ibid.
48 Chuang, ‘Chao Nanhai Putuoshan ji (1)’, p. 7.
49 Li, ‘Taiwan fojiao shi ziliao’, p. 19.
50 ‘Kaizan-ji no Shanhui-shi chūshi kaku jiin de senbu fukyō’, Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, 6 August 1939, section 7.
51 Venerable Yuanying, with the Dharma name Hongwu and the alias Taoguang, had the family name Wu and was a native of Gutian in Fujian. At the age of 16, he participated in the local examination and earned the title xiucai (‘cultivated talent’). At the age of 19, realizing the impermanence of life, he became a monk at the Yungchiuan Temple of Drum Mountain under the tutelage of Master Zengxi of the Meifeng Temple in Xinghua. At the age of 28, he received the Dharma transmission from Master Ciyun at the Qita Temple in Ningbo and became the fortieth generation successor of the Linji sect. In 1922, he travelled widely inside and outside of China to promote Buddhism. In 1929, he co-founded the Buddhist Association of the Republic of China with Taixu and was elected as president, serving for six consecutive terms. In 1935, Yuanying established the Yuanming Lecture Hall in Shanghai. In 1953, he was appointed president of the Buddhist Association of China, and in September of the same year, he passed away at the Tiantong Temple in Ningbo. For more information, see Ruzhen Jia (ed.), Qitasi renwu zhi (Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe, 2008), pp. 283–285.
52 Mingyang, Venerable, Yuanying dashi nianpu (Shanghai: Yuanming jiangtang, 1989), pp. 182–193.Google Scholar
53 Zhongfo huikan Periodical Library, ‘Benhui mingyu lishizhang Baisheng laofashi luezhuan’, Zhongfo huikan, vol. 74, 20 May 1989, section 2.
54 Li, ‘Taiwan fojiao shi ziliao’, p. 19.
55 Not much is known about this figure. He is said to have had a Japanese mother and is known to have received esoteric initiation when the Japanese Buddhist master Gonda Raifu (1847–1934) visited Guangdong province in 1924. He was involved in the esoteric revival movement of the Republican era.
56 Mingjing, ‘Wokou jiansha fenlue Zhongguo sengni de baogao’, Haichaoyin, vol. 21, no. 5–6, June 1940, pp. 20–21.
57 Longding, ‘Hangzhou rihua fojiaohui zhi huigu’, Chenzhong, vol. 1, December 1939, p. 13.
58 ‘Shanhui heshang lai Hang she fojiao yanjiuyuan’, Hangzhou xinbao, 9 September 1939, p. 3.
59 ‘Bukkyōkai kessei chikafu, Nikka sōryo no kontankai’, Chūgai nippō, 14 November 1941.
60 Longding, ‘Hangzhou rihua fojiaohui zhi huigu’, pp. 13–14.
61 Fujii Sōsen, ‘Tairiku shūkyō kōsaku’, Nanying fojiao, vol. 18, no. 3, March 1940, p. 8.
62 Sueki, Fumihiko, Kindai Nihon to Bukkyō: Kindai Nihon no shisō saikō II (Tokyo: Toransubyū, 2004), pp. 13–14.Google Scholar
63 Prominent examples of such monks include Benyuan (1883–1947) of the Wugu Guanyinshan lineage in Taipei, Jueli (1881–1933) of the Dahu Fayun Temple in Miaoli, and Yimin (1875–1947) of the Dagangshan sect in Kaohsiung.
64 Modern Japanese Buddhism generally tolerates marriage as well as the eating of meat and the consumption of alcohol. All of these things are regarded as serious breaches of the monastic vows in most other Buddhist traditions.