Syncretic and engaged Buddhist thought in early republican China: Tang Dayuan’s vision (1910-1930s)

This thesis explores the intellectual and cultural contributions of Tang Dayuan (1885? -1941), an understudied Confucian-Buddhist scholar in early 20th-century China. It examines the intricate relationship between Chinese Buddhism and socio-cultural dynamics during the late Qing and Republican periods, employing a combined approach of philosophical and socio-cultural perspectives, focusing on Tang Dayuan’s insights. In past scholarship, Tang Dayuan has often been portrayed as a representative of the Consciousness-only school, a follower of Taixu, a cultural conservative, and an antagonist of Western culture. This paper, however, focuses on reevaluating Tang Dayuan as a mediator between Buddhism and Confucianism, his overlooked contributions to Pure Land Buddhism, his socially engaged ideals of an “Eastern Pure Land,” and his endeavors to synthesize Eastern and Western cultures in promoting Buddhism. Through a detailed examination of Tang’s syncretic vision, the study investigates how Tang syncretized Confucianism and Buddhism, Tang’s role in the debates over the authenticity of the Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna text and how it is interconnected with his perspective on modernity, science, and nationalism, and his socio-cultural concept of the “Eastern Pure Land” with a Buddhist identity as a practitioner of Pure Land and Consciousness-only dual cultivation.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

E Asian Languages & Cultures

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Tengyun

Contributors dc:contributor

• Chow, Kai-wing
• Chen, Jingling
• Callahan, Christopher

• Chinese Buddhism
• Republican China
• Tang Dayuan

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Tengyun Zhang

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125709

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F125709