Venerable Fazun and his influence on life and education at the Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Institute

Abstract

Venerable Fazun (1902-1980) was the Director at the Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Institute (Hanzang jiaoli yuan) for twelve of the seminary’s eighteen years of existence. This seminary, founded in 1932 outside of Chongqing, was the most progressive and successful institute for the study of Tibet in China during the first half of the twentieth century. Fazun, China’s greatest modern translator of Tibetan texts, brought with him to the seminary the knowledge, experience, and discipline to make it a flourishing academic environment. The goal of this essay is to better understand what led to the academic success of this seminary. The factor that most contributed to this success was “human talent” ( rencai)—in particular, Fazun—and the intense and dynamic academic environment instilled in the institute by its founder, Ven. Taixu (1889-1947). I begin with a summary of the experiences in Fazun’s life that lent to his deciding to become a Buddhist pilgrim and translator of scripture, much like Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty. This is followed by an overview of the educational environment at the seminary, with particular emphasis given to Fazun’s implementation of a Tibetan Geluk curriculum. Then, I will analyze one important text used at the seminary: Fazun’s Political and Religious History of the Tibetan People (Xizang minzu zhengjiao shi). This work, first published in part in 1939, is the first study of Tibetan history in China to be based on Tibetan language materials and extensive time (nine years) spent studying in Tibet. In the concluding chapter, I will discuss Fazun’s place in the landscape of Republican Period China, and I will identify some examples of the pervasive and continuing influence of Fazun and his work.