Introduction
Venerable Shanhui (1881–1945), the foremost founder of the four main Buddhist sects in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period, was ordained at the Yongquan Temple on Drum Mountain in Fujian province in 1902. He went on to found the Lingquan Temple on Yuemei Mountain near Keelung in northern Taiwan after his return from the mainland. In August 1907, Shanhui was inducted into the Japanese Sōtō Zen sect and inaugurated officially as a chaplain (J. kyōshi) in a ceremony personally overseen by the Sōtō head priest (J. kanchō), Ishikawa Sodō (1842–1920),Footnote 1 in October of the same year. Between 1911 and 1932, Shanhui invited well-known Buddhist monks from mainland China, such as Taixu (1890–1947) and Yuanying (1878–1953), to visit Taiwan and hold Buddhist assemblies there. During his own travels on the mainland, Shanhui made the acquaintance of many prominent lay and monastic Buddhists. Through his hosting of ordination ceremonies at Yongquan Temple on Drum Mountain in 1924 and 1925, Shanhui’s name became renowned throughout the Chinese Buddhist world.
In April 1933, he abruptly left Lingquan Temple and embarked for mainland China and Southeast Asia in order to engage in new missionary projects. He travelled through Southeast Asia throughout July and made a pilgrimage to sacred Buddhist sites in India. In December, Shanhui stopped at Hangzhou on his way back to Taiwan and accepted the position of president of what was then known as the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society (Ch. Hangzhou Rihua fojiao hui), before setting off on a tour to promote Buddhism in South China. After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Venerable Shanhui aided Venerable Yuanying in surviving his arrest by the Japanese.
As the founder of the prominent Keelung Yuemei Mountain lineage, Venerable Shanhui and his collaborations with Japan have thus far mostly been studied in the context of Taiwan.Footnote 2 This article, however, traces Venerable Shanhui’s role as the president of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society and discusses his missionary activities in mainland China from 1911 to 1933, as well as the timeline of the establishment of the aforementioned Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society. The article concludes with an examination of Shanhui’s entanglement with Japan’s wartime empire. Shanhui’s case is noteworthy as it shows the activities of a Japanese colonial subject traversing the boundaries between Japanese and Chinese spheres of influence. The article highlights that it was not only Buddhists from the Japanese mainland (J. naichi) who were active in Japan’s wartime empire, but that Taiwanese imperial subjects played an often important role in connecting Japanese with interested parties on the Chinese mainland. This is an under-studied history that needs further attention.
Venerable Shanhui
Taking refuge
The Lingquan Temple of Yuemei Mountain in Keelung was the foremost of the four major Buddhist sectarian traditions established by indigenous Taiwanese monks during the period of Japanese colonization (1895–1945). Venerable Shanhui was one of the most influential Taiwanese monastics of his time. In what follows I will examine his life and his joining the Japanese Sōtō Zen sect.
Venerable Shanhui was born in Keelung on Taiwan in the second month of the seventh year of the Guangxu Era (1881). His lay name was Jiang Qingjun, and his ancestors hailed from Yongding county, Tingzhou prefecture, Fujian province. Following Taiwan’s cession to Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War, Shanhui accompanied his mother to the Yuanzhai Hall in the Daiming Temple of Keelung, where they were inducted into the folk Buddhist Longhua Sect in 1896 through the referral of Zhang Taikong (1827–1901). On the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar in the twenty-eighth year of the Guangxu Era (1902), having been introduced by the monk Shanzhi (1852–1905), Shanhui formally took as his master the monk Jingfeng (n.d.)Footnote 3 of the Yongquan Temple on Drum Mountain in Fujian. At the same time, Shanhui received ordination from Venerable Miaolian (1824–1907) and was offered the dharma name Changjue.Footnote 4
Joining the Japanese Sōtō Zen sect and establishing the Lingquan Temple
The story of the founding of Lingquan Temple is complex and still somewhat unclear. In November 1901, Shanzhi, Shanhui, and Wu Deliang raised 3,000 yuan to construct the Lingquan Temple, which was completed in May 1902.Footnote 5 In 1907, Venerable Shanhui and his followers’ chief representatives—Gu Xianrong, Yan Yunnian, Xu Zisang, and Xu Songying—reinitiated construction activities and were granted permission to raise funds.Footnote 6 This is the story according to the Taiwan Shrine and Buddhist Temple Religious Publication Society (J. Taiwan shaji shūkyō kankō kai), but it differs from the information provided by the scholar Li Tim Chun. According to Li’s article ‘Taiwan fojiaoshi ziliao: Shangpian Caodongzong shi’ (Taiwanese Buddhist historical materials (I): The history of the Sōtō Sect), the proposal to build the temple was made in 1905.Footnote 7 A follower named Lin Fa donated a jia (around 2.4 acres) of land that had been in use as a tea plantation for the temple, allowing construction to begin immediately. In May of the following year, construction permission was granted by the Government-General of Taiwan (GGT hereafter). Further, according to Venerable Shanhui’s own recollection, he built the Lingquan Temple with Shanzhi in 1902, modelling it after Drum Mountain.Footnote 8 As stated in the Taiwan nichinichi shinpō (Taiwan Daily News), the temple was officially named Lingquan (‘Numinous Spring’) in January 1906. Via the introduction of Takahashi Tamenori (n.d.), a Japanese priest of the Sōtō sect, Lingquan Temple became a branch temple of Eiheiji and Sōjiji, the head temples of the Sōtō lineage.Footnote 9
Shanhui’s admission into Japanese Buddhism via the introduction of a Sōtō Zen priest is connected to the fact that the Sōtō sect was conducting mission work in Keelung and was keen to recruit local monks in order to build up an operational base.Footnote 10 However, the head temple of the Japanese lineage did not immediately permit Shanhui’s admission. During almost a year of waiting for approval, Lingquan Temple undertook more fundraising and construction activities.Footnote 11 On 23 August 1907, Shanhui was not only admitted into the Sōtō sect but was also affirmed as the abbot of the Lingquan Temple by the Sōtō head priest Ishikawa Sodō.Footnote 12 Shanhui also contributed greatly to Buddhist education in Taiwan during the extended period he spent overseeing education at the Buddhist Middle School run by the Sōtō sect in Taipei. Shanhui was appointed superintendent of the school on 1 April 1917, and was promoted to head teacher in 1921 before resigning in 1936.Footnote 13
From 1906 to 1918, the Lingquan Temple was undergoing continuous construction. When the Hall of the Heavenly Kings was inaugurated on 11 November 1909, Shanhui celebrated the completion with a wuchao qingjiao ritual (calling on the protection of the deities) for an audience of 800 to 900 guests, which included members of the local gentry and Japanese Army generals. A congratulatory speech was given by the journalist Lin Xiangyuan (1870–1924) and by Xu Zisang (1874–1945), the representative of the temple committee of the Hall of the Heavenly Kings. Abbot Shanhui and Shi Futong, the vice-abbot, gave a speech of thanks, mentioning that ‘the temple was established in the jia-chen year’ (1904 in the Western calendar); this offers an establishment date that differs from the previous records.Footnote 14
Shanhui and his lineage’s rise to prominence were probably connected to the fact that he had excellent relations with Drum Mountain, allowing him to also act as superintendent and conduct ordinations there in 1924. As the Japanese Buddhist sects had not been able to attract Taiwanese followers on their own, propping up Taiwanese monks as leaders and strengthening collaboration with them was thought to be beneficial to Japanese Buddhism’s own expansion on the island. On the other hand, collaboration with Taiwanese monks would also aid Japanese Buddhists’ activities in Fujian and other regions in mainland China, due to the shared language in these regions. It was due to his excellent ties in both Taiwan and Fujian that Shanhui became one of the Japanese Sōtō sect’s main targets for collaboration.Footnote 15 His close relationship with Buddhists on Drum Mountain meant that he sometimes embarked on lengthy trips to Fujian as well as more far-ranging journeys later on in his career.
Shanhui’s travels abroad
On 28 May 1911, Shanhui set off for a month-long journey to the Yongquan Temple at Drum Mountain and Mount Putuo in mainland China.Footnote 16 While the purpose of this trip seems to have been a pilgrimage, Shanhui also received many gift inscriptions (Ch. tizi) from famous monks. An inscribed poem by the Taiwanese Chan master Guangtong (n.d.) of the Heming retreat at Mount Putuo is particularly rare and valuable.Footnote 17
Accompanied by the Taiwanese monks Derong and Xuening, Shanhui visited Drum Mountain from 24 May 1914. He stayed for three days and met with the retired abbot Guyue (1837–1919) and then abbot Zhenguang (?–1924). This trip to mainland China lasted for 27 days, with more than ten days spent in Fujian.Footnote 18 The monk Guyue (given name Yuanlang) was the one-hundred and twenty-seventh abbot of Drum Mountain and was appointed in 1902 due to the previous abbot Miaolian’s travels overseas. Guyue retired as abbot in 1906 and passed away at the Lotus Pavilion in July 1919.Footnote 19 The monk Zhenguang (given name Guhui) became the one-hundred-and-twenty-eighth abbot of Drum Mountain in 1906 and passed away in November 1924.Footnote 20
In April 1924, at the invitation of the Yongquan Temple, Shanhui held an ordination rite there and established the Baita Temple as well as a Buddhist philanthropic association at the West Park in Fuzhou. On this trip, Shanhui also created the Buddhist Youth Enlightenment Society (Ch. Fojiao qingnian jueshe) at Drum Mountain and gave lectures on the Heart Sutra at the Guanyin Pavilion for a month. Shanhui did not return to Taiwan until October of that year. Later, Shanhui was invited by the monk Zhaozhao (n.d.) to Xichan Temple on Mount Yi in Fuzhou and performed an ordination ritual there in the spring of 1925.Footnote 21 On 24 March, Shanhui moved on to the nearby Changqing Temple, a branch of Yongquan Temple, to conduct another ordination and host precept ceremonies.Footnote 22 Commencing on 1 April, there were 86 ordinands as well as 54 postulants (Ch. jijie), nuns (Ch. biqiuni), lay men (Ch. yoposai), and lay women (Ch. yopoyi).Footnote 23 The fact that he was asked to conduct these ordinations shows the depth of the relationship Shanhui had established at Yongquan Temple and with the local monastics.
Based on the above descriptions, it appears that Shanhui had close interactions with both Japanese Buddhists as well as monks in China. His position at Lingquan Temple was therefore extremely stable. However, in April 1933, he suddenly resigned from this post. Moreover, Shanhui had already left for mainland China before receiving permission to do so and was absent when the new abbot took over. It seems that there may be unknown reasons behind his resignation. According to the Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, Shanhui resigned ‘seemingly out of necessity’ (Ch. si you budeyi shiqing):
The Lingquan Temple of Yuemei Mountain in Keelung is one of the foremost Buddhist monasteries on the entire island. Venerable Shanhui succeeded the late monk Shanzhi as the abbot of the temple for more than twenty years and built many facilities during his tenure. Now he has suddenly resigned with the said reason being to survey Buddhism in Japan, Korea, Manchuria, and various parts of China. During Venerable Shanhui’s absence, Qiu Dexin, the previous vice-abbot of the temple, has been entrusted with the management of everything. It has been said that Venerable Shanhui wishes to recommend Qiu as the next abbot. It has further been reported that Venerable Shanhui is currently at Mount Putuo in China since crossing the border in May last year. As for the reason of his resignation, it was seemingly out of necessity. After gathering the representatives of the lay followers as well as the affiliated monks, a meeting was held in the temple at eleven o’clock in the morning on 23 July. The representatives of the lay followers and the monks reached a careful consensus on the resignation of Jiang Shanhui and the election of Qiu Dexin as the new abbot. Qiu had long been the vice-abbot of the temple and is currently the abbot of the Shuiyuandi Baozang Temple in Taipei. He is said to be a modest and taciturn person and a suitable candidate for the position.Footnote 24
The thirtieth anniversary of the inauguration of Lingquan Temple was held on 13 April 1933.Footnote 25 A few days later, Shanhui wrote to Takahashi Hideto, director of the Social Affairs Department of the GGT, stating that he was leaving for a visit to Korea and Manchuria on 19 April.Footnote 26 Before embarking on this trip, Shanhui travelled to Japan to report on the progress of construction at Lingquan Temple to the Sōtō Sect’s Tokyo Sectarian Council (J. Sōtōshū Tōkyō shūmuin) and, most importantly, to resign from his post as the head of the Sōtō Middle School (J. Sōtō chūgakurin) in Taipei. The Governing Council of Japan’s Sōtō sect (J. Nihon Sōtōshū shūmuin) apparently accepted Shanhui’s resignation and tasked him with inspecting the state of religion in Korea and Manchuria.Footnote 27 At the request of the Council, Shanhui departed for Korea and arrived just in time for the completion of the Longchan Temple in Sinŭiju, which was located on the southern bank of the Yalu River. There, Shanhui participated in the All-Korea Mission Conference (J. Zen Chōsen fukyō taikai). In June, Shanhui crossed the Yalu River and began his tour of Manchukuo.Footnote 28
After the Mukden Incident (also known as the September 18 Incident) of 1931, Japan occupied the three northeastern provinces of China. This was followed by the Declaration of the Establishment of Manchukuo (Ch. Manzhouguo jianguo xuanyan) on 1 March 1932. On 15 September of the same year, the Japan-Manchukuo Protocol (Ch. Riman yiding shu) was signed, and Manchukuo was officially recognized by Japan.Footnote 29 After the founding of Manchukuo as a Japanese puppet state, there were attempts to reform local Buddhism, which involved Buddhist monks and lay men from Manchuria visiting Japan, study exchanges between Japanese and Manchurian monks, and religious symposiums.Footnote 30 The Sōtō Sect was also involved in these efforts.
As early as February 1908, the head temples of the Sōtō Sect in Japan had issued the ‘Regulations for the Establishment of the Sōtō Sect in Manchuria’ (J. Sōtōshū Manshū kaikyō kitei), signalling the beginning of the Japanese Sōtō Sect’s activities in Manchuria.Footnote 31 Japanese monks began to arrive in Manchuria with orders to proselytize. Notable pre-Incident arrivals among them were Otobe Tonkai in 1929 and Sagawa Gen’i in 1931. After the Mukden Incident, the various Japanese Buddhist denominations prepared for an expansion of missionary work in Manchuria. In response to these new circumstances, the Japanese Sōtō sect sent a lot of personnel to Manchuria to inspect the state of religious affairs there and engage in missionary work.Footnote 32 These included Niwa Keidō, Hattori Kokuyū, Kuruma Takudō, Imai Tetsujō, Otobe Kaihō, Nose Ryōkō, and Kawase Kokusen. Together they established the Manchuria-Mongolia Association (J. Manmō kyōkai).Footnote 33 Two of them, Otobe Tonkai and Kuruma Takudō, had visited Taiwan before. Kuruma was especially well known for his many articles published in the journal South Seas Buddhism (Ch. Nanying fojiao). In February 1932, Aisin-Gioro Puyi was enthroned as the emperor of Manchuria and the era name ‘Datong’ was adopted, symbolizing a new state built on the concept of the ‘paradise of the Kingly Way’ (Ch. wangdao letu) that envisioned a shared entity between Manchuria and Japan. In this context, Shanhui’s trip to Manchuria in fact corresponded with the Sōtō sectarian policies of the time, and these policies formed part of Japanese imperial expansion on the continent.
After concluding his inspection of Korea and Manchuria, in July Shanhui proceeded to southern China where he stayed until August. Shanhui arrived at Mount Putuo, Zhejiang province, in July 1933 and began making arrangements for the election of his successor at Lingquan Temple. As discussed above, disciples of the Lingquan Temple gathered on 23 July and acknowledged the resignation of Shanhui. They also accepted his recommendation of Qiu Dexin. As reported by the Taiwan nichinichi shinpō, Shanhui might have done so ‘out of necessity’, otherwise he could not have left Taiwan less than a week after the thirtieth anniversary of the inauguration of Lingquan Temple, and could not have commenced the appointment process of the new abbot just after arriving in mainland China. Following his visit to Putuo Temple, Shanhui travelled on to Fujian, where he conferred with the abbot of Drum Mountain, the Venerable Xuyun, about his plans to go to Kek Lok Temple in Penang, Malaysia, for the purpose of conducting some business there. Shanhui arrived in Penang in early September and returned to Taiwan via Singapore in December.Footnote 34 On 5 October 1934, Shanhui embarked on another trip to India with the monk Benyuan (1883–1945), then abbot of the Wugu Lingyun Temple in Taiwan, and his disciple Deyu. In 1935, when traversing through Penang, Malaysia, the monk Benzhong requested Shanhui to take up the position of abbot for the Kek Lok Temple. Before 1937, Shanhui also served as the abbot of the Phor Kark Monastery in Singapore, the Ximiao Temple in Kuala Lumpur, and the Shuangching Temple in Penang.Footnote 35
What the above description shows is that Shanhui was a highly mobile monk who was deeply ensconced in a number of different Buddhist networks—Minnan, pan-Chinese, and Japanese. His travels to and abbotships in Southeast Asia make him an interesting forerunner to the Chinese Buddhist network connecting mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia, as discussed by Jack Chia, in the post-Second World War period.Footnote 36 Interestingly, Shanhui’s own activities may be thought of as further connecting this world of South China Sea Buddhism with the Buddhist centres of the Jiangnan region as well as to the Chinese northeast and Japan. As a chaplain for the Japanese Sōtō tradition, Shanhui helped to promote the missionary work of the Sōtō sect in mainland China and Sinophone communities in Southeast Asia, owing to his Chinese identity and fluent language skills in the Minnan and Beijing dialects. In the context of this Forum, this brings up the question of how these networks and his activities within them intersected with Japanese imperial expansion. This brings us to the issue of his presidency of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society, which allows us to examine Shanhui’s activities into the period of escalating conflict between China and Japan.
The Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist societies and Shanhui’s missionary activities in wartime mainland China
Shanhui’s involvement with the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society is a prime example of his entanglement in Japan’s imperial expansion. What complicates the matter is that there seem to have been two different organizations going by the same name. Furthermore, Shanhui had ties to both of them. The first Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society was founded in 1933, while the second one was established after the outbreak of full-scale war and appears to have been a local branch of the Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society (Ch. Rihua fojiao hui). Both organizations will be examined below.
Shanhui and the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War
In April 1933, Shanhui resigned from his position as abbot of Lingquan Temple on Yuemei Mountain in Keelung and departed for Japan, mainland China, Korea, and Manchuria to undertake missionary activities. In December of the same year, he passed through Hangzhou on his way back to Taiwan from Singapore. Reflecting on the trip in 1943, he wrote:
Ten year ago, I went abroad to India and the islands of the South Sea. I served there as abbot for several prominent Buddhist monasteries. On my way back to Taiwan via Hangzhou, I was invited by prominent members of the Japanese and Chinese military and political circles to give lectures on Buddhism. They also asked me to serve as the president of the Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society and to promote the spirit of Japanese Buddhism. At the same time, after suffering from the effects of bombardment (Ch. fengyan paohuo), the people of Hangzhou were starving, destitute, and homeless.Footnote 37
Shanhui’s appointment as president of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society during his stopover in Hangzhou tells us that the Society was founded in 1933 at the latest. What did Shanhui mean when he wrote that the people were suffering from the ‘effects of bombardment’ in the abovementioned quote?
Tensions were running high between Chinese nationalists and Japanese residents in Shanghai in the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. An incident in January 1932, in which Chinese attacked a group of Japanese Buddhist monks, sparked an armed confrontation between Chinese and Japanese forces, which became known as the Shanghai Incident (January to March 1932). As part of the fighting, the Japanese air force attacked Hangzhou airport on 26 February, setting the city ablaze.Footnote 38 On 14 March, the Hangzhou municipal government protested to the Japanese Army that ‘Japanese planes flew over Chinese airspace at will, scouting, dropping bombs, and harming people and damaging farmland.’Footnote 39 This corroborates Shanhui’s recollections and suggests that the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society was founded in the aftermath of the Shanghai Incident.
On the eve of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 1937, which marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Shanhui arrived in Shanghai between April and May to mourn the loss of the wife of his friend Chuang Yingchee (1882–?).Footnote 40 Shanhui performed funerary rites for seven days and was invited by Chuang to visit Mount Putuo afterwards. However, for Shanhui, the purpose of this trip was not merely to visit an old friend. It is likely that he had other missions to carry out since he still held the status of a missionary of the Sōtō Sect while also serving as president of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society. Chuang Yingchee apparently informed Shanhui that, ‘Bad omens can already be seen (in Shanghai). Within three months, a national catastrophe will appear, and many lives will be lost.’ Shanhui replied, ‘How could this be? Be careful of speaking idle words. As you are familiar with astrology, you should not divulge the will of Heaven. It will be too late to regret when Heaven scourges.’ As two Taiwanese living under Japanese colonization, it is apparent that these two men saw the establishment of ‘friendship’ between China and Japan as their personal responsibility. Chuang Yingchee believed that,
In recent years, the more than four hundred regions of China have been resisting the Japanese in a rash manner without understanding what is going on. Conflict is on the verge and there will be no end to disasters. The more this state brews, the more poison it will leak. This is a most unfortunate phenomenon for the yellow race of East Asia. How can we speak of mutual support (Ch. huxiang tixi) and turn weapons into silk and brocade when we are surrounded by these sights? For several years, I have been concerned about the emerging conflict in East Asia, so I have published two essays on the topic. One essay is entitled, ‘On the Friendship between Japan and China Necessary for Peace in East Asia’. The other essay is entitled, ‘On the Implementation of Coexistence and Co-prosperity Amongst the Yellow Race’. Both essays have been published in domestic and foreign newspapers and magazines. It is foolish to call upon Heaven’s remorse, since the warning bells have been broken and the people are in a slumber. My essays lack vigour and are unable to turn disaster into fortune.Footnote 41
Chuang Yingchee was a supporter of ‘Sino-Japanese friendship’ and ‘Asian co-prosperity’, two slogans frequently used in Japanese propaganda to justify Japan’s actions in mainland China. In Shanghai, Chuang and Shanhui first met with Venerable Pinjue of the Yuantong Lecture Temple and with Master Xindao. They then invited Pinjue and Xindao to join them on the trip to Mount Putuo. After arriving in Ningbo by boat, the four of them planned to visit the monk Baojue at the Guanzong Lecture Temple. Coincidentally, in Taiwan they also encountered Venerable Rongzong from Hsinchu, a disciple of the famous Taiwanese monk Miaochan (1886–1965), and a young monk named Zhuomo who also came to visit Xindao.Footnote 42
Although information about Venerable Pinjue remains obscure, it is likely that he was an old acquaintance of Shanhui. In August 1936, when Pinjue founded the Shiyu jikan (Timely Rain Quarterly) at the Yuantong Lecture Temple in Shanghai, Shanhui was appointed chairman of the board of directors of the journal and he donated 50 yuan in the national currency.Footnote 43 Pinjue was an adherent of the monk Lingyan (1867–?) and studied Tiantai Buddhism with him. Lingyan saw Pinjue as someone who,
had extraordinary talent and auspicious bonds with the Yuantong Temple. Therefore, the mind-lamp (Ch. xindeng) was passed onto him through the Tiantai lineage. Since long, Pinjue had been climbing the stages of the school of insight (Ch. Guanzong) and entered deeply into the realm of zhiguan meditation.Footnote 44 … Thus, Pinjue was determined in promoting both [Tiantai] practice and doctrine to inspire future generations. Therefore, he first established a Meditation Hall to guide practice, followed by a Buddhist studies society to further educate monks.Footnote 45
Pinjue himself was frequently invited to give sermons and teachings in various places and was a renowned monk in the Shanghai region.
Master Xindao was a scholar monk and disciple of Taixu. In March 1937, he was invited to the Chinese Buddhist Study Association (Ch. Zhongguo foxue hui) in Nanjing to give a lecture. Xindao was entrusted by Taixu to head the Chinese Buddhist Study General Association in Nanjing (Ch. Nanjing Zhongguo foxue zonghui).Footnote 46 Disseminating the Buddhist Dharma, mostly in the northwest of China, Xindao authored the book Xindao fashi xibei hongfa ji (Venerable Xindao’s Dharma Dissemination in the Northwest).Footnote 47 He had been appointed by Xuyun (?–1959), the abbot of the Yongquan Temple on Drum Mountain in Fujian, to train monks at the monastery.Footnote 48 Since both Taixu and Xuyun were important figures in the Republican Chinese Buddhist community, connections between their disciples and monks like Shanhui were beneficial both to the Buddhist community and general society.
In June 1937, Shanhui arrived in Penang, Malaysia, to teach Buddhism and served as the abbot of Shuangqing Temple, a branch temple of the Yishan Temple in Fuzhou, giving regular lectures there.Footnote 49 It is very likely that after Shanhui took over the post of abbot of the Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang in 1935, he frequently travelled between Southeast Asia, mainland China, and Taiwan. Between the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and 1940, Shanhui also frequently visited mainland China. Although Shanhui withdrew to Taiwan to live in seclusion in 1940, he returned to mainland China again on the eve of the Pacific War in 1941 to help facilitate Japanese Buddhists’ missionary activities there. Below is a summary of Shanhui’s activities in mainland China after 1939.
Shanhui’s activities during the Sino-Japanese War
While Shanhui’s movements in 1938 are unknown, in August 1939, at the invitation of Narita Hōzui, then abbot of the Sōtō Zen temple Chōtokuin in Shanghai, he arrived in Shanghai by boat with a mission to proselytize and select outstanding young monks for language training in Japanese from the various temples in central China. The target temples were the Lingyin Temple and Jingci Temple in Hangzhou, the Bao’en Temple and Huqiu Temple in Suzhou, the Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, and the Pilu Temple in Nanjing.Footnote 50 During his stay in Shanghai, in November 1939, Shanhui was able to intervene in the detention of Venerable Yuanying (1878–1953),Footnote 51 then president of the Buddhist Association of China (Ch. Zhongguo fojiao hui) and effect his release from the Japanese military prison in Shanghai. In mid-November 1937, Venerable Yuanying had travelled to Southeast Asia to raise funds to ‘resist Japan and save the nation’ (Ch. kangri jiuwang) with his disciple Mingyang (1916–2002). He returned to China in June 1938, and in September of the same year, Yuanying departed for Southeast Asia again, returning on 23 June 1939 to take over the management of the Yuanming Lecture Hall in Shanghai. Soon after that, Yuanying was reported to the headquarters of the Japanese military police (J. Kenpeitai) in Nanjing; it was alleged that his fundraising activities for ‘disaster relief’ were a cover for promoting anti-Japanese sentiments. According to Mingyang’s biographical account of Yuanying, on 19 October, Yuanying and Mingyang were worshipping the Buddha when suddenly seven vehicles belonging to the Shanghai Kenpeitai arrived. A dozen armed Japanese soldiers surrounded the Yuanming Lecture Hall; both Yuanying and Mingyang were arrested. On the morning of the 20 October, they were taken to the Kenpeitai headquarters in Nanjing.Footnote 52 Baisheng, the dharma heir of Yuanying, described Yuanying’s arrest and rescue as follows: ‘The Japanese Army suddenly arrested Venerable Yuanying and sent him to Nanjing. The Buddhist community around Shanghai were terrified and could do nothing.’ After hearing the news, Baisheng reportedly ‘connected with Venerable Shanhui of Mount Yuemei in Taiwan and the Japanese monk Fujii Sōsen to engage in a rescue mission’.Footnote 53 Yuanying was released on 10 November. Apart from the fact that Shanhui and Yuanying were old acquaintances, Yuanying’s eventual release was related to Shanhui’s dual capacity at the time as both a Sōtō missionary and the president of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society, which gave him leverage with the Japanese authorities. Shanhui probably did not return to Taiwan until early 1940. In the same year, a week-long commemoration of Shanhui’s sixtieth birthday was held, beginning on 16 March, as well as ordinations for the Buddhist community.Footnote 54
From the Hangzhou Buddhist Society to the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society
The second Hangzhou-based Buddhist society with which Shanhui had contact during the war was also called Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society. It was established at the end of December 1937 and was formerly known as the Hangzhou Buddhist Society (Ch. Hangzhou fojiao hui). Its establishment followed a pattern also seen in other areas under Japanese occupation. After the outbreak of war in 1937, the coastal provinces of China were occupied by the Japanese Army. As the war progressed, the Japanese established religious organizations in many locations, such as the Sino-Japanese Buddhist Alliance (Ch. Rihua fojiao lianmeng) in Nanjing and its branches in Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, and Wuhu. It needs to be pointed out that most of these organizations existed in name only. At one point, the organization was referred to as the Hangzhou Branch of the Sino-Japanese Buddhist Studies Society (Ch. Rihua fojiao yanjiuhui Hangzhou zhibu). Venerable Mingjing, a Hangzhou-based monk who fled to the Shuangqing Temple in Penang, Malaysia, recalled the origins of the Society as follows:
The sudden disasters of 7 July (the Marco Polo Bridge Incident) and 13 August (the Battle of Shanghai) unfolded the Japanese invasion from the east and has shattered my country … Our Hangzhou is in proximity to Shanghai and fell early on … Following the retreat of the Chinese Army (Ch. guojun) to the west on 23 December 1937, the Japanese invaders arrived immediately on 24 December. After three days, the Sichuanese monk Yuancheng of the Haihui Temple in Wushan, together with a middle-aged monk named Manshu JiediFootnote 55 who claimed to be a devotee of esoteric Buddhism (Ch. mizong) and to have visited Japan, and a traveling monk named Shoulai, organized the so-called ‘Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society’. In the next four to five days, these monks attempted to gather monks and force them to join the Society under false pretences by taking advantage of the Lingyin Temple and the Zhaoqing Temple. However, the attempts were rejected and produced no results … At the time, the monk Quefei escaped from the Huawu region; Yuancheng and others were scolded by the Japanese and had no choice but to abduct Quefei by force and coerce him to take the position of the president of the Society. Quefei managed to abscond from the situation to seclusion (Ch. yinzhu) in Shanghai. He has been making a living out of reciting letters for others for more than two years now … In regard to the abbots of the various monasteries, those who had some savings have all fled to survive. The abbots who are left behind are mostly the elderly and those without any livelihood. Seeing this situation, the people of the Society then invited the monk Longding, who was fluent in Japanese, to take on the title of president, while the real power remains in the hands of the usurpers (Ch. zei) … A Japanese language school was set up to recruit our young Buddhists as students, who would graduate in three months and be sent to Japan to be brainwashed as slaves.Footnote 56
As a Japanese-backed Buddhist organization, the Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society was established after the Japanese occupation of Hangzhou and had at least two presidents, Yuancheng and Longding. Longding, the second president, remembers the establishment of the Society as follows:
After the Incident [i.e. the beginning of war], most of the monks fled to other places, leaving the temples in ruin. The former president, Venerable Yuancheng, first initiated the formation of the Hangzhou Buddhist Society in order to promote local prosperity, organize the local Buddhists, and revive Buddhism in Hangzhou, and then established the Hangzhou Branch of the Sino-Japanese Buddhist Studies Society at the Haihui Temple in Wushan on January 15, 1939. With the support from the Hangzhou consul Dōmyō, Mr. Nishino, and Mr. Qin Longsheng, Venerable Yuancheng was elected president. To better facilitate the affairs of the Society, it was moved to the Inner West Lake Martial Arts Institute (Ch. Li xihu guoshuguan) in early February. But since Venerable Yuancheng had left for Shanghai and there was no one to conduct the Society’s affairs, Longding was elected president in early April. The Society was then renamed as the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society.Footnote 57
As discussed above, the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society began as the Hangzhou Buddhist Society in December 1937. In January 1939, it was rebranded as the Hangzhou Branch of the Sino-Japanese Buddhist Studies Society. The final official name was decided in April 1939. A newspaper article from 9 September 1939 gives some idea of how Shanhui came into contact with the organization. The article states that Shanhui was welcomed in Hangzhou by the local Buddhist establishment, including Longding. The occasion was the founding of the Chinese Buddhist Institute of Higher Learning (Ch. Zhongguo fojiao gaodeng yanjiuyuan), whose expenses were to be covered by donations raised by Shanhui and another monk in Southeast Asia.Footnote 58 Sharing the same objectives, Venerable Shanhui, who was sent to central China to proselytize in August 1939, and Longding came to share the presidency of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society. According to a report from the Japanese Buddhist newspaper Chūgai nippō published in November 1941, a Sino-Japanese Buddhist symposium was held at the Shanghai Higashi Honganji Betsuin Temple on 7 November, which was attended by both Chinese and Japanese monks. Shanhui was listed as one of the 15 attendants from ‘China’ and his position was given as president of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society. Other attendants included Fan Cheng, the president of the Shanghai Buddhist Comrades Association (Ch. Shanghai fojiao tongrenhui); Yuanchen, the abbot of the Yufo Temple; Huihai, the abbot of the Fazang Temple; Daxing from the Minnan Buddhist Academy in Xiamen; and Dewu, the abbot of the Jing’an Temple. From the Japanese side, there were eight attendants representing various Buddhist sectarian traditions in Shanghai. Among the invited guests was the researcher Sano from the East Asia Development Board (J. Kōain) and the secretary Tsunada from the Central China Religious League (J. Chūshi shūkyō daidō renmei). Most notably, the translator for the occasion was Venerable Longding, who attended under the title of ‘secretary-general’ (J. kanjichō) of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society.Footnote 59
The Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society encompassed three main areas of activity: proselytization, education, and relief work. Educational activities were further divided into monastic and public education. As part of the monastic education activities, six exceptional students were to be sent to Japan to study after undergoing a short three-month training programme. Public education involved mostly Japanese language education.Footnote 60 The Society also operated an orphanage, a nursing home, and an employment agency. There were only one or two Japanese priests in the organization as the majority of the members were Chinese monks who conducted activities under the guidance of the Japanese military intelligence agency.Footnote 61 The mouthpiece for the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society under Longding’s leadership was the propaganda periodical Chenzhong (Morning Bell),Footnote 62 which advocated ‘Sino-Japanese friendship’ (Ch. Zhongri qinshan, J. Nikka shinzen) and served the Japanese agenda. In November 1941, Longding continued to serve as the ‘secretary-general’ of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society. This title most likely meant ‘president’ and was presumably used to differentiate his affiliation from that of Shanhui.
Whether the one established in 1933 or the one established in 1939, both of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist societies were ultimately pro-Japanese Buddhist organizations closely associated with Japanese political and military circles. Their main purpose was the promotion of Japanese political goals, such as the wartime ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’. In other words, these organizations were more political than religious in nature.
Conclusion
When Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, the Buddhist elites in Taiwan became targets of solicitation among Japanese Buddhist and political circles. Venerable Shanhui, the founder of the Lingquan Temple on Yuemei Mountain in Keelung was one of these targets. Venerable Shanhui, who had been ordained at Yongquan Temple on Drum Mountain in Fujian, was enlisted as a member of the Japanese Sōtō Sect in August 1907 and was appointed abbot of Lingquan Temple by the head priest of the Sōtō Sect. Shanhui’s life was characterized by numerous and extensive overseas journeys. During the period from 1911 to 1932, Shanhui mainly visited mainland China where he networked with monks and laypeople. Shanhui’s reputation reached its peak when he served as an ordination preceptor at Drum Mountain and its branch temples in 1924 and 1925. After April 1933, Shanhui resigned from his position as the abbot of Lingquan Temple and the frequency of his overseas travels increased.
Travelling through Chinese and Japanese Buddhist networks, these journeys not only had religious functions, but drew him closer into the realm of politics as well. In late 1933, two years after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, he visited Hangzhou where local and Japanese elites enlisted him to become the head of a Sino-Japanese Buddhist organization. Shanhui accepted the position of president of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society and began promoting Sino-Japanese friendship at the urging of the Japanese. These activities coincided with a general escalation of tensions between China and Japan. As Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland accelerated in the wake of the occupation of Manchuria, Shanhui also became increasingly integrated into the structures of the wartime empire. Unfortunately, we still lack a closer understanding of the kind of activities the first Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society engaged in.
In August 1939, after the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Shanhui was invited by Narita Hōzui, then abbot of the Sōtō Zen temple Chōtokuin in Shanghai, to visit Shanghai by boat from Keelung with a mission to proselytize at the various Buddhist temples in Central China, such as in Hangzhou, Zhenjiang, and Nanjing. In November of the same year, Shanhui utilized his dual-identity as both chaplain for the Japanese Sōtō tradition and president of the Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society to rescue Venerable Yuanying, then president of the Buddhist Association of China. It is also during this time that he was active in yet another Hangzhou Sino-Japanese Buddhist Society. Confusingly, he is also described as having been the president of this organization.
Among the Taiwanese Buddhist monks who went to mainland China to proselytize during the Japanese colonial period, few were as highly regarded as Shanhui. After 1909, Shanhui became closely acquainted with prominent Chinese monks such as Yuanying, Taixu, and the monks on Drum Mountain, such as Sheng’en. Especially after hosting two ordination ceremonies at Drum Mountain, Shanhui received high praise from the Buddhist community in the Fujian region. However, it is likely that his reputation among Chinese Buddhists also changed as a result of the worsening geo-political situation in East Asia. There is no other example of a Taiwan-based Buddhist lineage that rose to prominence during the Japanese colonial occupation, or of Taiwanese monks who were also ordained at Drum Mountain,Footnote 63 who cooperated with Japanese Buddhists to promote Sino-Japanese friendship in mainland China. In comparison, it is evident that Shanhui was particularly valued by the Japanese for his willingness to collaborate.
The reason for this lies in the fact that Shanhui had made a choice to join the Japanese Sōtō sect in 1907 in order to develop his own community at the Lingquan Temple. Subsequently, he became an important candidate for the Sōtō Sect’s efforts to expand onto the Chinese mainland since he was ordained at Drum Mountain in Fujian and was well-connected with influential monks in mainland China. Compared to the monks from other lineages in Taiwan, many of Shanhui’s disciples were educated at the Sōtō Buddhist Middle School and some had even studied at the sect’s Komazawa University in Japan. The colonial government would later rely heavily on these disciples. Lin Delin (1890–1951) was one of them. He graduated from the Sōtō Buddhist Seminary, openly married,Footnote 64 and spent all his life promoting Japanese-style Buddhism in Taiwan. Further, Lin Delin’s disciple Li Tianchun (1899–1988) served as an assistant to the Japanese scholar Masuda Fukutarō (1903–1982) during his trip to research Taiwanese folk religion in 1929, and his disciple Zeng Jinglai (1907–1977) acted as the main editor of the monthly periodical Nanying fojiao (South Seas Buddhism) published by the Office of the Governor-General. Thus, Shanhui and his disciples had extensive contacts with officials of the colonial administration and influence on both sides of the Straits. This was perhaps the reason why Japanese officials and the Sōtō Sect valued him so highly. As a colonial subject of Chinese ethnicity, he acted as an ambassador of Sino-Japanese friendship. While Shanhui collaborated with the Japanese Sōtō Sect’s wartime policies, he also aided Buddhism and the monastic community in mainland China under Japanese occupation. Incidentally, after the end of Japanese rule in Taiwan, Shanhui was the first person that Taixu thought about. In a letter, Taixu requested that Shanhui organize and create a Buddhist Association in Taiwan Province (Ch. Taiwansheng fojiao hui). Unfortunately, due to an illness, Shanhui had left Keelung to stay in Taipei and thus did not see the letter. Shanhui passed away soon after and the Buddhist Association of Taiwan Province never came to fruition.
Shanhui is an intriguing figure who showcases the complexities of Buddhist identity in pre-war and wartime modern East Asia. A Japanese colonial subject of Chinese ethnicity, he expertly navigated a variety of Buddhist networks spanning the Japanese empire, the Chinese mainland, as well as Chinese diaspora communities in Southeast Asia. The onset of aggressive Japanese expansion on the Asian mainland gave him new opportunities for travel and activity. Indeed, these different networks interacted in interesting ways, as the example of raising funds in Southeast Asia for a modern educational institute in the occupied territories of wartime China shows. While it seems that Shanhui had no serious qualms about furthering the aims of either Japanese Buddhism or the Japanese state, he also used his unique position to help others in need, such as the detained Venerable Yuanying. Shanhui’s overlapping multiple identities created a complex web of loyalties that defy easy classification.
Competing interests
The author declares none.
