Establishing a Pure Land on Earth: The Foguang Buddhist Perspective on Modernization and Globalization

Appendix: Chronological Table: Master Xingyun and Foguangshan

Appendix: Chronological Table: Master Xingyun and Foguangshan YEAR EVENT 1927 Master Xingyun is born in Jiangdu, Jiangsu Province, on the twenty-second day of the seventh lunar month, the third of four children. 1931 Master Xingyun becomes a vegetarian, influenced by his maternal grandmother. 1937 Master Xingyun’s father goes on business trip to Nanjing, never returns. 1939 Master Xingyun goes with his mother in search of his father, midway to Nanjing vows to renounce, takes tonsure under Master Zhikai at Nanjing’s Qixiashan, given outer and inner dharma names ‘‘Wuche’’ and ‘‘Jinjue.’’ 1941 Master Xingyun receives full ordination at Qixiashan. 1945 Master Xingyun studies at Jiaoshan Buddhist Academy. Attends a class on personnel training taught by Master Taixu, and reads his works extensively. 1947 Master Xingyun becomes principal of White Pagoda Elementary School. Briefly detained by both Nationalists and Communists, each attempting to gain intelligence about the other. 1949 Master Xingyun follows Nationalist army to Taiwan as part of medical relief team of clerics. Arrested by Kuomintang (KMT), along with many other clerics, on suspicion of vagrancy, banditry, and espionage. Incarcerated for twenty-three days. Spends next few years living in various temples in the Taipei area. 1950s After receiving reports that Master Xingyun is in radio contact with mainland China and is disseminating pro-Communist literature, the police follow him for one year. 1954 Master Xingyun becomes abbot of Leiyin Temple in Yilan, a small city in northeastern Taiwan. According to Foguang literature, the master soon becomes the first monk in Taiwan to use a slide projector with dharma talks and also organizes the island’s first Buddhist choir. 1957 Master Xingyun founds Awakening the World (Jueshi). 1963 Master Xingyun goes to India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Japan, and Hong Kong on a government-sponsored initiative to bolster support for the Republic of China (ROC). 1964 Shoushan Buddhist Academy established in the city of Kaohsiung. 308 • Appendix YEAR EVENT 1967 Master Xingyun purchases more than thirty hectares in Dashu Township, Kaohsiung County, as the site for the construction of a Buddhist college and monastery. Shoushan Buddhist Academy moves to Foguangshan, changing its name to Eastern Buddhist Academy. Two years later, twenty students graduate. 1969 Police search Foguangshan after hearing rumors that two hundred rifles are being stored there. Master Xingyun sends several nuns to Japan to pursue advanced degrees. Between the years 1969 to 2000, approximately two dozen Foguang clerics attend colleges and universities in Japan, Korea, India, the United States, England, France, and Brazil. 1970 Opening ceremony for the Great Mercy Children’s Home at Foguang headquarters, established by Master Xingyun and Xu Huaisheng, the manager of Jiaotong Bank. 1971 Great Compassion Hall is built and the image of Guanyin consecrated, marking the completion of Foguangshan’s first temple. Interior Minister Xu Qingzhong comes to Foguangshan to take part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, said to have been witnessed by thousands of people. The Guanyin Release Pond and the Maitreya image are consecrated at the same time. 1972 Prime Minister Li Guangyao of Singapore and his wife visit Foguangshan. 1973 Jiang Jingguo, premier of the executive yuan, visits Foguangshan for the first time. He will visit it three more times over the next five years. Foguangshan Monastic Buddhist Academy, publicized as being the island’s first Buddhist institute of higher learning, is founded. 1975 The Welcoming Buddha is consecrated on the eastern slope of Foguangshan. At 120 feet high, it is publicized as being the tallest buddha statue in Southeast Asia. The KMT allows Master Xingyun to give a lecture on Buddhism in the National Arts Hall. This is the first time that the government bestows such a privilege on a cleric. 1976 The Foguang Health Clinic, which provides medical services for the Foguang and local communities, is founded. Master Xingyun journeys to the United States for the first time, immediately recognizing the possibility of opening temples to cater to the needs of the rapidly expanding Chinese American community. 1977 Universal Gate High School founded at Foguangshan. Chronological Table • 309 YEAR EVENT 1978 Jiang Jingguo visits Foguangshan the day after winning his election campaign to succeed his father as president of the ROC. Master Xingyun establishes the Foguangshan Tripitaka Editing Committee. Master Xingyun receives an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oriental Studies (Los Angeles). 1979 The KMT permits Master Xingyun to televise dharma talks. ‘‘Sweet Dew,’’ as the...