The Modern Buddhist Reformer T'ai-hsu on Christianity

Abstract

In his article Why No Buddho-Christian Dialogue in Whalen Lai asserts that the revival of Chinese Buddhism in the republican period, led by the energetic reformer T'ai-hsii (1890-1947), not inspired as much by a religious vision from within as it was by a recognition of necessity without.' He further argues that, although T'ai-hsii invited such Christian missionaries as Karl Reichelt to lecture on Christianity in his seminaries, the Chinese master's apparent openness of style was, in fact, more than matched by his unquestioned confidence in the superiority of the Buddhist Dharma. Although both these observations are essentially correct, they should not lead one to the conclusion that T'ai-hsii was religiously uncreative or dialogically insincere. In particular, they should not lead one to assume that he found nothing about Christianity valuable or worthy of incorporation into the practice of a new Buddhism. Indeed, at times he could even speak of why China needed Christianity.2 In his brief review of the reformer's career in The Buddhist Revival in China, Holmes Welch has given us a few clues about the manner in which T'ai-hsii related to Christians.3 Yet the question basically remains unanswered as to how the Buddhist master understood Christianity and its relation to the dilemmas posed by modernity. To offer a concise summary of the views on this subject expressed by T'ai-hsii, a controversial and yet influential leader within the Chinese sangha in the republican era, is my aim in this essay.4