Hongyi Dashi (1880-1942) was a pre-eminent figure of twentieth-century Chinese Buddhist life who, after gaining much fame in China as an artist-revolutionary and “modern man,” became a monk at mid-life. This talk looks to the formative period from when he became a monk at age thirty-eight (1918) until he reached maturity as a Buddhist master roughly a dozen years later. This talk then is not about events, but about the practices, disciplines, studies, and cultivation of an inner life that eventually enabled him to take an authoritative stance.

If you would like to read background about Hongyi and issues in the study of his life, please e-mail [email protected] to receive a recently published essay by the speaker.