Work

Buddhist Cosmopolitanism? Abbot Chao Kung and the International Interaction of Modern Chinese Buddhism

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Master Chao Kung 照空 (Ignatius Trebitsch Lincoln, 1879–1943), who asserted to be the first European to undergo monastic ordination in China, possessed a multifaceted identity. According to the Chinese newspapers of the 1930s, Master Chao Kung was documented simultaneously as a clergyman, a British Parliamentarian, and a German spy before he transitioned into monastic life. Throughout his activities as a monk in China, Chao Kung garnered significant attention from both the public and the domestic Buddhist community and frequently engaged in matters concerning Japan and Tibet, where he elicited mixed evaluations. This paper endeavors to scrutinize Chao Kung’s monastic journey during his residence in China based on an array of historical sources, to analyze the distinctiveness of his role and its impact on Chinese Buddhism as well as on the global Buddhist network, by situating it within the broader framework of the globalization of Buddhism in the modern era and the context of the intricate political dynamics of the Republican period.

Source: Religions

DOI: 10.3390/rel15121439

Author: Jiade Shao

Institution: Nanjing University

Language: English

Topic: Indian and Buddhist Studies

Subfield: Religious studies

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,046

Funder: National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences