Beginning his schooling at age nine, he proved to be exceptionally intelligent.Įarly in 1853 the Taiping rebel forces abandoned Wuchang 武昌 to push eastward and broke through the defenses of Anqing 安慶. The village lay at the foot of the Rangling Hills 穰嶺山. He was born in the two-hour period chou 丑 on the sixteenth day of the eleventh lunar month of the seventeenth year of the Daoguang 道光 reign at the Yang-family Village 杨家村, some thirty li 里 southwest of the county seat. He was a native of Shidai 石埭 county in Anhui province, today’s Shitai 石臺 county. Lay devotee Yang Renshan’s formal name was Yang Wenhui Renshan was his courtesy name. The Hall of Deep Willows Commitment to Buddhist Publishing Piye is the Chinese transliteration of Vaiśālī, now in Bihar, North India, where Gautama Buddha gave his last sermon and announced his parinirvana. Yang by his followers as a term of high respect for a revered teacher. From that, the name Master of Deep Willows 深柳大師 was bestowed on Mr. (For images of the Jinling Buddhist Press today, see figures 1 and 2.) The name given to the expansive gardens and commodious residences was Deep Willows Hall for Studies 深柳讀書堂. In 1897, the Jinling Buddhist Press moved from earlier locations in Nanjing to a large walled enclosure in Yanling Lane 延齡巷, in the very center of Nanjing, which also included the residence of the prosperous Yang family. He was the founder of the Jinling Buddhist Press in Nanjing, which in 1886 started extensive reprintings of Buddhist writings from newly cut printing blocks. It suggests an ideal of seclusion for serious study, but Yang Renshan, although a serious scholar, was anything but a recluse. The Buddhist lay devotee is Yang Renshan 楊仁山, who lived from 1837 to 1911. The Tang poet is Liu Shenxu 劉昚虛, who was active during the brilliant Kaiyuan 開元 reign period (713–741 CE). The name also became one of the literary courtesy names for the man himself. In this translation, in most cases he will be called Yang Renshan or Renshan.Ī line from a Tang-dynasty poem provided an eminent Buddhist lay devotee with the name for his garden. In the original essay, the subject, Yang Wenhui (Renshan) is usually referred to as ‘Renshan, the Buddhist lay devotee’ 仁山居士 or simply as Lay Devotee 居士 in keeping with Chinese Buddhist usage. At the same time, the translator has attempted to supplement the original material in ways to meet the needs of readers who may be less familiar with the Chinese scene.
The translator’s intention, respecting that of the author, is to emphasize the place of Yang Renshan’s Jinling Buddhist Press in the history of book printing and of Buddhist scholarly activities in the late-imperial and early-Republican eras (1911-1949). The translation of Wu’s essay is in Roman other portions of this article that are in italics include abbreviated paraphrases of other passages from Wu’s articles or represent additional material provided by the translator. The translator has also drawn on other articles by Wu Yankang and other sources, as noted. Other passages are drawn from Wu Yankang’s manuscript ‘Yang Renshan and the Jinling Buddhist Press’ 楊仁山與金陵刻經處, also published in translation in the current number of the East Asian Library Journal. His article was published in The Voice of Dharma 法音 2 (2001). This translation article is based directly on an essay with the title ‘The Revered Master Deep Willows and the Hall of Deep Willows’ 深柳大師與深柳堂 written by Wu Yankang of the Jinling Buddhist Press 金陵刻經處. We are grateful to Professor Mote’s widow for her kind permission to reprint this translation. Chinese characters have been inserted in the text from what was, in the original, a glossary appended to the translation following a list of Yang Renshan’s writings and the notes.
Minor changes have been made to the text in keeping with the style of China Heritage Annual. The Jinling Buddhist Press China’s first publisher in modern times to have been created and managed by private individuals for the purpose of engraving printing blocks, printing books from them, distributing those publications, and carrying on research, all in one unified Buddhist publishing institution. The following is an account of the Jinping Buddhist Press, founded in Nanking following the depredations of the Lower Yangtze Valley, and the wholesale destruction of Buddhist monasteries, libraries and practice, during the pseudo-Christian Taiping Rebellion (1851-1865).
深柳大師與深柳堂 Wu Yankang 武延康 Translated by Frederick W.