Yuanying (simplified Chinese:圆瑛;traditional Chinese:圓瑛;pinyin:Yuányīng; 1878 – 12 September 1953) was aChineseChan Buddhist master and the first Venerable Master of theBuddhist Association of China.^[1]

Yuanying was bornWu Changfa (吳昌發) andWu Hengchun (吳亨春) into a family of farming background in Pinghu Township ofGutian County, inFujian province, in 1878. His parents died when he was six and then he lived with his uncle. At the age of 10, he aspired to become a Buddhist monk, but his uncle did not approve. By age 18, he attended theImperial examination and became a xiucai. One year later, he received ordination as a monk atMeifeng Temple inFuzhou under master Zeng Xi (增西上人) and then receivedprātimokṣa under master Miao Lian (妙蓮老和尚) atYongquan Temple. When he was 21, he began to learnChan Buddhism under master Ye Kai (冶開老和尚), he stayed with his teacher for four years. At the age of 25, he resided inTiantong Temple with his teacher Bazhi Toutuo (八指頭陀).^[1]

In 1908, he settled at Yongquan Temple, inQuanzhou, where he taught Chan Buddhism, and attracted large numbers of practitioners. In 1909, he became the abbot ofJiedai Temple. In 1912, the Chinese Buddhist Association was founded and he was elected a councilor. In 1917, Yuanying was elected Venerable Master of the Buddhist Association ofNingbo, he establish two schools to promote the development of local education project. He spread Chan Buddhism inBeijing in 1920 and then inSingapore andPenang Island in 1922. In 1923, Yuanying returned to Quanzhou, he rebuilt theKaiyuan Temple and foundedkindergarten in the temple, which adopted more than 200 orphans. In 1926, Yuanying went toSoutheast Asia again to collect donations. In 1928, theNationalist government issued the "Administrative Regulations of Religious Temples", an Anti - Buddhism Movement swept over the country. In 1929, along withTaixu and others, Yuanying formed the China Buddhist Association inShanghai where he was President. They signed a large petition calling for stopping the destruction of Buddhism. In 1930, Yuanying became the abbot of Tiantong Temple, where he taught Chan Buddhism for six years. In 1937, he was the abbot of Yongquan Temple, at the age of 60. On July 7, theMarco Polo Bridge Incident broke out, Yuanying organized an ambulance corps for to serve the Nationalists. In October, he went to Singapore to collect money for the military expenditures. In the autumn of 1939, Yuanying returned to Shanghai and settled at Yuanming Lecture Room (圓明講堂), he was soon arrested by the Japanese military police corps, he was mistreated and tortured. Shanghai people from all walks of life to rescue him, under pressure, the Japanese had to release him. In 1943 formerBeiyang government prime ministerJin Yunpeng invited him toTianjin to preach. In 1945, he founded the Yuanming Lengyan School (圓明楞嚴專宗學院), where he served as president and expound the texts ofŚūraṅgama Sūtra.^[2][3]

After the establishment of theCommunist State in 1951, Yuanying attended the Asia and Pacific Regional Peace Conference in Beijing. In 1953,Hsu Yun formed theBuddhist Association of China at Kuang Chi (Extensive Aid) Monastery, Yuanying was elected its first Venerable Master. On September 12, he died ofesophagus cancer at Tiantong Temple, in Ningbo,Zhejiang province, aged 76.^[1]

In 2014, a historical drama film based on the early boyhood of Yuanying was shot in his hometown.^[4]

• 1878 births
• 1953 deaths
• People from Ningde
• Rinzai Buddhists
• Chan Buddhists
• Chinese Zen Buddhists
• Chinese Buddhist monks
• 20th-century Buddhist monks
• Qing dynasty Buddhist monks
• 19th-century Chinese people
• 20th-century Chinese people
• Religious leaders in China
• Writers from Fuzhou

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