The Haining Taixu Research Association was established in November 2007 and currently has over 50 members, including experts and scholars from the academic community, representatives of the Buddhist community, and enthusiasts of Buddhism and cultural research in Haining. In recent years, the Taixu Research Association in Haining City has actively practiced the sinicization of Buddhism, deeply explored the content of the Taixu Master’s “human Buddhism” ideology that aligns with socialist core values and excellent traditional Chinese culture, and extensively conducted foreign exchanges, achieving fruitful results.
A tangible carrier showcases patriotism. The research association led and guided the re exhibition of the Taixu Master Memorial Hall located in Juehuang Temple, Chang’an Town, Haining City. With the theme of “approaching the master”, it comprehensively showcased the life experience of Taixu Master since his birth in Chang’an, focusing on chapters such as stepping into Buddhism, life Buddhism, “the father of the Buddhist Academy,” promoting the West, dedicating oneself to the War of Resistance, human enlightenment, and the eternal glory of Chaoyin, highlighting the theme of Taixu Master’s resistance to Japan and national salvation. To showcase the inheritance of Buddhist culture in Haining, Juehuang Temple also engraved the statues of eight prominent monks in Haining from the Tang Dynasty to the present, highlighting their contributions to Chinese Buddhism and demonstrating their patriotic and religious qualities.
Invisible communication connects cultural bonds. Since the establishment of the research association, it has collaborated with the Taixu Master Research Association in Tongxiang City and the Jiangnan Buddhist Research Association in Wujiang, Jiangsu Province to carry out several Taixu Master seminar activities. The topics include the “Taixu Master and Human Buddhism” forum, the “Canal and Jiangnan Buddhism” seminar that is in line with the cultural characteristics of the Haining Canal, and the “Centennial Refining, Lighthouse Forever – Wujiang, Tongxiang, and Haining Taixu Yuan” event to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. The research association also held a “Celebrating the Centennial of the Founding of the Communist Party of China” Buddhist calligraphy and painting exhibition, photography exhibition, and organized members to visit the Taixu Memorial Hall on Xuedou Mountain. The president of the research association, Hongfa, and the secretary general, Xu Xinmin, attended the international academic seminar on “Taixu and Modern China” at Peking University; Maintain academic exchanges and cultural exchange activities with academic institutions such as the Buddhist Research Center of Peking University and the Zhejiang Xuedoushan Taixu Research Association.
Academic research highlights the charm of ideas. The research association has published two issues of “Master Taixu”, which includes dozens of academic papers from professors from domestic universities, renowned monks from domestic temples, and members of the research association. The research institute has achieved significant research results, with member Xu Xinmin publishing eight papers in “Fayin”, “Xuedoushan Buddhism”, “Collection of Research Papers on Master Taixu”, and “Yonghui Chaoyin – Collection of Memorial Papers on Master Taixu”; The “Interpretation of Four Lost Articles in Taixu” was awarded the Outstanding Project Award by the Haining Social Science Federation in 2021. Member Wang Xuehai’s “Life Buddhism and Its Humanistic Dimensions of Taixu” was published in “Chinese Culture” as a key article to recommend to both domestic and international audiences, and “The Aesthetics and Practice of Life Theory in the Buddhist Thought of Master Taixu” was published as a leading article in the column “Research on Chinese Aesthetics”. The research articles written by members on Taixu have been published in Haining and various magazines, and the research results have attracted attention from the domestic academic community.