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{{Bio_infobox
|name-date=Chén Yuánbái 陳元白 (1877-1940)
|names=* Courtesy name 字: Yùshí 裕時; Yuánbó 元伯; Yuánbái 圓白
|image=
|birth=[[1877]] in Yíchāng 宜昌, Hǔběi [[湖北]]
|death=[[1940]] in Chóngqìng [[重慶]], of illness
|associates=Notable Associates:
* Dàcí [[大慈]]
* Jiǎng Zuòbīn [[蔣作賓]]
* Lǐ Yǐnchén [[李隱塵]]
* Shǐ Yīrú [[史一如]]
* Tàixū [[太虛]]
* Wáng Sēnfǔ [[王森甫]]
|editor-name=Erik Hammerstrom
}}
'''Chén Yuánbái 陳元白 (1877-1940)''' was a prominent lay Buddhist in Wǔchāng [[武昌]], who helped establish the Wǔchāng Buddhist Seminary [[武昌佛學院]].

== Biography ==
Chén participated in the army that laid siege to Nánjīng [[南京]] during the Revolution of [[1911]]. In [[1913]], he went to Japan, where he studied philosophy and meditation.  Around [[1918]], he joined Jiǎng Zuòbīn [[蔣作賓]] and Huáng Bǎocāng 黃葆蒼 (who ordained as Dàcí [[大慈]] later that year) in going to Pǔtuóshān [[普陀山]] to hear Tàixū [[太虛]] lecture. Chén became a devoted student of Tàixū. Later that year, Chén and Lǐ Yǐnchén [[李隱塵]] invited Tàixū to come lecture in Hànkǒu [[漢口]], which marked the beginning of Tàixū's Buddhist activities in the Wǔchāng [[武昌]] area. In [[1918]], Chén and these individuals also helped establish the Awakening Society [[覺社]] in Shànghǎi [[上海]].

In [[1920]], Chén, Lǐ, Wáng Sēnfǔ [[王森甫]] and others invited Tàixū to Wǔchāng to lecture again. These lectures were attended by numerous businessmen and community figures. This was the beginning of the Hànkǒu Buddhist Association [[漢口佛教會]], which later became the Buddhist Right Faith Society 佛教[[正信會]]. The following year, they again invited Tàixū to lecture, this time at Guīyuán Temple [[歸元寺]] in Hànyáng [[漢陽]]. After these lectures on the ''Yuánjué jing'' 圓覺經 (Sūtra of Complete Enlightenment), Chén, Lǐ, Wáng, and others decided to establish the Wǔchāng Buddhist Seminary [[武昌佛學院]], which they invited Tàixū to head.

In [[1924]], Chén was one of several thousand people to receive esoteric initiation, or ''abiṣeka'', in Japanese Esoteric Buddhism [[東密]] from Chísōng [[持松]] at Bǎotōng Temple 寶通寺 on Hóngshān 洪山.

== Notes ==
<references/>

== References ==
* {{ZFJS}} Pp.  2.517-518.
* [http://baike.baidu.com/view/2884181.htm Baidu article]

[[Category:Biography]]