Background
His family name before entering Buddhist monastery was Lu. Mr/ Tai was born in Chungteh, Chekiang, China in 1889.
His family name before entering Buddhist monastery was Lu. Mr/ Tai was born in Chungteh, Chekiang, China in 1889.
He studied Buddhist scripture and literature at Pu-To-Shan Monasteries in Chekiang.
At age of 21, Monk Tai Hsu became teacher at the Buddhist Huayu School. He became head monk of White Cloud Mountain Monastery in Canton at age of 22 after establishment of the Republic.
He founded the Buddhist Faith Promotion Society at Nanking which was later reorganized as the China Buddhist Society. Mr. Tai did intensive research work in Buddhist literature and also Chinese and Western philosophies at a Monastery in Pu-To-Shan Islands from 1914 till 1916.
Monk Tai Hsu travelled in Japan, Formosa and the South Sea Islands, preaching the gospel of Buddhism from 1916 till 1917. He preached at Peking in 1919.
In 1920 Mr. Tai became head monk of a monastery at Hangchow and shortly after went to Hankow and Canton to preach Buddhism and established the Buddhist Society in Hankow. He returned to Hangchow and became head monk of the Chin-Sze Temple there in 1921.
In 1922 he went to Hankow again to preach Buddhism and established a Buddhism Study Institute which attracted many students. Same year, was elected head monk of a famous temple in Hunan. He organised the World Buddhist Association at a monastery in Lushan, Kiangsi which held its first Convention in 1925 and at which he was elected Chairman represented China at the East Asiatic Buddhist Conference held in Japan re-visited the South Sea Islands and South China to lecture on Buddhism in 1926.
Monk Tai Hsu established the Shanghai Buddhist Institute and the Fukien Buddhist School in 1927 and same year, was made a member of the directorate of School of Chinese Studies in Germany. He was invited by Frankfurt University, Germany, to lecture on Buddhism and philosophy in 1928 and travelled through France, England and other European countries to America and spoke at more than 50 high educational institutions one of the most learned and enlightened Buddhist monks in China who has achieved world renown.