The Tianjin Lay Buddhist Society is located at No. 669, Chengxiang Middle Road, Nankai District, with a construction area of 700.52 square meters. It consists of the Mahavira Hall and the side halls, built during the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. The Society’s predecessor was the ‘Qingxiu Institute’, originally the family temple of Li Chuncheng, one of the eight prominent families in Tianjin known as ‘Li Shanren’.
In 1917, the Li family invited Qingchi Monk from Zifang Temple in Huairou County, Beijing, to preside over the Qingxiu Institute. At that time, Xu Shicheng, the President of the Beiyang Government, inscribed the plaque ‘Qingxiu Zen Institute’. Later, due to the warlord chaos and the occupation of Tianjin by the Zhi-Lu Coalition, the Qingxiu Institute was closed. In 1928, with the collapse of the Beiyang Government, the Qingxiu Zen Institute returned to the Li family. In 1933, Le Yunpeng, in collaboration with Sun Chuanfang and others, negotiated with Li Chuncheng’s eldest grandson, Li Songju, to transform the Qingxiu Zen Institute into the ‘Tianjin Buddhist Lay Society’. Le Yunpeng served as the head of the Society, and Sun Chuanfang as the deputy. It was stipulated that every Sunday, lay Buddhists would gather at the Society to chant scriptures, led by the Venerable Fuming. At that time, the Society had a large following, with over a thousand believers. The Society houses national first-class cultural relics, including the copper gilded statue of Vairocana Buddha from the Yuan Dynasty and a large iron cauldron modeled after the Zhou Dynasty’s cauldron. It also collects artworks from various masters, such as the portrait of the head monk drawn by Yingbao during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, couplets by Master Yuanying, couplets by Zhao Puchu, and thirty-six golden arhat statues by Hua Fei, among others. Thus, the ‘three treasures of the Lay Buddhist Society: copper Buddha, iron cauldron, and calligraphy paintings’ are widely appreciated. The opening hours and business status are subject to the daily opening situation.
