The Venerable Chi Song, Chinese Esoteric Buddhist Innovator

Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey.

The following Research Reflection, by Hai Jin, Postdoctoral Fellow, is part of an ongoing series spotlighting spotlighting the academic study of religions.

A polymath scholar-monk, the Venerable Chi Song (1894–1972) actively revived Esoteric Buddhism in China during the early twentieth century when he founded Hu-Mi, a Shanghai-based, socially distinct Esoteric Buddhism that combines the doctrines of the originally Chinese school of Huayan Buddhism with Japanese Shingon Buddhist practices. Hu-Mi was essentially a new Chinese Esoteric Buddhism. 

Chi Song is an understudied but pivotal figure who creatively reinterpreted ancient teachings. Chi Song reframed rituals considered secretive or otherworldly to be publicly accessible tools for ethical and social transformation. He openly published dozens of books revealing secret mudras (mystic gestures) and mantras (prayer spells), and he offered tantric empowerments to tens of thousands of laypeople. At widely attended social events, he performed the “Rainmaking Practice” and the “Great Peacock King Practice” rituals, important methods of esoteric cultivation to pacify calamities, invoke rain, dispel obstacles, and extend human lives. 

Esoteric Buddhism is a mystical and ritual branch aligned with tantric Mahayana Buddhism; it aims to accelerate the path to enlightenment. These forms include Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet, Shingon Buddhism in Japan, and Huayan Buddhism. Chi Song traveled to Japan three times to study and practice Japanese Huayan Buddhism—lost in China after the Tang Dynasty (618-907) but persisting in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam—and to access initiatory lineages of Japanese Shingon. Chi Song studied organization and education systems in Japanese Buddhism. His research reflects the scarcity of Esoteric Chinese sources and displaces the overemphasis on Tibetan and Japanese models. 

The Hu-Mi school’s Shingon-inspired practices enact Huayan’s Buddhist meditative accomplishments and philosophy, such as the interdependent arising of the dharma realm and cultivating experiences of harmony and unity in the universe through ritual practice. Japanese Shingon aims to attain Buddhahood in the human body through mantra, mudra, and mystic diagrams called the matrix and diamond mandalas as a pair forming a nondual relationship. Literally, the matrix mandala symbolizes Mahavairocana Buddha’s body (five great elements-earth, water, fire, wind, space). In comparison, the diamond mandara represents Mahavairocana Buddha’s mind (the sixth element-consciousness). Hu-mi aspires to move beyond theoretical understanding toward a profound realization of “the harmonious integration of the dharma realm.”

Chi Song brought important Huayan Buddhist scriptures and commentaries back to China; many lost since the Tang Dynasty. Huayan Buddhism had been reformatted into Japanese style, returning teachings to their Chinese source. In addition to integrating Japanese Shingon esoteric lore to Huayan Buddhism, Chi Song created administrative and educational structures inspired by his experiences with Japanese Buddhism.

Chi Song’s Hu-Mi Buddhism is an interdisciplinary and dynamic doctrinal system that responds to the challenges of modernity by appealing to urban Buddhists and welcoming laypeople. Ancient Buddhism in urban areas centered around monasteries, emphasizing monastic practice, almsgiving, and the pursuit of liberation from the cycle of life and death. Modern urban Buddhism, including Hu-Mi, focuses on lay practices, utilizes technology to disseminate teachings, and emphasizes everyday psychological well-being and happiness. 

Early in his career, Chi Song focused on a theoretical integration of Esoteric Buddhist and Huayan doctrines. Later, he practically focused, rather than theoretically focused, on the cultivation of rituals and embodied practice, all informed by Shingon but aimed to realize Huayan ideals. His writings reflect this shift. 

Written Shortly after his return to China from Japan, Chi Song’s book Measuring Huayan and Esoteric Buddhism (1928) framed Esoteric Buddhism within the interpretive framework of Huayan philosophy by using its metaphysical ideas to legitimize and explain esoteric rituals. At this early point in his career, Huayan founded the theories and practices of Hu-Mi, a new Chinese Esoteric Buddhism. Later in his career, in his book Passing Barriers for Esoteric Buddhism (1936), Chi Song reversed his earlier thoughts to argue that esoteric practice—Shingon, rather than Huayan—offers the most direct and practical path to realizing Huayan cosmology in daily life. 

Shingon Buddhist practices were the foundation for practicing and realizing Huayan doctrines in Chi Song’s Hu-Mi sect that emphasizes both theoretical depth and practical experience. Hu-Mi practitioners gain a more comprehensive understanding of Buddhism than mainstream Chinese Buddhism. They achieve absolute physical and mental purification, spiritual awakening, and ultimate enlightenment in daily life and during practice.

Hu-Mi illustrates the ways modern Buddhist traditions evolve when confronted with modernity and globalization. Hu-Mi is Esoteric Buddhism that deploys secret, expedient teachings and practices. Hu-Mi is also a dynamic participant in the broader discourse of Humanistic Buddhism, which is a socially engaged, ethically relevant, and culturally adaptive expression of Buddhist tradition. 

Buddhist institutions can adapt to modern contexts without losing doctrinal depth, and this is especially important in contemporary times due to the declining numbers of Buddhists in Asia. Chi Song emphasized public rituals and cultural production, including poetry and calligraphy, and he endorsed social service. All this makes Buddhism relevant in urban, pluralistic settings. Furthermore, Chi Song’s engagement with Japanese thought and Japanese Buddhism demonstrates his commitment to dialogue across cultures in an increasingly globalized Buddhism. Perhaps we should all aspire to Chi Song’s example.