Chao Heng-Ti

CHINA, Hunan, Hengyang

Born in Hengshan county of Hengyang, Chao Heng-Ti, also spelled Zhao Hengti with aliases of Yi-wan and Yi-wu, was a calligrapher and government official. He studied at a dialect school in Hubei, China, and was eventually chosen to study abroad in Japan at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. After returning to China, he supported the revolution of the Nationalist Army, and assumed the position of commander-in-chief of the Hunan army. He also served as the provincial governor in Hunan, and was well-known for being diligent and caring.
In 1926 he moved to Shanghai where he devoted himself to studying Buddhism. In 1934 he organized the Bodhi Association together with Wang Zhen and others to advocate translating the Tibetan Buddhist scriptures and propagating the Dharma. He moved to Taiwan in 1948, and was appointed as a Senior Adviser to the President.
Chao was once a member of the Board of Directors of Xuanzang Temple in Nantou as well as Shandao Temple in Taipei. Together with Lama Changkya, Master Yinshun, Li Tsu-Kuan, and Li Tien-Chun, he attended the second general conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Japan. There, he succeeded in requesting the Japanese government to return Master Xuanzang’s relics and brought them to Taiwan.
Chao was extremely skilled in calligraphy, specializing in semi-cursive and clerical scripts. His piece, Five-Character Quatrain, is now kept at Ho’s Calligraphy Foundation in Taipei, Taiwan. His other works include the horizontal inscribed board of the Great Compassion Hall, Non-Duality Gate, and Avatamsaka Gate at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.