Biography in English

Li Shu-t'ung (1880-4 September 1942), pioneer of modern music and drama in China who became Hung-i, one of the most celebrated Buddhist clerics of his time.

Tientsin was the birthplace of Li Shu-t'ung, the son by a concubine of Li Hsiao-lou, a chinshih of 1847. The elder Li was an adept both of the philosophy of the Ming Xeo-Confucian thinker Wang Yang-ming (1472-1529) and of Zen Buddhism. He died when Li Shu-t'ung was four, leaving the boy to be reared by his mother, then only in her twenties.

Li's education and upbringing were unexceptional for a boy of his class and era. Encouraged by his elder half-brothers, he began to study the Confucian classics and made rapid progress. He also learned painting and seal carving. At the same time, he gave evidence of pronounced religious preoccupation, as when he committed to memory the Mahdkarunddharani and other liturgical texts recited by Buddhist monks at family memorial services or imitated monkish rituals of propitiation and exorcism. According to an account given to a friend in later years, the young Li was also given to fits of depression when he contemplated the transience, emptiness, and misery which even then seemed to him to characterize this world. Through the kindly attention of his elder half-brothers and the simple piety of the women members of his family, he achieved a command of the main elements of the Chinese classical tradition together with an understanding of Buddhism, at least as practiced by the devotees of the buddha Amitabha.

As a consequence of his family's high position, Li had been affianced at birth to a Miss Yü, whom he married in 1897. Two sons, born in 1900 and 1904 respectively, resulted from this union. Little more is known of either his wife or children, for, if Li in subsequent years did not precisely abandon them, he never regarded his marriage as having prior claims over filial piety, devotion to the arts, or religion. Also in 1897, Li became a partisan of the reform faction then seeking a voice in the operations of the Chinese government. To what extent he actually participated in the activities of the young men and junior officials who supported K'ang Yu-wei and Liang Ch'i-ch'ao (qq.v.) cannot be determined, but it is certain that he was considered a member of the reform party. He even carved a seal reading "Xan-hai K'ang-chün shih wushih" [K'ang Yu-wei is my teacher]. As a consequence, he was obliged to flee from Tientsin to Shanghai when, on 21-22 September 1898, the Empress Dowager Tz'u-hsi (ECCP, I, 295-300) launched the coup d'etat which ended the Hundred Days Reform and which cost six of the reform leaders their lives. In his flight Li was accompanied only by his mother. At Shanghai, Li thought it prudent to establish residence in the French concession. At the same time, he set about making the acquaintance of local literati. By winning three times in succession the prize offered for classical composition by the Hu-hsueh-hui [Shanghai literary club], Li came to the favorable notice of the principal sponsor o'f the club, Hsti Huanyuan. In 1899 Hsü invited Li and his mother to take up residence in his country villa south of Shanghai, initiating what Li himself later came to regard as the period of his secular life which came closest to perfection. Hsü's villa, surrounded by ancient willows and bordered by a meandering brook, was in a secluded suburb. Li was alloted a small house, where he lived contentedly with his mother and a few servants. Together with Hsü, and such friends of Hsü as Ts'ai Hsiao-hsiang, Chang Hsiao-lou, and Yuan Hsi-lien, Li spent six years at the villa painting and practicing the art of Chinese poetry in its various classical forms. These activities led eventually to the formation of the Shanghai shu-hua kung-hui [Shanghai association for calligraphy and painting], which for several years published the weekly Shu-hua pao [bulletin of calligraphy and painting]. The bulletin was edited by Li Shu-t'ung and was notable for the high quality of its plates and for exposing practitioners of traditional Chinese art to new artistic ideas. Li, Whose own poetry, painting, calligraphy, and seal carving were attracting notice in Shanghai, shortly after 1900 published Li-luyin-p'u [my book of seals], which contained impressions of rare and ancient seals from his own collection and of seals carved by himself. His next publication was Li-lu shih-chung [the bell], a collection of his own verse. Beginning in 1902, Li studied for a time at Nanyang University, where he and Shao Li-tzu (q.v.) were favorite pupils of Ts'ai Yuan-p'ei (q.v.). While living at Hsü Huan-yuan's villa, Li Shu-t'ung made the acquaintance of a number of the most famous singsong girls of the time and down to the day of his ordination preserved in elaborate brocade mountings copies of poems and letters which he had exchanged with them. In 1901 Li's name was linked to that of Yang Ts'ui-hsi, a courtesan celebrated both for her abilities as a singer and for the minuteness of her bound feet. She later became the concubine of Ts'ai-chen, an important personage in his own right and the son of I-k'uang (ECCP, II, 964-65;, who from 1903 until 1911 was the highest official in the Ch'ing government. A garbled and somewhat fictionalized account of their relationship appears in Yang Ts'ui'hsi erhsan shih [some incidents in the life of Yang Ts'ui-hsi].

In 1905 Li Shu-t'ung's mother died suddenly. Her death was a great shock to him, and, after seeing her coffin safely to its final resting place in Tientsin, he spent some time meditating on his future before deciding to go to Japan and to study Western art and music. During his years in Shanghai, Li had become interested in Western art and also in the adaptation of Western techniques to Chinese art. Another factor which influenced his decision was that a number of his old reformist acquaintances who had fled to Japan in 1898 were still living there. After arriving in Japan late in 1905, Li Shu-t'ung entered the Ueno Bijutsu Semmon Gakko [Ueno art academy], where his chief subject was oil painting. At the Ongaku Gakko [academy of music] he studied music, concentrating on the piano. In both branches of study he made rapid progress and readily adapted himself to Western techniques. His charcoal study Ch' U-nü-hua [portrait of a virgin] excited great interest, as much for its technique as for the spiritual expression of the model, and later became a part of the collection of Feng Tzu-k'ai (q.v.;. After Li discovered that his age and the many hours needed for practice would effectively prevent him from obtaining first rank as a pianist, he began to study music theory and composition. Some of his songs were published years later under the title Chung-wen ming-ko wu-shih-ch' ü [fifty famous songs in Chinese]. In 1906 he began publication of Yin-yüeh hsiao-tsa-chih [the little magazine of music], a biannual devoted to the introduction of Western music theory to China and the first magazine devoted entirely to musical affairs to be published in China. The activity which won Li Shu-t'ung most fame during his years in Japan was neither painting nor music, however, but theater. Before going to Japan he had become a skilled amateur performer in Chinese opexa, which he had studied in leisure moments while a student at Xanyang University. Li was profoundly impressed by the Western naturalistic drama which he saw presented on the Japanese stage. Accordingly, he joined with Ou-yang Yü-ch'ien (q.v.), and others in organizing the Ch'un-liu chü-she [spring willow drama club] for the presentation of Western plays in Chinese. In the course of the next several years the group put on successful productions of such plays as La Dame aux camelias, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Les Aliserables. Li specialized in women's roles, and his moving performance as Camille was acclaimed by both Chinese and Japanese critics.

In 1910 Li returned to China with a young Japanese girl who had been living with him for some months. Li established her in Shanghai and his wife and children in Tientsin and went to work as a teacher of drawing at the Chih-li mo-fan kung-hsüeh hsüeh-t'ang [Chihli academy of applied arts]. In 1912 Li's personal fortune, much of it invested in stocks, diminished considerably as a result of the revolution. He then moved to Shanghai, where he assumed the position of instructor in music at the Ch'engtung nü-hsueh [east Shanghai girl's college]. At this time, revolutionary ardor was reflected in the formation of a number of literai~y societies dedicated to the cause of bringing new vitality to Chinese literature. Among these new groups was the Xan-she [southern society], led by Liu Ya-tzu (q.v.). Li Shut'ung attended its first meeting in April 1912 and became one of its more prominent members. In Shanghai, Li also continued his career as a journalist and editor. When Ch'en Ch'i-mei (q.v.) started the T'ai-p'ing-jang pao [Pacific journal] in 1912, with Chu Shao-p'ing as editor in chief and Yeh Ch'u-ts'ang (q.v.) as chief editorial writer, he persuaded Li to assume the dual post of literary editor in chief and editor of the pictorial supplement, the T'ai-p'ing-yang hua-pao. The pictorial supplement, one of the first such features to be tried on a regular basis by a Chinese newspaper, succeeded largely because of Li's imaginative and tasteful direction. The literary section also flourished, and under Li's editorship a number of new young writers of merit were published, including Su Man-shu (q.v.), whose Tuan-hung ling-yen [a single goose] first appeared in this publication. Li also organized a new literary group, the Wen-mei hui [fine arts society] and assumed editorship of its journal, the Wen-mei tsa-chih [fine arts magazine]. Before long, however, both the T'ai-p^ing-yang pao and the Wen-mei hui went bankrupt. As a result, Li left Shanghai for Hangchow.

Beginning in 1913 Li was employed as instructor in drawing and music at the Che-chiang liang-chi shih-fan hsüeh-hsiao [Chekiang dual level normal school], which subsequently became Che-chiang ti-i shih-fan ta-hsüeh [Chekiang first normal college]. In 1915 he also assumed the post of instructor in drawing at Nan-ching kao-teng shih-fan ta-hsueh [Nanking higher normal school]. Among Li's colleagues were Hsia K'ai-tsun, T'ien Chün-fu, and Ma Hsü-lun (q.v.), and his students included Feng Tzu-k'ai, Liu Chih-p'ing, Wu Meng-fei, and I's'ao Chüjen. As a teacher, Li was remembered by his students both for his clear, painstaking way of teaching and for his high example of seriousness and probity. In Hangchow he became increasingly sober and reflective and adopted a style of life which stressed the traditional Confucian simplicity appropriate to a teacher and scholar. In a remarkable way he was able to communicate his enthusiasm for drawing and music to students. His recognition and encouragement of Feng Tzu-k'ai's talent led directly to Feng's choice of art as a career. Although Li Shu-t'ung had lived a full and sophisticated life, at least up to his return from Japan, he later confided to friends that he had never known real happiness and that as a layman he had never been without a depressing sense of the transience of all things. The death of his father in 1884, the failure of his political dreams in 1898, the death of his mother in 1905, his loveless marriage and complicated home life, and the political confusion and the loss of his fortune in 1912 eventually led him to a thoroughgoing reexamination of life and his place in it. Initially, he turned to Neo- Confucianism, a subject in which his father had acquired considerable learning. At the same time, he took up Taoism and went so far as to affect Taoist garb and to practice certain Taoist austerities. In January 1917 Li traveled to Ta-tz'u-shan and made his first extended fast, a 17-day effort involving gradual withdrawal from food, subsistence on water alone for one week, and gradual return to normal nutriment. The physical and spiritual effects of the fast were so pronounced that Li adopted a new personal name, "Ying" [newborn], and resolved to pursue to the end the new studies and disciplines that the experience of the fast had opened up to him. At this stage, his religious interests were centered in Taoism, but he had begun to study related aspects of Buddhism. His conversion and decision to join the Buddhist clergy came about in the same apocalyptic way as had his wholehearted conversion to Taoism. When asked by a friend. Ma I-fu, to recommend a quiet district for meditation to a certain Mr. P'eng, a friend of Ma and a student of the ching tso [meditation], Li named Ta-tz'u-shan. As it happened, Li planned to be there at the same time, and he struck up an acquaintance with P'eng. When they arrived at Ta-tz'u-shan, P'eng conceived the desire to become a Buddhist monk. His decision so moved Li that he determined to follow suit, but he was able to take only the vows of a lay believer. At this time, Li became a disciple of the eminent monk Liao-wu, began public worship of the Buddha, gave up meat and spicy vegetables, and studied the Buddhist scriptures. On 15 April 1918, having given away all of his books, seals, clothes, scrolls, and paintings to his colleagues and students, he took his first vows of entrance into the Buddhist clergy. At this point he adopted his name in religion, "Hung-i" [vast unity]. It has been reported that Hung-i's wife, children, and Japanese concubine arrived in Ta-tz'u-shan shortly thereafter in hopes of dissuading him from becoming a monk. Their protests proved futile, however, and they departed—the wife and children for Tientsin, the Japanese concubine for Japan. Hung-i shaved his head and took final vows in July 1918.

As a monk, Hung-i continued to practice the austerities through which he had achieved his first insights into profound religious experience. His frequent fasts and rigorous life won him many lay admirers. Hung-i also became known for delivering simple, moving sermons. However, Hung-i's most notable contribution to modern Chinese Buddhism was not in evangelism nor in the investigation which he made into the doctrines of the ching-t'u [pure land] sect, but in reform of the Buddhist clergy. He believed that the decline of Buddhism had come about in large measure through the decay of the clergy and that moral reforms were needed. This view of the problem of a Buddhist renaissance centering on the clergy contrasted sharply with the views of Yin-kuang, who proclaimed a simplified version of ching-t'u teachings which stressed an unquestioning faith in the buddha Amitabha, and with those of Hsü-yün, who dispensed almost entirely with ecclesiasticalapparatus and preached the Zen doctrine of the sudden enlightenment of the individual 'through meditation. T'ai-hsü (q.v.) attempted to bring the clergy back into the modern world by a synthesis of traditional doctrines with socialism, relativity theory, and other imports from the West, earning in passing the title ''revolutionary monk," but Hung-i concentrated on the moral regeneration of the clergy.

In September 1918 Hung-i took a series of special vows known as chieh [prohibitions]. Finding that these vows were especially relevant to his own spiritual needs, Hung-i proceeded to make a special study of the tradition within Buddhism from which they emerged. This was the lü or "monastic discipline" sect, which flourished during T'ang times, but subsequently declined. The doctrines of the lü school had been codified and brought to completion by the eminent monk Tao-hsüan (596-667). The most important part of the canon consisted in carefully detailed "prohibitive precepts," 250 for monks and 348 for nuns, which effectively applied to all aspects of life. Because he was convinced that a national Buddhist renaissance would have to begin with a regenerated clergy and that he had discovered systems of "monastic discipline" through which such a regeneration could take place, Hung-i devoted the rest of his life to a reexamination and recodification of the doctrines of the lü school. In 1924 these studies culminated in his Ssu-fen-lu pi-ch'iu chieh-hsiang piao-chi [rules of monastic discipline in four sections]. In this synthesis of a large number of existing treatises on "monastic discipline," Hung-i set forth a simple, consistent system of behavior for clerics which, more than any other work published for hundreds of years, responded to the needs of the tens of thousands of Buddhist monks throughout China. The book was welcomed by Buddhist churchmen of almost all persuasions. Hung-i then wrote a series of treatises on related topics. Among these were biographical accounts of the sect's virtual founder, Tao-hsüan, which appeared as Nanshan Tao-hsüan lü-tsu lueh-p'u [a brief life of Taohsüan, founder of the "monastic discipline" school] and Nan-shan nien-p'u [chronological biography of Tao-hsüan]. For his efforts in reviving this branch of Buddhism, Hung-i earned the designation ch'ung-hsing Nan-shan lü-tsung ti-shih-i-tai tsu-shih [eleventh patriarch and restorer of the "monastic discipline" school]. In 1929 Hung-i collaborated with his pupil Feng Tzu-k'ai on the first of a series of volumes entitled Hu-sheng hua-chi, a calligraphic text written by Hung-i in the form of fables with Buddhist morals. Feng produced 50 illustrations for the first volume. The second and third volumes appeared in 1940 and 1950. Soon after the Sino-Japanese war began in 1937, Japanese forces occupied the area where Hung-i was living. Hung-i did not allow their presence to interrupt his life of preaching, traveling, and writing. By this time, Hung-i had reduced his personal needs to a minimum and traveled with little more than one battered straw mat for a bed and an extra robe. His endurance of want and suffering served as a much emulated example in the occupied areas through which he traveled. Typical of his spirit during his final years was his remark to Hsia K'ai-tsun after Hsia had accidently added too much salt to Hung-i's simple vegetable supper: "Let it be. Salt has the flavor of salt, and that is good too." Although a cleric and thus "dead to the world," Hung-i reacted patriotically to the Japanese invasion, resisting efforts to remove him to safer areas and responding to requests for samples of his calligraphy with such mottos as "nien-Fo pu-wang chiu-kuo" [in the worship of Buddha do not neglect the salvation of China]. Wartime privation combined with continued austerities and fasts soon began to weaken Hung-i's health. His condition became grave during the summer of 1942, and in September of that year he made a final gift of all his earthly possessions to Hsia K'ai-tsun and Liu Chih-p'ing. He died on 4 September 1942 at Ch'üanchou, Fukien. Since his demise, the memory of Hung-i has been kept alive, largely through the efforts ofhis former colleagues and disciples. A memorial stele was raised at Ch'üanchou in 1952 on the tenth anniversary of his death. A year later a similar but larger monument was erected at Hangchow. Feng Tzu-k'ai and Yeh Sheng-t'ao (q.v.) were among the sponsors of the Hangchow column. In recent histories of Chinese music Hung-i has been commended for his pioneer efforts in introducing ^Vestern music to China. In 1958 a collection of his songs, edited and illustrated by Feng Tzu-k'ai, was published at Peking under the title Li Shu-t'ung ko-ch'ü chi [songs of Li Shu-t'ung].

Biography in Chinese

李叔同

法名;弘一

李叔同(1830—1942.9.4),中国近代音乐,近代戏曲的创导人,后出家为僧,法名弘一。

李叔同,出生在天津,是1847年科进士李筱楼的侍妾所生之子。他父亲酷爱理学,王阳明学说,又信奉禅宗。他父亲去世时,李叔同年仅四岁,由年仅二十多岁的母亲抚养。

李叔同幼年时的教养是异乎寻常的,他在堂兄辈的鼓励下读了些儒家典籍而且进步很快,又学绘画篆刻。他又能背诵摩诃罗婆多经和家中建醮祭佛时听到僧侣所念的经文,他似乎生来就硕向于此。据他的朋友们的记述,说他冥思这世界的暂短,空虚、和不幸,常常情怀凄凉。他在堂兄辈和家中女眷的爱抚下,熟习了主要的佛家经典和对佛经的一些理解,最后终于皈依佛教。

他身出名门,出生时就与余氏订婚。于1897年与她结婚,1900年,1904年前后已有二个儿子。关于他的妻子和儿子的情况不详,此后。李叔同即使并未遗弃他的妻儿,他也认为他的婚姻不过是尽孝道而已。1897年,他热心维新,那时清政府内也出现了维新派。他参予康梁的维新到何等程度还无法说明,但无论如何他是自认为维新派的一员,他刻有“南海康君是吾师”的图章,因此,1898年9月21日到22日慈禧取消百日维新,杀害六君子时,李叔同不得不由天津逃到上海,此行只有他母亲一人陪同。

李叔同为谨慎起见,住在上诲法租界,此时,结识了一些上海文人。他的文章三次在沪学会获奖,得到创办人徐尉园的赏识,请他和他母亲迁居到沪南 别庄,李叔同自称这是他隐居生活的开始,别庄古楹小溪,地处郊区僻静之地,他和他母亲及三数人舒适度日。绘画作诗过了六年,以后又组成了“上海书画公会”,由李叔同主编刊印了几年《书画报》,印制十分精致,又刊印了用新技巧所作的国画。李叔同本人的诗画书印于1900年出版的《李庐印谱》,其中有他收藏的珍贵古印和他本人的篆刻,不久又出版了他的诗集《李庐诗钟》。1902年初,李叔同进了南洋大学,他和邵子力是蔡元培的得意门生。

李叔同住在自己的别庄期间,结识了当时的一些著名歌女,与她们诗书往还。这些诗书直到他出家后还裱饰起来精装保存。1901年,李叔同与以三寸金莲歌喉动人而闻名的妓女杨翠喜来往。杨翠喜后来成了奕劻的儿子载振的小老婆,他们的关系记述在传奇式的《杨翠喜二三事》之中。

1905年,李叔同的母亲突然去世,这给他很大刺激,他在天津亲自为之殓葬后,去日本学音乐美术,另一个去日本的原因是因为维新派旧友自1898逃往日本后还有一些在那里。

1905年,李叔同到日本,进了上野黄术学校习油画,后来进音乐学校,专修钢琴。他在绘画音乐方法的学习进步很快,熟习了西洋技巧。他的木炭画《处女画》,其技巧情态为当时所重视,后来收集在丰子恺所编的集子中。李叔同以自己年龄和时间的关系,不可能再成为第一流钢琴家,所以转而学音乐理论和作曲,他的几首歌曲收第在《中华民国五十曲》中。1906年,李叔同主编出版介绍西洋音乐的半年刊《音乐小杂志》。李叔同在日本几年中最闻名的活动并非绘画和音乐,而是戏剧。他在南洋大学时曾客串演出京剧,他在日本时见到日本舞台上演出的西方自然主义的戏剧感到很有兴趣,因此与欧阳予倩等人组成“春柳剧社”用中文演出西方戏剧。此后几年中,接连演出《茶花女遗事》,《黑奴吁天录》、《悲惨世界》等剧本,李叔同扮演女角,他扮演的茶花女,在国内和日本获得了好评。

1910年,李叔同和与他同居了几个月的日本妇女回国,把她安置在上海,而把自己原来的妻儿安置在天津,自己则在直隶模范公学教绘画。1912年,李叔同的私人财产及股票因革命军起而大受损失,他迁往上海,在城东女校教音乐。这时,革命的热潮促进一些充满新活力的文学团协的出现,其中有柳亚子创办的“南社”,1912年4月,李叔同参加了首次聚会,成为其中著名人物。

李叔同在上海当记者与编辑。1912年陈其美创办《太平洋报》,朱少屏任主編,叶楚伧任社论主笔,邀请李叔同任文学主编并副刊《太平洋报》的主编。这份画报,在国内系属首创,由于李叔同想像丰富,内容隽永而获得很大成功,他主编的文学部份,首次刊出了一些优秀的年青作家如苏曼殊的作品。李叔同又另组文学团体“文美会”。出版《唯美杂志》,《太平洋报》和“文美会”破产,李叔同离上海去杭州。

1913年初,李叔同在浙江两级师范教美术音乐,该校不久改名为浙江第一师范。1915年任南京高等师范美术教师,与他同事的有夏丏尊、马叙伦等人,他的学生有丰子恺、刘质平、吴梦非。曹豪仁等人。他教书口齿清楚,态度认真,为人严肃正直。他在杭州时沉默寡言、生活俭朴。他善于把美术音乐的感情传授给学生,他对丰子恺的赏识和鼓励,使丰子恺终于把艺术当作他的毕生事业。

李叔同自日本回国后,生活在疑虑之中,他后来对期友说,他从未体会过真正的幸福,每当感到万物瞬息他就十分悲伤。1884年他父亲去世、1898年政治上一场幻梦,1905年他母亲去世,他的毫无感情的婚姻,复杂的家庭遭遇,1912年的破产,使他重新探索生活及其自处之道。起先,他倾心于他父亲所素习的理学,后又习信道家,穿道袍守道规。1917年1月他去大慈山断食十七日,开始时减食,继之以水代食,最后遂渐恢复,断食使他身心愉快,他乃取名为“婴”以志纪念,并决心穷其究竟。当时,他虽仍致力于道教,但也涉猎佛经,开始有出家为僧的念头。有一次,他的朋友马一浮要他为彭某找一处静修之所,李叔同介绍他去大慈山,彭某是净土宗,当李叔同去大慈山时,彭某准备出家当和尚,这使李叔同很受影响。从此皈依佛敎,拜了悟和尚为师,念经茹素。1918年4月15日,他把书籍印章衣物书画赠送给朋友学生,出家当了和尚,取法名为“弘一”,当时他的妻儿和日本侍妾去大慈山劝阻但未成功。他的妻儿乃去天津,侍妾回日本,1918年9月他剃发皈佛。

弘一由他自身的谨行虔修而悟佛道,他的断食虔修为不少居士所称誉。他善于作短偈,他对中国近代佛教的贡献并不在他对净土宗增订演释,而在于他的僧徒的改革。他认为佛教之所以衰落是由于僧徒的败坏,因此需要改进。这与仰光的虔信阿弥陀佛潜修顿悟大不相同。太虚主张在佛教中渗杂些西方的社会主义,相对主义的观点,使僧徒回到现世,因此被称为“革命和尚”,弘一则主张僧徒的道德修养。

弘一自设戒律,律已甚严,他研究佛教的演变,尤注意唐代一时盛行而后衰落的律宗,律宗式条,曾由高僧道宣编集,对僧尼各有250条和348条戒律,涉及生活的各个方面。弘一认为佛法的宏大,需要从重振僧徒开始,而重振之道已在律宗各各例中规定。以后,弘一就专精于律宗,1924年集成《四分律比丘戒相表记》,为全国万千僧侣所遵行。弘一并为此撰文,作《南山道宣律祖略谱》,《南山年谱》,因此有人称弘一为“重兴南山律祖第十一代祖师”。1929年,他和学生丰子恺编佛教书画《护生画集》,第一卷弘一撰书,丰子恺作画。第二、三卷先后于1940年,1950年出版。

1937年中日战后,弘一的居地为日军佔领,他仍继续讲经,旅游,著述,他生活极其艰苦,只带一席一袍随处游旅,有一次夏丏尊曾为他的素食中多加了一点盐,他说:“算了吧,盐总是盐味,这已经足够了”。作为一个僧侣,是为了“救世”,他坚不迁往安全地区,以示对日军侵略的抗议,他书写“念佛不忘救国”的联屏。战时的匮乏和他经常断食,使他的身体很衰弱,1942年更为严重,9月,他将所存各件移赠夏丏尊、刘质平,9月4日,死在福建泉州。

他下葬后,他的朋友学生为纪念他举行了各种活动。1952年,他逝世十周年,在泉州立了石碑柱,一年后由丰子恺、叶圣陶在杭州立石碑柱,在近代中国音乐史上,他是介绍西洋音乐的首创人。1958年他的歌曲由丰子恺编《李叔同歌曲集》在北京出版。

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