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Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Ten Great Contributions to Buddhism
Since the nineteenth century, Humanistic Buddhism has been the most powerful school of thought in Chinese Buddhism. I recently proposed that while Taixu was distinguished as an advocate of modern Humanistic Buddhism, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, as the founder of modern Humanistic Buddhism, has been an exceptional proponent. Venerable Master Hsing Yun proposed using the concept of the “three greatnesses” from the Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna as the basic principle of the Humanistic Buddhism: greatness of essence, greatness of attributes, and greatness of function. He profoundly influenced the essence, the attributes, and the function of Humanistic Buddhism.
Interpreting Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Commentaries on the Guanyin Faith
Along with the modernization of Buddhism and the theoretical and practical development of Humanistic Buddhism by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, devotion to Guanyin has also undergone a humanistic transformation. The main characteristics of this humanistic transformation are a shift in emphasis from a dependence on divine blessings toward independent self-awakening, and a shift in practice from passive prayer toward active spiritual cultivation. By analyzing his thoughts on divine connection, liberation, and practice as laid out in his commentaries on Guanyin, this paper explores Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s contribution to the humanistic turn in Guanyin devotion, i.e., enlightenment not through worship and prayer, but through individual spiritual cultivation aimed at emulating and then becoming one with Guanyin.
