Hwee Koon Tan

Independent Curator

妙凡、程恭讓總編輯

In Taiwan’s Socially Engaged Buddhist Groups, David Schak and Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao (2005) highlighted a new religious phenomenon in Taiwan: the rise of socially engaged Buddhism, with Buddhist groups committed to working for the improvement of society and the well-being of the needy and the sick. The tremendous expansion of Buddhism in Taiwan, especially in the category of a local socially engaged type, is termed renjian fojiao (人間佛教 which translates directly as “terrestrial” i.e. “this-world” Buddhism), or expressed as “engaged” or “socially engaged.” Another frequently used phrase is rushi (入世 “entering” or “being in” the world), in contrast to chushi (出世 “leaving the world”)—mirroring a belief that the Pure Land is this earth, and their goal to purify it.

Hwee Koon Tan, " A Contemporary Artist’s Expressions of Buddhas & Pure Lands in the Human Realm, " 2019人間佛教高峰論壇──人間佛教與未來學 (2020): 362-379COPY