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On Reincarnation and Emptiness
The importance of the idea of reincarnation was brought to me one afternoon in a small Sherpa village in Nepal near Mt. Everest. The village had a small Buddhist temple and it contained Tibetan texts that interested me. When I asked if I could look at the texts that were housed in the shrine room, the guardian of the temple said they were being kept for the Lama and were not available to others. I asked if I could meet the Lama, expecting to hear that he was on a trip and away. Instead, the person said, “You can. He is just over there in that house” and he pointed to it nearby. I walked over and was greeted by a woman holding a young child. They were both very beautiful and their resemblance noticeable. As you may guess, the child in her arms was the Lama. She explained, looking at the boy with a mix of pride, reverence, and sadness: “This Lama has come to me and I must care for him until he is ready to be trained again.” She was aware that by the time he was five or six, he would be taken from her to live his life as a Lama.
Bodhisattva in the Perfection of Wisdom Buddhist Texts
When we talk about the Prajnaparamita, we sometimes get deep into it. To begin, I have always been interested in the fact that before Sakyamuni became the Buddha and gained his enlightenment, he went to other teachers. We don’t often think about what his teachers have taught him. For example, Alara Kalama taught him a meditation where he could experience infinite space and be conscious of infinite space. After being taught about how to meditate in this way and having experienced infinite space, the Buddha thought it was interesting but it wasn’t good enough. He still hasn’t had the release and hasn’t reached moksha. So, he continued to study with other teachers. Uddaka taught him to go deeper into his mind and reach a mental state which is neither perception nor the lack of perception. A very deep and special state. But, once again, it wasn’t sufficient. Why wasn’t it sufficient? What was lacking? Why did he keep pursuing another path? What was the path he pursued? And, what was the difference between what he finally reached and what his great teachers had taught him? I looked into the Eight Thousand-Line Perfection of Wisdom Sutra having these questions in mind. When we look into this sutra, it is interesting to see that when the Buddha had gathered his audience, all of them were arhats. There was not a bodhisattva in sight. Where were all these bodhisattvas then? What we later on defined as a bodhisattva is what the Prajnaparamita Sutras taught for the first time. The Prajnaparamita created the bodhisattvas. In other words, at the time when he started teaching, this was the first Prajnaparamita Sutra. When the Buddha first taught it, there were no bodhisattvas of the type that we later see. Later in the sutra the bodhisattvas appeared. It was a sequential thing. In the beginning, it tells us that everybody was an arhat.
Humanistic Buddhism: Holding True to the Original Intents of Buddha-Chapter Two: The Humanistic Lifestyle of Buddha
The Buddha lived an extraordinary life. Growing up as the gifted Prince Siddhartha, he mastered the Five Sciences and Four Vedas at a young age. Life inside the palace meant he could have all he desired, including the power to reign over his kingdom. Despite this, he instead drew his attention to the forces of impermanence experienced in life and society such as the significant issues of suffering caused by birth, old age, sickness, and death; discrimination of the caste system; the oppression of power; wealth disparity; and the weak preyed upon by the strong. All these signs of inequality amongst living beings left him perturbed and perplexed.
Humanistic Buddhism: Holding True to the Original Intents of Buddha-Chapter Three: The Core Concepts of Humanistic Buddhism
When the Buddha taught, he constantly acknowledged the different aptitudes of his disciples and amended his approach. Yet, he always taught according to the same set of core concepts. For example, the teachings of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and selflessness are commonly recognized as the earliest Buddhist teachings. In later periods, Buddhists were encouraged to practice the Six Paramitas, aspire for the Four Immeasurable States of Mind, and realize the Four Universal Vows.
Humanistic Buddhism: Holding True to the Original Intents of Buddha Foreword
“What is your faith?” A asks B. “Humanistic Buddhism.” Answers B. “If your faith is Buddhism, then it’s just Buddhism. Why add ‘Humanistic’?” Asks A again. “Because the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni Buddha, was not a god but simply a human being. The uniqueness of Buddhism is that it was founded by a human being, that is why it is called Humanistic Buddhism.”
Humanistic Buddhism: The Essence of Learning for Life in Guang Ming College
Giving importance to education and cognizant of the multifaceted talents of many Filipinos, Venerable Master Hsing Yun founded in June 2014 in the Philippines the fifth consortium school of Fo Guang Shan educational system, the Guang Ming College. Being the pioneer Humanistic Buddhist College in the Philippines, Guang Ming College is open to students of all faiths who are willing to learn and to mutually respect one another̕s customs, cultural traditions, and religious affiliations.
Localization Of Humanistic Buddhism In The West
In Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s diary summary for the latter half of January 1990, a period where he spent his time at Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles, we read a record highlighting two important steps in the localization of Humanistic Buddhism in the West: Starting from Hsi Lai Temple we are actualizing the first step of “The Dharma waters constantly flow throughout the five continents”, and the founding of the Buddha Light International Association will further enhance harmonious interaction and exchange between each nation worldwide. Finally, we are not letting down the Patriarch’s intention in coming from the West!(Hsing Yun 1994)
Humanistic Buddhism in Singapore
The term “Humanistic Buddhism” (人間佛教) brings to mind the thisworldly Buddhist teachings of Master Taixu (太虛, 1890–1947), Master Yinshun (印順, 1906–2005), and Venerable Master Hsing Yun (星雲, 1927–). Needless to say, transnational Taiwanese “mega-temples” such as Fo Guang Shan (佛光山) and Tzu Chi Foundation (慈濟功德會) have played a significant role in the propagation of Buddhism and promotion of cultural and philanthropic activities in global-city Singapore and around the world. Yet, unknown to many scholars (and Buddhists) perhaps, the early ideas of Humanistic Buddhism have arrived in Singapore even before these well-known global Taiwanese Buddhist organizations. In my talk, I will discuss the history of Singapore’s Humanistic Buddhism from the early twentieth century to the present. I will present the development of Humanistic Buddhism in Singapore into three phases: 1) Taixu’s Human Life Buddhism (人生佛教); 2) Yen Pei’s (演培, 1917–1996) Humanistic Buddhism; and 3) development of Taiwanese Humanistic Buddhist organizations in contemporary Singapore.
On the This-Worldly Emphasis of Humanistic Buddhism
In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904), Weber discussed the rationalization of the development of Protestantism in elective affinity to modern capitalism, the first step in the analysis of the influence of religion on modern civilization. In Weber’s later years he wrote The Economic Ethics of the World’s Religions, which further examines the attitudes of different religions towards modern economic life, to highlight the character of “innerworldly mastery” of Protestantism.
The Debate in China on Humanistic Buddhism
How does religion relate to society? Are they in opposition or in harmony? This question became very important in modern times in China, and formed a line which divided religious traditionalists from religious reformers. We shall first examine the traditionalist stance of the Chinese thinker Liang Shuming (1893-1988), who upheld a clear separation between Buddhism and society, thereby preserving the function of religion as a vehicle of radical criticism. We shall also examine the agenda put forth by the Buddhist monk Taixu (1890- 1947), the most important Buddhist reformer of the first-half of the twentieth century in China. We shall then examine the debate which arose between Liang on one side, and Taixu, his disciple Yinshun (1906-2005) and the sangha on the other. Since Liang regarded Buddhism to be a religion of pure transcendence, he opposed using it to tackle social problems. Liang instead advocated Confucianism, as a form of upāya, which could more effectively lead towards the ultimate Buddhist goal of renouncing to the world.
