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The Influence of Indian and Buddhist Elements in Medieval China: A Study of Buddha’s Birthday Celebrations In Luoyang during the Northern Wei dynasty
The Buddha’s birthday festival reached an unprecedented level of grandeur during the rule of Northern Wei when its capital was at Luoyang (495 to 534 CE). Buddhism was indigenous to neither the rulers nor the native Han Chinese. Yet, the Buddha’s birthday celebration on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month became a popular ritual in which the entire city participated. This paper studies a particular phenomenon in this public ritual, the use of carriages in image processions, tracing the heritage of these carriages back to the religion’s land of origin, India, and their literary sources. The intention of this paper is to study the reasons for such phenomenal success, in particular as they relate to the functional role of a religious festival and how the tenets of a religion can enable itself to be popular and sustainable. The Buddha’s birthday is a relevant case study because over 1,500 years later, countries such as Cambodia, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam continue to celebrate it as their public holiday.
Chan Buddhism During the Times of Venerable Master Yixuan and Venerable Master Hsing Yun: Applying Chinese Chan Principles to Contemporary Society
Linji Venerable Master Yixuan 臨濟義玄 (d. 866) and Fo Guang Venerable Master Hsing Yun 佛光星雲 (1927–), although separated by more than a millennium, innovatively applied Chan teachings to the societies in which they lived to help their devotees discover their humanity and transcend their existential conditions. Both religious leaders not only survived persecution, but brought their faiths to greater heights. This paper studies how these masters adapted Chan Buddhist teachings to the woes and conditions of their times. In particular, I shall review how Venerable Master Yixuan and Venerable Master Hsing Yun adapted the teachings of their predecessors, added value to the sociopolitical milieu of their times, and used familiar language to reconcile reality and their beliefs.
The Changing Functions of Renjian Fojiao (人間佛教) in Mainland China
Since the revival of Buddhism in the People’s Republic of China following the Cultural Revolution, renjian fojiao (人間佛教), often translated as “Humanistic Buddhism,” has become a very prominent label. It has served as a basic concept for various purposes, from the political self-legitimation of Buddhists, to the revival of traditional(ized) thinking, to religious innovation. It has undergone a continuous process of adaptation to Buddhists’ needs at the moment in question. With its initial role, quite early in the 1980s, emphasized officially by Zhao Puchu 趙朴初 (1907-2000), the president of the Buddhist Association of China (BAC), it became an important element of the statutory purpose of the BAC and developed separately from, but not without the influence of, later dynamics in Taiwan. This article reflects on some of the steps in the 40-year development of what has been declared in the People’s Republic of China as renjian fojiao (“Humanistic Buddhism”). It focuses on its metamorphosis within the context of the BAC’s statutory purpose, asking what the concept has been necessary for and how it might still be relevant today.
朱溫的另一面
朱溫是五代十國後梁的開國皇帝，在他手裡，唐朝結束289年的統治，從此中國正式進入五代十國時期。朱溫生性殘暴，殺人如草芥，其夫人張氏在世時尚能勸止，夫人死後，他卻大肆淫亂，甚至亂倫，連兒媳都得入宮侍寢。最終，於乾化二年（912），被他的第三個兒子朱友珪帶頭刺死。
中國佛教第一功臣：玄奘大師
禪月中秋（外一首)
提醒緣分（外一章）
一部新時代的佛教類書——讀星雲大師《佛法真義》
佛教經藏可謂「文積巨萬，簡累大千」，佛教的教義與相關的生活內容也是條流深廣，卒難詳覽，於是中國佛教的書寫傳統中，就有了一類可以稱作「類書」的佛教典籍，即把佛教的歷史、法義、修行儀軌及日常生活制度等事項，以類編排，並簡明扼要、辭略意曉地對所擇選的條目內涵進行釋義。從形式上看，這類佛教圖書是作為一般信眾初入門的指導書籍；實際上，一部有特色的佛教類書是集佛教的歷史與義理知識、修行與生活軌範等諸多方面為一體的綜合性佛教百科全書。
石刻一筆字旳歷史文化意義
詮釋學視域中的大乘佛教「善巧方便」思想——評程恭讓教授《佛典漢譯、理解與詮釋研究——以善巧方便一系概念為中心》
最近讀完程恭讓教授的新著《佛典漢譯、理解與詮釋研究―以善巧方便一系概念為中心》，收穫頗為豐碩。程恭讓教授是當代著名佛教學者，他的歐陽竟無佛學研究和星雲大師人間佛教思想研究，極大地推進了中國近現代佛教思想研究，也極大地推進了「星雲模式」的人間佛教運動的現實進展。
