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Fo Guang Shan Buddhism and Ethical Conversations across Borders: “Sowing Seeds of Affinity”
On the basis of a study of an international Buddhist movement, this article defines “ethical conversations across borders” – acts of ethical deliberation, evaluation or argument that take place in cognisance of multiple ethical regimes – and proposes the conditions under which they can take place. Fo Guang Shan, described in the first part of the article, is a Buddhist movement that originated in Taiwan, but which now has branches around the world. It seeks to promote the cultivation of virtue among its members and among other people with which it has contact. The teachings of Master Hsing Yun, the movement’s founder, advocate two methods through which this project can be realised, “sowing seeds of affinity” and “convenience”. The second part of the article generalizes observations made in relation to Fo Guang Shan and draws the conclusion that all “ethical conversations across borders” require two things, namely, the identification of similarities or “affinities”, and an account of difference that stipulates the units between which the conversation is to be carried on.
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.
佛光山教團與跨分界倫理對話——廣結善緣
本文以國際佛教運動為研究基礎，對「跨界倫理對話」（ethical conversations across borders ）進行定義，亦即認定多元倫理制度時所發生的倫理審議、評估或論證的行為，並提出其可能發生的條件。第一部分所描述的佛光山教團，發源於台灣，目前已在全球創建別分院，並致力於教團與各界人士往來時的道德修養。透過佛光山開山星雲大師所提倡的「廣結善緣」、「給人方便」兩種方法，使其目標能夠順利達成。第二部分概述筆者觀察佛光山後所得到的結論：所有「跨分界倫理對話」都需具備兩種因素：（一）尋求相似點（亦即「善緣」），（二）辨識差異點，以求建立雙方展開對話的基礎。
