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Three Dimensions of the Humanistic Spirit of Oxhead Chan as Expressed in the Treatise on the Transcendence of Cognition
Venerable Master Hsing Yun has often pointed out that traditional Chan Buddhism contains within it the rich and profound spirit of Humanistic Buddhism. Modern Humanistic Buddhism should also draw from the ideas of traditional Chan Buddhism. The humanistic principles contained within Oxhead Chan2 are worthy of our attention and application. This paper explores the spirit of Oxhead Chan through analyzes of various versions of the Treatise on the Transcendence of Cognition, an essential text of Oxhead Chan. Three main concepts will be analyzed: “emptiness is the basis of the way,” “there is nothing other than knowing the foundation of the original mind,” and “traveling no path is the way to enlightenment.”
Beyond The Stroke: The Dharma of One-Stroke Calligraphy
In his book, Travel Like the Clouds and Water , Venerable Master Hsing Yun, who is one of the main proponents of Humanistic Buddhism, instructs the viewers of his one-stroke calligraphy to look inside his heart and not just at the characters he uses in calligraphic writing. Considering that calligraphy is the highest form of East Asian art, anyone who is not familiar with its immense and complex body of theory and principles could find this simplistic instruction intimidating. How does one look beyond the cursive black lines and forms of an ink artwork that appears to be unskillfully brushed on white paper? Can the core concepts and guiding principles of Humanistic Buddhism help one realize the altruistic meaning of a monk’s contemporary calligraphy? More importantly, can Humanistic Buddhist art inspire the awakening of bodhi in the viewer?
Cultivating Social Historical Knowledge to Walk the Bodhisattva Path
In many regards, the future of Humanistic Buddhism can be considered in relation to its past. Developed as a response to social and political reforms in China during the transition from Qing dynastic rule to Republican governance, Humanistic Buddhism, as conceptualized by Master Taixu, proposed a reform of Chinese Buddhism that redirected its focus from ritual practices for the dead to emphasizing the human concerns of practitioners in this life. Thus, it prioritized an objective of engagement with human needs in a worldly context. While Humanistic Buddhism as expanded in Taiwan under the guidance of Venerable Master Hsing Yun maintains this focus on addressing human concerns, a reexamination of this historic foundation might prove fruitful in yielding new directions for the future growth of Humanistic Buddhism, especially in regards to its propagation throughout the world.
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 another's customs, cultural traditions, and religious affiliations.
Objectively Validating the Practice of Humanistic Buddhism
Venerable Master Hsing Yun once said that Humanistic Buddhism is the union of tradition and modernity; it fuses mountains and forests with society, temples with homes, monastics with lay practitioners, profound words with service and practice. Therefore, an important future direction for the practice of Humanistic Buddhism would be to embed the spirit and values of Buddhist traditions into all levels of society.
The Concept of Wealth in Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Humanistic Buddhism
Venerable Master Hsing Yun has actively promoted the propagation and practice of Humanistic Buddhism. He believes that, “In the twentieth century, due to the awakening of Buddhists, Buddhism returned to its traditional fundamental teachings, and at the same time adapted itself through modernization. Therefore, the ‘Humanistic Buddhism’ of the twenty-first century was born to meet the needs of the time,” and that “what is known as Humanistic Buddhism needs to have humanity, altruism, joy, universality, timeliness, and an emphasis on daily life. It should be based on bodhicitta and traveling the bodhisattva path, always moving upward, forward, toward truth, wholesomeness, and toward the ultimate and perfection of the Buddhist way.”
Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Humanistic Buddhism–New Dawn of True Dharma
The title “venerable master” as used by contemporary Chinese Buddhists appears to have been demeaned and misused, to the extent of sometimes being generally used in reference to male and female monastics. In fact, the word “master” has the Sanskrit root of “śāstṛ,” and is a rather highly esteemed title in Buddhism. As the Itivṛttakasūtra5explains, the title refers to sagely monastics who have attained at least the stage of stream-entere, and up to that of a buddha. Their presence in this world ensures that the wisdom of the Dharma can guide others towards transcending the mundane, bringing boundless benefit and joy to them.
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.
On the This-Worldly Emphasis of Humanistic Buddhism
As an aspect of social life, religion has the adaptive function of helping humans overcome psychological and daily obstacles, attaining inner stability and peace of mind; the integrative function of consolidating group cohesion through common beliefs, bringing out the organizational power of human communities; and the cognitive function of solving the enigma of ultimate meaning, answering fundamental questions on life, the universe, existence, and morality for humans. These three functions of religion imply its capacity to meet the three essential needs of survival, community integration, and addressing the ultimate concern in life, hence its importance cannot be understated.
The Future of Humanistic Buddhism
In the late 1920s, to address the longstanding flaws present in traditional Buddhist practices since the Ming and Qing dynasties, Master Taixu (1889-1947) dedicated his life to Buddhism for human life, which puts an emphasis on and develops life. Since then, his disciples and those he has inspired proposed Humanistic Buddhism, which focuses on the realities of society. In the 1980s, Buddhists on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and in other areas with ethnic Chinese population, actively advocated and practiced Humanistic Buddhism.
