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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.
佛光大辭典英譯線上培訓 妙用AI指令提升翻譯效率
研究院國際中心邀請，4月23日於晚間的《佛光大辭典》英譯計畫培訓中，講解「如何應用AI提示」，讓譯者更能應用AI指令（prompt）增進翻譯效率與品質。本次培訓有來自美國、加拿大、澳洲、新加坡、香港、中國大陸、菲律賓等近40位翻譯人員線上參與。 Nehrdich博士是美國加州大學柏克萊分校人工智能研究實驗室副研究員、德國漢堡大學 BuddhaNexus 佛典資料庫首席程式設計師、AI佛典翻譯軟體「法之善友AI翻譯器」（MITRA）的技術主任，亦是《獻給旅行者365日》德文翻譯專案成員，專於AI在梵語、漢語、藏語、巴利語等亞洲語言的應用。培訓開始前，已為佛光山大眾主講「佛典翻譯與AI應用」。未來.....
主題座談「拭目以待的挑戰與機遇：人間佛教如何面對AI時代的降臨」
文／西北大學碩士生 吳遠兮、周子菲、李佳龍 2025年3月28日晚，“拭目以待的挑戰與機遇：人間佛教如何面對AI時代的降臨”主題論壇在上海星雲文教館舉行。坐壇由西北大學佛教研究所所長李利安教授主持，中國人民大學哲學院張文良教授、西北大學哲學學院副院長王雪梅教授、佛光山人間佛教研究院院長妙凡法師共同予談，來自21所高校的35位海內外碩博士參加。 春節以來，隨著DeepSeek在各行業的應用，整個中國大地上都在密切關注AI的發展。AI對人類和社會都將帶來巨大衝擊。我們在這樣特殊的時代裡研究和觀察人間佛教；人間佛教也將抓住時代的機遇，迎接挑戰，並調整其自身的發展方向。這都是AI時代下需要思考的議題.....
The Relationship Between Buddhism and Chinese Culture
Buddhist culture is part of Chinese traditional culture. The issue of culture has recently become a hot topic of discussion in intellectual and cultural circles. Concerning this discussion, my understanding is shallow and my thoughts immature. However, I believe that the development of human culture is a continuous process, thus traditional and contemporary culture cannot be completely separated. We should draw out all the valuable essentials of traditional culture to enrich and develop a socialist-oriented national culture. My view is that traditional Chinese culture should also include Buddhist culture. At present, there is a biased opinion of equating the former with Confucian culture, and entirely eradicating the role and contribution of Buddhist culture in traditional Chinese culture. This is unfair and not reflective of historical facts.
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 Historic Position of Humanistic Buddhism from the Viewpoint of the Process of Sinicization of Buddhism
Buddhism was founded by Śākyamuni Buddha, and is both a religion and a philosophy. As a religion, Buddhism has a unique belief system, organizational structure, and way of embodying belief through practice (including religious services). Compared to other religions, Buddhism has distinctive characteristics. With the exception of Buddhism, religions believe in an almighty god who is the center of their faith and doctrine. This god is the focus of their worship, and the purpose of their faith is salvation from sin. In contrast, Buddhism has an underlying doctrine and practice of “non-self.” This doctrine rejects the existence of any extrinsic god. It also denies the presence of an intrinsic soul. Therefore, the purpose of its belief is not to receive deliverance from sin, but rather to realize liberation from life’s pain and hardship.
The Key to Promoting Localization is not to ‘Discard’ but to ‘Give’–My View on ‘De-sinicization'
In Taiwan, issues of provincial origin and ethnicity are often intentionally used to manipulate elections. During the March 2004 presidential election, ethnic sentiment was once again provoked to the extent that some people chanted slogans of “localization” and “de-sinicization.” This throws us into doubt. In this era of multiculturalism, when countries are making every effort to absorb other cultures, it is indeed perplexing—and even unfathomable—why some Taiwanese people are moving to “discard” a culture via “de-sinicization.”
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.
二OO一年中國大陸佛教會議綜述
二OO一年中國大陸的佛教研究綜述
