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Venerable Master Hsing Yun and the Reinterpretation of the “Pure Land” within Humanistic Buddhism
This essay examines the teaching of Venerable Master Hsing Yun, one of the leading active proponents of Humanistic Buddhism. It begins by discussing the historical and contemporary status of Humanistic Buddhism, contextualizing it as a movement borne out of modernist influences and demands placed upon Buddhism to adapt and reform according to an everchanging social world. Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s notion of “the Pure Land,” a Buddhist concept he reinterprets as demanding the creation of an “earthly” Pure Land is examined. This interpretation, it is argued, is tied to pragmatic concerns regarding the necessity to reform Buddhist practices in order to successfully spread Buddhist teachings in the modern world. The essay draws parallels between the example of socially engaged practices of Christian missions at the turn of the century in China and the rationale underlying the drive to reform among nascent Humanistic Buddhists, such as in the teaching of Master TaiSxu. The example of Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s advocacy for creating an “earthly” Pure Land demonstrates how contemporary Humanistic Buddhist theory follows this logic and interprets traditional Buddhist teachings as advocating for socially engaged practices among both monastics and laypeople. To this end, Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s teaching regarding “life education” reinterprets spiritual development as practices designed to improve the external world rather than solely the individual’s internal world. This is demonstrated in Fo Guang Shan’s strategy of spreading Buddhism in mainland China through cultural education and activities rather than proselytization.
The Changing Functions of renjian fojiao 人間佛教 in Mainland China
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.
人間佛教在中國大陸的功能轉型
2018年，中國大陸的佛教徒（包含共產黨允許的其他宗教），應可慶祝一場值得緬懷的週年紀念：就在40 年前，1978年12月，中國共產黨第十一屆中央委員會第三次全體會議，通過恢復大陸宗教修持活動議案，此為文化大革命（1966-1976）期間，宗教受到全面性壓制之後的一個新開始。
中國宜興國際素食文化暨綠色生活名品博覽會
中國宜興國際素食文化暨綠色生活名品博覽會 International Vegetarian And Green Products Expo At Yixing, Mainland China
