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A Proposal for Experimental Application of Humanistic Buddhism to Psychotherapy and Counseling
At a time when Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings are emerging from the shadows of philosophical thought, our world is becoming more open to applying Buddhist views in search for Ultimate Reality. A merging of these doctrines with modern psychology is a challenge to be met by proponents in the varied arenas of human behavior. There is a significant moνe within the Behavioral Sciences to break through parochial, stilted barriers in order to seek a more humanistic, holistic view of a person in ethical relations with states of well being. This paper posits methods whereby the principles of Humanistic Buddhism (HB) can be integrated within a theoretical system of activities which perceives and analyzes foundations of social harmony, reaching the roots of conflict within complex human systems. In this, the work of psychotherapy and counseling can be effective in fostering changes in clients by teaching self-analysis and how to search for the paths of moral, social and psychological wellness. Points of emphasis in this proposal define and discuss the elements envisionednecessary to effect a counseling and research center modeled after the principles of HB. Not confined within the specifics of organizational, cultural or geographic restrictions, the system approach is meant to be broad-based to allow flexibility of such a center’s operation. The theoretical background and philosophy of both psychotherapy and counseling, as currently styled, includes a description of tried and proved techniques devised by four noted 20th century Western psychologists, νiz. Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Carl Rogers, and Albert Ellis. To this I have suggested ways of broadening these somewhat diverse techniques to include HB. An integration of this nature would not restrict but rather provide another, (perhaps now lacking) spiritual dimension in therapeutic services, which is our proposed product, to a given target population. Hence, more effective psychotherapy and counseling can be offered, and feedback loops would identify the needed elements of a scientific research effort to be built into the system design and operation.
National Recognition of a Religious Festival: Comparing Buddha’s Birthday Celebration Organized in Taipei to the Northern Wei Buddha’s Birthday Parade
Festivals make up a major feature of all religions1 and human societies. A festival means to most people a “special day or period, usually in memory of a religious event, with its own social activities, food and eremonies,” or an “organized set of special events, such as musical performances.” A religious festival presents a unique opportunity to gain insight into the confluence of religion, culture, and politics. Among Buddhist festivals, Buddha’s birthday stands out as the most popular and most public. When religious celebrations go outside the temple gates, it is an indication of wide acceptance of Buddhism by its host populace. In this paper, I shall compare two significant Buddha’s birthday celebrations: one in antiquity and one in recent times. These two circumstances are significant because the heads of state are conspicuously present outside their symbols of power and the entire capital city observed the occasion. By comparing large-scale commemoration of Buddha’s birthday celebrations held before the Office of the President in contemporary Taipei with a city-wide parade held in Luoyang during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534), this paper will identify the factors critical to indigenous Chinese people accepting major festivals of a foreign religion.
【Buddhist Encounters: Finding a Home in the Human Condition】Introduction
Since the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Dr. Lewis R. Lancaster, Emeritus Professor of the University of California, Berkeley, USA, has been giving online lectures for the Department of Religious Studies at University of the West, USA (one of the universities established by Fo Guang Shan). Through his engaging teaching approach, he has guided students to explore the depths of Buddhist teachings and its application. In the hope for more people to benefit from his lectures, they will be featured as a column series in the Humanistic Buddhism: Journal, Arts, and Culture journal, which will be published in both Chinese and English. Dr. Lancaster has granted permission for the FGS Institute of Humanistic Buddhism to translate the content into Chinese. We included an introduction written by Dr. Lancaster in this current issue of the journal to set the stage for this unique column series.
Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Environmental Thoughts: A Beautiful Mind for a more Sustainable World
The world is on fire. 2020 saw global temperatures rise 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels. The rising temperatures have triggered violent weather events such as recent heatwaves in Canada, floods in Germany, and wildfires in Australia. Adversely, impacting our food supply, health, economic livelihood, and living conditions. From the famous Fire Sermon in Ādittapariyāya Sutta of the Pāli canon, the Buddha depicts a seemingly similar burning world where “everything is burning…burning with the fires of greed, hate, and delusion.” Our degrading environment can thus be seen as a man-made crisis driven by the three fires of “greedy consumer cultures (i.e. greed), dissatisfaction (i.e. hatred), and other attitudes that can be looked upon as vices (i.e. delusion).” Traditional Buddhist texts indicate this plausible connection between our degrading environment and our deteriorating human nature. As world leaders gather at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) for a way out of our environmental mess, we also look to one of the world’s renowned Buddhist leaders for how Buddhist teachings may offer guidance to address our looming environmental problems.
【Buddhist Encounters: Finding a Home in the Human Condition】The Human Condition in Crisis:Learning and Reflecting through a Buddhist Lens
Interpreting the “Humanistic” in Renjian Fojiao (人間佛教) as Advocated by Venerable Master Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan
Śākyamuni Buddha expounded the Four Noble Truths as his first teachings to demonstrate to human beings the causes of suffering, and more importantly, to give hope that suffering can end. For this reason, the Buddha is often referred to as the doctor who tends to human beings in their very fundamental need: fulfillment in attaining freedom from suffering. As human interests and values are given broader definitions, the Buddhist movement also becomes much more diverse in scope, giving Buddhism a humanistic character regarding various aspects of life.
Interpreting the “Humanistic” in Renjian Fojiao (人間佛教) as Advocated by Venerable Master Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan
Sakyamuni Buddha expounded the Four Noble Truths as his very first teachings out of the intention of showing human beings the cause of suffering, and more importantly, to give hope in that such sufferings can be ended. For this reason, Buddha is often referred to as the doctor who tends to human beings in their very fundamental needs: fulfillment in attaining freedom from suffering. As human interests and values are given broader definitions, the Buddhist movement also becomes much more diverse in scope, giving Buddhism the characteristic of humanism on various aspects of life. The purpose of this paper is to examine the elements of humanism traceable in the teachings and practices of Buddhism and find relevance between such and Renjian Fojiao (Humanistic Buddhism).
Humanistic Buddhism in the Digital Age: Make Truth Great Again!
The new religion of the 21st century is turning out to be dataism. First mentioned by New York Times columnist David Brooks in 2013, the data revolution enables human cognition to be augmented by algorithms that could work on all kinds of information (Brooks 2013). In dataism, the value of humans or an enterprise is assessed by their ability to contribute to data processing. This may seem surprising to some of you in the audience but perhaps, a question may confirm this fact. If you were to employ an administrative assistant, would you choose one who can use the mobile phone to help you manage your busy calendar, employ the latest software to turn your ideas into stunning presentations, and churn out reports as you speak with voice-recognition technology or one who slowly punches on a keyboard and still rely on shorthand to take minutes? Alright, you may say that history has seen many jobs being replaced and people simply must learn new skills. However, what we are about to experience in the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Digital Age is not only a simple paradigm shift.
Buddhist Translation in the Digital Age—Fo Guang Dictionary of Buddhism
tions, workshops, and poster sessions exploring on how the development of digital learning, digital humanities, techno-cultural data and more adapt to the changes in human needs, especially in the post-pandemic era. Dr. Lewis Lancaster—Executive academic advisor for the Fo Guang Dictionary of Buddhi.....
Humanistic Buddhism for Social Well-being(Ⅲ): An Overview of Grand Master Hsing Yun's Interpretation in Theory and Practice
Sakyamuni Buddha's success when he was alive and the ever-expanding success of Buddhism ever since is heavily dependent on the systems approach which he adopted. Systems approach is a modern, technical term applied in management and operations research. It is based on the view that every system -- from the universe to the smallest human activity -- consists of interdependent and interacting sub-systems or components. No activity, however minute, can be planned, organized, directed or controlled until and unless (i) the relationships among the components are understood, and (ii) the effect which changes in one component have on each of the others is carefully evaluated.
