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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 Value of the Buddhism Practiced by Fo Guang Shan
Buddhism has a long history with a vast body of texts and many schools of thought. Throughout its history, Buddhism has blended with cultures and ethnic groups of different regions, creating a Buddhist landscape where different schools of thought have blossomed. Especially in a modern society, there is a mixture of good and bad in this process. The ascetic style of Da Bei Monastery in Haicheng, the noisy style of Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song, the majestic style of Lingshan Temple in Wuxi, and of course Taiwan’s Chung Tai Temple style and Tzu Chi style are just a few of the many “blooms” that are accumulating in the “social image” and “social perception” of Buddhism.
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.”
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.
Studies on Humanistic Buddhism IV: Human Life
Studies on Humanistic Buddhism IV: Human Life
Humanistic Buddhism in Singapore
The term “Humanistic Buddhism” (人間佛教) brings to mind the thisworldly Buddhist teachings of Master Taixu (太虛, 1890–1947), Master Yinshun (印順, 1906–2005), and Venerable Master Hsing Yun (星雲, 1927–). Needless to say, transnational Taiwanese “mega-temples” such as Fo Guang Shan (佛光山) and Tzu Chi Foundation (慈濟功德會) have played a significant role in the propagation of Buddhism and promotion of cultural and philanthropic activities in global-city Singapore and around the world. Yet, unknown to many scholars (and Buddhists) perhaps, the early ideas of Humanistic Buddhism have arrived in Singapore even before these well-known global Taiwanese Buddhist organizations. In my talk, I will discuss the history of Singapore’s Humanistic Buddhism from the early twentieth century to the present. I will present the development of Humanistic Buddhism in Singapore into three phases: 1) Taixu’s Human Life Buddhism (人生佛教); 2) Yen Pei’s (演培, 1917–1996) Humanistic Buddhism; and 3) development of Taiwanese Humanistic Buddhist organizations in contemporary Singapore.
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.
Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Perspective on Humanistic Buddhism’s Life Education
Venerable Master Hsing Yun is the most important practitioner promoting the development of the contemporary Humanistic Buddhism movement. After arriving in Taiwan, he devoted himself to various causes aimed at maintaining the Dharma in the human world. This has entailed extensive practical efforts for its realization, focused specifically on six aspects: 1. popularizing Buddhism 2. propagating Buddhism 3. Buddhist education 4. establishing culture 5. building Dharma centers and 6. charitable works.
The Buddhist Nationalism in Master Fafang’s Thought
As is well known, in the nineteenth century, China faced a severe national crisis due to the invasion of Western powers. In particular, the import of Western ideologies had a big impact on the idea of “Huaxia-centrism” (Huaxia zhongxin zhuyi 華夏中心主義), which caused Chinese intellectuals to have a strong sense of crisis concerning the status of Chinese national-cultural identity. It was in this context that “nationalism” as a modern concept was introduced to China from Europe and Japan in the late nineteenth century.
