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佛光教科書 8:佛教與世學
佛光教科書 8:佛教與世學  Fo Guang Essential Guides to Buddhism: Buddhism and Worldly Knowledge
佛光教科書 9:佛教問題探討
佛光教科書 9:佛教問題探討  Fo Guang Essential Guides to Buddhism: Buddhist Q&A
A Study of Gender Equality in Humanistic Buddhism
Since Humanistic Buddhism was first proposed by Master Taixu, the issue of gender equality has gradually kindled widespread discussion in the field of Buddhism. During the Republican Era, Master Taixu and the female Buddhists of the Pure Bodhi Vihara have actively expressed their views on gender equality. Eventually, they reached a consensus of respecting a woman’s character, protecting her rights, and advocating equal status between men and women. After 1949, under the impetus of Venerable Master Hsing Yun, Venerable Yin Shun, Venerable Sheng Yen, Venerable Chaohwei, thoughts on gender equality in Taiwan have made great strides. After 1980, the rejuvenation of Humanistic Buddhism in Mainland China in turn developed thoughts on gender equality. As a result, the overall status of female Buddhists in Mainland China has remarkably improved.
Greed, Desire, and the Universal Need for Master Hsing Yun's Humanistic Buddhism: A View from the United States
Greed. We all know greed is a problem. U.S. citizen Bernie Madoff’s successful investment fund attracted wealthy investors. Every year his returns on investment were much larger than those of other funds. In the end it turned out that he was not investing his customers’ money at all. Instead, he was running a Ponzi or “pyramid” scheme, paying off the investors who withdrew their money with the money he was taking in from new investors. While the Ponzi scheme was going strong, he was the toast of New York City and highly admired by others in the finance world. When thousands of his customers lost large sums of money, he became the poster boy of greed. Yet of course his customers were greedy too.
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.
Situating Buddhist Modernism within a Global Context: The Global Spread of Fo Guang Shan
Only in the last decades has modern Buddhism become a serious topic of academic investigation. Today, however, the field is flourishing. Modern Buddhism in its many forms is studied in many languages and disciplines. Despite this recent advancement, the subject of investigation is not always that clear. What are we talking about when we are speaking of modern Buddhism? This paper aims to tackle this question by considering the global spread of Fo Guang Shan from a transnational perspective. Transnationalism describes a recent advance within the social sciences and humanities to move away from a research approach that examines its object of interest solely by placing it within the context of one nation state.
Humanistic Buddhism: A History of the Future A Report on the “Holding True to the Original Intents of Buddha” Panel
The annual Fo Guang Shan Monastic Seminar, held at Fo Guang Shan Headquarters in Taiwan, serves the purpose of reinforcing its 1,200 members’ grasp of the Order’s philosophy and spirit of Humanistic Buddhism, strengthening intercontinental networking, as well as participation in strategic planning of the Order’s global developments.
Sacred Secularities: Ritual and Social Engagement in a Global Buddhist China
Surrounded by greenery and build on a quiet hillside in an unincorporated suburban community of Los Angeles County lies a brightly colored Chinese Buddhist temple. This Temple, Hsi Lai Temple xilai si 西來寺 or ‘Coming West Temple’ in English, is one of the biggest Chinese temples in the US and serves as the North American headquarters of the modernist Han Buddhist order Fo Guang Shan 佛光山 (Buddha’s Light Mountain). The Buddhist tradition promoted by Fo Guang Shan is renjian 人間or Humanistic Buddhism.1 It is a modern Buddhist tradition with its roots in late 19th and early 20th century China that has become Buddhist mainstream in Taiwan today (Long 2000). Fo Guang Shan is one of the biggest promoters of this tradition, not only in Taiwan but on a global scale, and while different groups have adapted different interpretations of renjian Buddhism, one of the primary characteristics of this modern tradition is a new esteem for society, or, in other words, the sphere of ‘the secular’.
Toward a Modern Buddhist Hagiography Telling the Life of Hsing Yun in Popular Media
My interest in the biography of Master Hsing Yun (Xingyun 星雲, 1927–) began when I co-taught the “Buddhism in Asia” summer program in 20091 and visited the Fo Guang Shan ( 佛光山; Wade-Giles: Fo Kuang Shan, literally “Buddha’s Light Mountain”) headquarters in Kaohsiung (Gaoxiong 高雄) and a branch temple in Ilan (Yilan 宜蘭).2 My college students and I were rather impressed with the scale of the monastery in Kaohsiung and the global reach of its branches (Fo Guang Shan 2011).3 However, what intrigued me the most was our visit to the Fo Guang Shan Museum located in the Ilan branch temple. At the museum, our guides, who were nuns from the temple, showed us an illustrated comic biography of Hsing Yun, the founder of Fo Guang Shan. They told us stories, which are illustrated in the comic book, about their master’s arrival in Taiwan, the difficulties he encountered in his early religious career, and his successful missionary activities. Reading this comic helped me understand Hsing Yun’s leadership and the influence he has over his disciples and devotees. Following this, I started to consider the possibility of studying the life of Hsing Yun as portrayed in popular media and, with the help of some friends, began to track down the biographies of the monk as presented in various media.