Buddhism is a major religion in Taiwan. Many Taiwanese people practice the Chinese traditional religion which integrates Buddhist elements, Confucian principles, local practices and Taoist tradition. (Roles for religious specialists from both Buddhist and Taoist traditions exist on special occasions such as childbirth and funerals). Of these, a smaller number identify more specifically with Chinese Buddhist teachings and institutions, without necessarily eschewing practices from other Asian traditions. One study proposes that 7 to 15 percent of Taiwanese are Buddhist in the strict sense.[2] A distinguishing feature of this form of Buddhism is the practice of vegetarianism.
Taiwan government statistics distinguish Buddhism from Taoism, giving almost equal numbers for both (in 2005, 8 million and 7.6 million, respectively, out of a total population of 23 million). Many of Taiwan's self-declared "Buddhists" actually observe the more syncretistic practices associated with Chinese traditional religion. Self-avowed Buddhists may also be adherents of more localized faiths such as I-kuan Tao, which also emphasize Buddhist figures like Guanyin or Maitreya and espouse vegetarianism.They are mostly vegetarians.
Four local Buddhist teachers whose institutions are especially significant are popularly likened to the "Four Heavenly Kings of Taiwanese Buddhism." They are:
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- North (Jinshan, Taipei): Master Sheng-yen of Dharma Drum Mountain
- South (Dashu, Kaohsiung): Master Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan
- East (Hualien): Master Cheng Yen of the Tzu Chi Foundation
- West (Nantou): Master Wei Chueh of Chung Tai Shan
- North (Jinshan, Taipei): Master Sheng-yen of Dharma Drum Mountain
Several of these figures have been influenced by the Humanistic Buddhism of Master Yin Shun, a theological approach which has come to distinguish Taiwanese Buddhism. (Sheng-yen's tradition is formally Zen Buddhist; Yin Shun was inspired by Taixu , who is less well known in Taiwan.) Their missions have branches all over the world. In a reversal of the older historical relationship, these Taiwanese Buddhists have played important roles in the revival of Buddhism in China. Buddhism was brought to Taiwan in the time of the Ming dynasty by settlers from Fukien and Kwangtung Provinces. It was discouraged by the Dutch colonial rulers who controlled Taiwan from 1624 until 1663, until Cheng Cheng-kung (Koxinga) drove the Dutch from Taiwan in 1663. His son Cheng Ching established the first Buddhist temple in Taiwan.
When the Qing dynasty took control of Taiwan by defeating of Cheng Ching's son, Ching Ning, in 1683, large numbers of monks came from Fukien and Kwangtung provinces to establish temples, and a number of different Buddhist sects flourished. Monastic Buddhism, however, would not arrive until the 19th century.
During the Japanese period (1895–1945), many schools of Japanese Buddhism came to Taiwan to propagate their Buddhism teachings, such as Kegon , Tendai , Shingon Buddhism , Rinzai school , Sōtō , Jōdo shū , Jōdo Shinshū and Nichiren Buddhism . During the same period, most Taiwan Buddhist temples came to affiliate with one of three central temples:
As a Japanese colony, Taiwan fell under the influence of Japanese Buddhism. Many temples experienced pressure to affiliate with Japanese lineages, including many whose status with respect to Buddhism or Taoism was unclear. (Emphasis on the Chinese folk religion was widely considered a form of protest against Japanese rule.) Attempts were made to introduce a married priesthood (as in Japan). These failed to take root, as emphasis on vegetarianism and/or clerical celibacy became another means of anti-Japanese protest.
With Japan's defeat in World War II, Taiwan fell under the control of Chiang Kai-shek's government, resulting in contrary political pressures. In 1949, a number of mainland monks fled to Taiwan alongside Chiang's military forces, and received preferential treatment by the new regime. During this period, Buddhist institutions fell under the authority of the government-controlled Buddhist Association of China). Originally established in 1947 (in Nanjing), it was dominated by "mainland" monks. Its authority began to decline in the 1960s, when independent Buddhist organizations began to be permitted; and especially since the 1987 lifting of martial law in Taiwan.
Modern developments
One of the first private networks of Buddhist centers was that of Hsing Yun, who first attained popularity through the new medium of radio broadcasts in the 1950s and later through publication of Buddhist audio on phonograph discs, leading the founding of Fo Guang Shan in 1967. Another key figure was Cheng Yen, a nun who was ordained by the aforementioned Yin Shun and later founded Tzu Chi, Taiwan's most important charity organization. It is difficult to overestimate the impact of her personal example on the image of Taiwan's sangha. Tzu Chi runs several hospitals in Taiwan, and conducts worldwide relief work. A 1999 earthquake centered in Puli brought praise for Tzu Chi for its effective response, in contrast with that of the Taiwanese government.
During the 1980s, Buddhist leaders pressed Taiwan's Ministry of Education to relax various policies preventing the organization of a Buddhist university. The eventual result was that in the 1990s—flush with contributions made possible by Taiwan's "miracle economy"--not one but half a dozen such schools emerged, each associated with a different Buddhist leader. Among them were Tzu Chi University, Hsuan-Chuang University, Huafan University, Fo Guang University, Nanhua University, and Dharma Drum Buddhist College. The regulations of Taiwan's Ministry of Education prohibit recognized colleges and universities from requiring religious belief or practice, and these institutions therefore appear little different from others of their rank. (Degrees granted by seminaries, of which Taiwan has several dozen, are not recognized by the government.)
In 2001, Master Hsin Tao of Ling Jiou Shan opened the Museum of World Religions in Taipei. In addition to exhibits on ten different world religions, the museum also features "Avatamsaka World," a model illustrating the Avatamsaka Sutra.
In 2009 Taiwan lost one if its most influential Buddhist teachers when Sheng-yen of the Dharma Drum Mountain monastery died.
Development of the Vajrayana schools
In recent decades Vajrayana Buddhism has increased in popularity in Taiwan as Tibetan lamas from the four major Tibetan schools (Kagyu, Nyingma, Sakya and Gelug) have visited the island, including the 14th Dalai Lama, who visited the island thrice in 1997, 2001 and 2009.
The Koyasan Shingon sect of Japan also maintains its own practice centers and temples in Taiwan, some of them historically established during the Japanese period of Taiwanese history, while others were established in the post-WWII era in order to re-establish an orthodox Esoteric Buddhist lineage that was long eliminated during the Tang Dynasty.
The True Buddha School, founded in the late 1980s by Taiwanese native Lu Sheng-yen, is one of the more well known of the Vajrayana sects in Taiwan, although at least seven established Buddhist organisations have charged that the group functions as a personality cult.
Statistics provided by the Interior Ministry show that Taiwan's Buddhist population grew from 800,000 in 1983 to 4.9 million in 1995, a 600 percent increase against an overall population rise of about twelve percent. Additionally, in the same period the number of registered Buddhist temples increased from 1,157 to 4,020, and the number of monks and nuns was up 9,300 monks and nuns, up from 3,470 in 1983.14.[5] This trend can be attributed to the activity of various charismatic teachers, such as those mentioned above.
With the retreat of Japan, Taiwan saw te coming in of the mainland monks, including some of the most renowned ones of the previous decades, such as Master Yinshun. It was during this period that the CBA or the Chinese Buddhist Association gained enhanced importance and became a dominant Buddhist organisation till the end of the martial law when the government mandated monopoly drew to its end.
Since the 1980s, the number of people recognising themselves as Buddhists has increased tremendously. Also, a number of large Buddhist organisations are based in and operate from Taiwan throughout the world. Primary amongst these are Dharma Drum Mountain, Buddha's Light International and Tzu Chi Foundation.
Today, apart from Chinese Buddhism, other forms of Buddhism have also found recognition in Taiwan. Tibetan Buddhism and the Vipassana movement led by S.N. Goenka is a great example of this.
Buddhism and the People
Around 93% of Taiwanese recognise themselves as Buddhists, Taoists, or practitioners of Chinese folk religion. A number of people follow Buddhism alone, though it is not quiet uncommon to find people practising a combination of three faiths. The Taoist, specially, mix Taoist religious practices with that of Buddhism and folk traditions. A Taoist and Buddhist temple can be seen in close proximity or even under the same roof. Small outdoor shrines on road sides, parks, and neighborhoods in the cities and towns of Taiwan is also quiet common sight.
Buddhism - Growing Popularity
In Taiwan, Buddhism is attracting more and more people towards it with every passing year. Buddhism has become an integral part of the life of the people of Taiwan. A large number of people in Taiwan accept to become nuns and monks. Further proof of the growing popularity is the marked increase in the attendance of the school children, teenagers, college students and teachers in the Buddhist camps organised. There are more than 100 Buddhist camps that are backed by local temples and education authorities all through Taiwan each summer. Additionally, a number of periodicals and other media efforts contribute to increase the popularity of Buddhism in the country.
Luminary order is a well-respected Buddhist nuns' order in Taiwan. In this essay, I will examine the phenomenon of Luminary nuns from three aspects: symbol, structure, and education. Through the examination of the three aspects, I will show why the phenomenon of Luminary nuns might be seen as a feminist movement. Although an active agent in many aspects, I will also show that the success of Luminary nuns has its roots in the social, historical, and economic conditions in Taiwan.
One notable feature of Buddhism in contemporary Taiwan is the large number of nuns. It is estimated that between 70 and 75 percent of the Buddhist monastic members are nuns; many of them have a higher education background.(1)Many Buddhist nuns hold high esteem in the society, such as the artist and founder of Hua Fan University, bhikṣuṇī Hiu Wan, and the founder of one of the world's biggest Buddhist organizations, bhikṣuṇī Cheng-yen.(2) While bhikṣuṇī Hiu Wan and bhikṣuṇī Cheng-yen are known as highly-achieved individuals, the nuns of the Luminary nunnery are known collectively as a group. During my fieldwork in Taiwan in 2001, many informants mentioned Luminary nuns to me as group of nuns well-trained in Buddhist doctrines, practices, and precepts. The term Luminary nuns seems to be equivalent to the image of knowledgeable and disciplined Buddhist nuns. In this paper, I will talk about the significance and influence of Luminary nuns, and why I think theirs is a feminist movement. But first, I will give a short introduction of the social-historical background of Buddhism in Taiwan.
Social-historical Background
Buddhism probably came to Taiwan with the migration of Chinese settlers. The exact day when the Chinese migration began is hard to determine, but the large scale of migration began only after 1661 with the Ming loyalties who fled Manchu invasion in China. As a frontier society, Buddhism in Taiwan exhibited both continuities and discontinuities: On the one hand, the Chinese immigrants tried to hold onto their customs at home; on the other hand, they also had to adapt to the situation in the new environment. Because of the natural environment in the frontier, life in Taiwan was harsh and the residents constantly faced the threat of plague. It is understandable that such a condition could hardly attract fine monks and nuns. In addition, many temples in Taiwan were founded by private citizens who may have had only minimal knowledge of their religious tradition.(3) As the result, Buddhism in Taiwan during the earlier periods took a different form from the monastic form of the Orthodox Chinese Buddhism on the mainland.
A 1919 survey by the Japanese colonial government noted the heavy presence of zhaijiao, or "vegetarian sect," in Taiwan. While there were only 77 Buddhist temples on the island, the meeting and residential places for the members of zhaijiao amounted to 172. While there were only 156 Buddhist monks or nuns living at the monastic order, the members of zhaijiao amounted to 8663.(4)
Zhaijiao was a popular religion emerging around the early sixteenth century in the mainland China. There were mainly three different branches of zhaijiao in Taiwan. While their doctrines and practices varied, their core belief was more or less the same. It all circled around the belief of the Unborn Venerable Mother (Wusheng Laomu), the creator-goddess. According to zhaijiao cosmology, all creatures in the universe are her children; in order to relieve her children from sufferings, she has sent numerous sages and buddhas to the earth.(5) The texts and rituals of zhaijiao are a mix of Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian, and other folk religious elements. Although members of zhaijiao perceive themselves as Buddhists and their religion as a form of "lay Buddhism,"(6) due to its mixture of other non-Buddhist elements, scholars debate over whether zhaijiao can be seen as Buddhism.
The Buddhist experience in Taiwan changed greatly during Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945). The fact that Japanese Buddhism allows its clergy members to get married and eat meat further blurred the distinction between Buddhist monks and zhaijao members in the minds of Taiwanese Buddhists.(7) The interaction between Japanese Buddhists and Taiwanese zhaijao members was frequent and closed during the Japanese colonial period. On the one hand, the Japanese rulers sought eagerly to Japan-ize Taiwanese Buddhists,(8) probably seeing Buddhism as a means to culturally colonize the Taiwanese population. On the other hand, Taiwanese Buddhists (including zhaijao members) needed the protection of Japanese Buddhists in order to avoid political persecution.(9) For political and practical reasons, Taiwanese zhaijao members actively, and even aggressively, involved themselves with the Buddhist organizations and activities that had a closely cooperative relationship with the Japanese Buddhist missionaries. In fact, many leading Taiwanese Buddhist monks during this period were first members of zhaijao who then received formal Buddhist monastic ordination only after traveling later to China.
It is worthwhile to mention that the structure of zhaijao allows women an escape from the rigid and severely patriarchal Chinese family system. Marjorie Topley reports that women in the rural Kwangtung province of Southern China during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century could choose a life without marriage by taking up zhaijao vows and entering a zhaijao residential place after retirement.
The same phenomena occurred in Taiwan, too. That 1919 survey by the Japanese colonial government noticed the presence of a large number of female zhaijao members.They tended to observe a certain number of precepts, vegetarian diets, and celibacy. The existence of the large number of female zhaijao members might be explained by the fact that Taiwan during the early periods did not have enough qualified monks and nuns to give formal Buddhist ordination. Also, the laws of the Qing dynasty forbad women under the age of forty to be ordained as Buddhist nuns.
Nevertheless, the presence of the large number of female zhaijao members indicates that it is wrong to perceive women as passive actors. Whenever the situation allows, women might have grabbed the opportunity to seek a life outside the traditional and patriarchal social arrangements. For example, Marjorie Topley noted that the economic structure in the rural Kwangtung in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century provided women the ability to make a living outside of family, and many women, indeed, sought the opportunity to choose a living arrangement independent of family or male supervision.
This is a point that scholars often ignore. When some male scholars attempt to find out the reasons for the rapid decline of zhaijao after the Retrocession, they look only at the external factors, such as political interference, and ignore the possibility that female zhaijao members could be active agents who consciously changed their religious practice. In addition, the large number of female zhaijao members at the early periods and the overwhelming number of Buddhist nuns at the present time might be seen as a continuum in the religious life of Buddhists in Taiwan. The consistently large number of female renunciants might mean that the religious patriarchs in Taiwan cannot totally disregard the presence of women. So, it might also mean that Buddhist women in Taiwan probably face fewer obstacles in the struggle against sex discrimination than their Buddhist sisters in other countries. For example, whether it was the Buddhist missionaries from Japan or monks from China, they had to acknowledge the presence of the large number of female renunciants and ran special classes for women. In either case, education certainly advanced Buddhist women.
After the end of World War II, Taiwan was given to the Chinese Nationalist regime. When the Communists took over China and the Chinese Nationalist government was forced to retire to Taiwan, many Buddhist monks and nuns also escaped to Taiwan. For the second time, Buddhism in Taiwan faced rapid change. The initial rule of the Chinese Nationalist regime was a harsh and dictatorial one.
Taiwanese Buddhists were forced to subordinate themselves to BAROC (the Buddhist Association of Republic of China), which had a close tie with the government and was given the authority to supervise all Buddhist activities in Taiwan. The association, along with other monks and nuns who recently fled China, quickly engaged themselves in the rebuilding of Orthodox Chinese Buddhism in Taiwan. For example, during the Japanese colonial period, many Taiwanese Buddhists sought Buddhist education in Japan and adopted Japanese Buddhist customs, such as allowing the clergy members to eat meat and marry. The Chinese monks saw these behaviors as degradation and sought solutions to change the situation. To build Orthodox Chinese Buddhism in Taiwan, Buddhist monastic ordination was certainly crucial. The coming of the large number of qualified monks and nuns from the mainland China enabled the ordination to be possible. In 1953, the first postwar Buddhist higher ordination was carried out on the island. Among those who received the higher ordination were many female members of zhaijao. Zhaijao has declined rapidly in the twentieth century. The majority of zhaijao members have either become Buddhists in the sense of Orthodox Chinese Buddhism or Daoists/Yiguandao.
The economic growth that began in the 1970s and the lift of martial law in 1987 once again shaped Buddhism in Taiwan. The prosperous economy means increasing wealth, which is seen by David Jordan as an important factor that changed the religious life of people in Taiwan. This fact means more donations to the monastic temples and enables Buddhist monks and nuns in Taiwan to engage in activities that were not possible before. The increased wealth also contributes to the rising standard of the Buddhist monastic order (in the level of education of members as well as the level of their religious motivation). Because Chinese monasticism is closely related to the rigid Chinese family system, monastic orders tended to recruit individuals without family ties. Hence, we often find records of monastic members who joined the order not out of the intention for spiritual practice but were forced into the order by poverty.
Today, the decreasing of the rigidity of family system and the increasingly complex economy in Taiwan provide more alternatives for individuals, so it is less likely that people would join the monastic order for non-religious reasons. As the result, Buddhism in Taiwan today is more diverse than ever before, tends to be social-welfare oriented, and has frequent interactions with different religions and different Buddhist traditions in other countries.
It is out of such constant changing social and economic conditions that the Luminary order was founded and was able to pursue a religious life fitted with their ideals. I will now talk a little bit about the history of Luminary order.
The image of Luminary nuns today might appears to be elitist, for the Luminary Institute provides advanced Buddhist education for nuns. Located in a rural village in Southern Taiwan, however, the temple of Luminary order actually began as grass-rooted, folk religious temple. The temple was not initially built for the monastic order but for the religious needs of the villagers.
In the mid-nineteenth century, a Guanyin statue (the female form of Bodhisattva Avalokites"vara in the Chinese Buddhist tradition) worshiped at a villager's home was rumored to be performing miracles. The fame spread, and other villagers expressed the wish to worship the Guanyin. So, a temple was built for the Guanyin worship. However, earthquakes in the later years destroyed the original temple. For the period of 1943 to the construction of a concreted building in 1972, the Guanyin statue was taken into villagers' home by turns. In 1973, the temple, then named as YuShan Yan JinLan Si was formally registered with the government for the first time. According to the official website of Luminary order, the villagers thought that the only way for the temple to last was to have an ordained abbot or abbess. So, a request was sent to BAROC. Bhikshu Baisheng, President of BAROC, recommended bhikṣuṇī Xinzhi to be the abbess of YuShan Yan. It seems that the adherents of YuShan Yan were not aware of the difference between folk religion and Buddhism. But bhikṣuṇī Xinzhi was educated in the Orthodox Chinese Buddhism and intended to play a more constructive role for this temple. She first changed the name of the temple into Luminary, a term abstracted from Laṇkāvatāra Sutra. She also began to purchase the temple land from the villagers for the monastic order, indicating that she was determined to establish a long-lasting monastic order at the temple.
In 1979, bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin succeed bhikṣuṇī Xinzhi and became the abbess of Luminary Temple. Bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin had university education, which was rare at that time and had just returned from a shore period of study in Hawaii. Given her unusual educational background, many advised her not to take up the post at the remote village, which, seemingly, had no potential. However, bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin had studied at the same Buddhist institute with bhikṣuṇī Xinzhi and thus shared similar ideals. She was determined to carry out bhikṣuṇī Xinzhi's renovation works at the temple.
Although today the term Luminary nuns has become equivalent to well-educated and well-trained Buddhist nuns, the transformation of Luminary Temple from a grass-roots, local/popular religion temple to an Orthodox Chinese Buddhist nunnery has not been completed. When one enters Luminary Temple, that person might be surprised by its colorful roofs and the heavy incense burning Buddha Hall, which are features associated more with a local/popular religion temple than a Buddhist temple. Although bhikṣuṇī Xinzhi was conscious enough to start the process of purchasing the temple land for the monastic order, to some villagers, Luminary Temple still belongs to them. Potential conflict(31) in the transformation erupted in 1996 when a group of villagers attempted to expel the nuns and take over the temple. The conflict has not yet been fully settled to this day. Out of the respect for the villagers' religious belief, Luminary nuns tolerate much of the non-Buddhist rituals to be performed at the temple. For example, my informants told me that once in a month, some villagers would gather at the temple to cook and eat pork. These are behaviors unsuitable for a Chinese Buddhist setting. Next, I will talk about why I think the phenomenon of Luminary nuns is a quiet feminist movement.
A Quiet Feminist Movement
Before I begin, I must point out that it is me who gives Luminary nuns the label feminist. Nowhere did I find in the publications of Luminary order using the term feminist, nor do Luminary nuns label themselves as feminists. In fact, Luminary nuns may not even like to be associated with the term feminist.
In my observation, most Buddhist nuns in Taiwan do not like to be labeled as feminist; the reasons are political as well as religious. Politically, feminist means challenging the existing patriarchal tradition, and the label feminist may draw unnecessary political oriented attention upon to oneself. For example, Barbara Reed argues that the tension for Taiwanese women to struggle between the old religious/philosophical traditions and the new aspiration as women of contemporary time, is complicated by not only the influence of Western values but also by the propaganda of an idealized culture from mainland China.(34) It was especially dangerous during the early years when the authoritarian regime restricted social movements, including women's movements, and allowed little room to promote the notion of gender equality.
Religiously, Buddhism regards the difference in sexes as illusion; carrying the label feminist might draw one into the attachment of men/women duality that Buddhists try to transcend. The dilemma is also faced by many Western Buddhist women who find balancing feminist anger and Buddhist goal of transcending dualism a delicate task. However, more importantly, it is notable that I am seeing the phenomenon of Luminary nuns as an outsider, from an academic perspective. Naturally, my concerns may be different from Luminary nuns themselves who are insiders of the phenomenon and the spiritual practice. While my concern might be to find women's voice in the phenomenon, theirs might be to transcend male/female duality.
Katherine Young argues that "the basic aim of feminism is to identify the problems of women as a class and to promote their interests as a class." It is on the basis of this definition that I see Luminary nuns as feminist. But because they do not adopt feminist label, I call the phenomenon a quiet feminist movement. In the following section, I will examine Luminary order from three aspects in order to show why I think the phenomenon of Luminary nuns is feminist.
The first aspect I am going to look at is the symbols used by Luminary nuns. Feminist transformation of religious symbols questions whether the religious symbols, including the application of these symbols, such as worship, reflect the experiences of both genders. In term of symbols, Luminary order is rather a passive agent than an active agent.
It is a passive agent because, even though the main deity at Luminary Temple is a female deity (Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Compassion), the nuns did not choose to have Guanyin as their main deity. In fact, the nuns were hired to manage the Guanyin worship at the village. At the shrine room, besides the main Guanyin statue, there are also other small Guanyin statues that the villagers entrusted the nuns to look after. These Guanyin statues are fondly called by the villagers as "Big Mama," "Second Mama," "Third Mama," and so on. At special occasions, such as weddings or funerals, villagers would invite a Guanyin mama to their home in order to receive her blessing. To respect villagers' religion, Luminary nuns tolerate villagers' hire of theatre troupes to be performed at the temple during festivals or even meat offerings at ghost festival.Thus, Luminary Temple has an interesting feature of being a combination of Orthodox Chinese Buddhist nunnery and a local/popular religious temple.
Some might claim that goddesses are not always feminist, for goddesses do not necessaryily provide legal, political, or economic autonomy for women. However, the fact that goddesses nevertheless can provide "a great deal of psychological and spiritual comfort" should not be overlooked. The transformation of Guanyin from a male deity to a female deity in the Chinese tradition might be viewed as the manifestation of need for female imagery. As in the ancient time, Guanyin can still be a symbol of liberation and coping for contemporary Taiwanese women living in a new, but still male-dominated family system. Although Luminary nuns did not choose Guanyin worship, they did not totally ignore the coincidence of having Guanyin worship at their temple. Their quarterly magazine, XiangGuang ZhuangYan, has run several special issues on Guanyin, in which academic articles on Guanyin are published. In the issue immediately after the devastating earthquake in 1999, the editorial of XiangGuang ZhuangYan appeals to Guanyin for the strength to overcome sufferings:We do not know when the sufferings on the earth will finally end. But the various appearances of Guanyin have inspired us: in different time and space, facing different beings, you can also become the multi-appearances Guanyin and help to relieve the cries of sufferings; using wisdom and compassion, guiding beings cross the ocean of sufferings.
Also by accident, Luminary nuns are involved with another symbol that might be seen as a sign for feminist liberation. That is their monastic robe. In Chinese Buddhism, both monks and nuns shave hair and wear the same type of robes. It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish a monk from a nun. Bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin teaches that the monastic robe symbolizes the motivation and the ultimate goal of a renunciant. Additionally, because all the monastic members wear the same type of robe regardless of one's social status before the renunciation, the monastic robe is also an expression of equality. Because monks and nuns have to wear the same robe, the monastic robe liberates the nuns from socially-constructed concepts of femininity as well as the social pressure for women to be slim and beautiful. According to my informant, bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin further changed the robe wore by Luminary nuns. Because the traditional robe wore by Chinese Buddhist nuns might be too narrow and might show the curve of a nun, she widened the robe so that it would not show the curve of a nun. It is not to be ashamed of the biological nature of a woman, but is to lead a nun furtherer away from the socially-constructed habits of focusing too much on the body (for example, the social pressure for women to be slim) and to focus more on spiritual practice. In other words, Luminary nuns may have been a passive agent in choosing their monastic robe (bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin may have changed the robe a little bit, but it is still based on the traditional Chinese robe), but for them, the monastic robe symbolizes not only their monastic identity but also the transcendence of gender appearances between male and female.
The second aspect I am going to look at is the structure of Luminary order. Because of the absence an Ultimate Divine in Buddhism, the more urgent aspect for the feminist transformation of Buddhism perhaps lies in the area of the organizational structure. Rita Gross even argues that "the most crucial feminist issue for Buddhism is recognizing and empowering female gurus and lineage holders." In this aspect, Luminary nuns are an active agent rather than a passive agent.
To examine the structure of Luminary order, it is essential to learn about another nun from an earlier time, Bhikṣuṇī Tianyi (1924-1980). Bhikṣuṇī Xinzhi is a direct disciple of bhikṣuṇī Tianyi, and bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin had studied under bhikṣuṇī Tianyi for several years. Bhikṣuṇī Tianyi was born in a wealthy merchant family and had the chance to study at university in Japan during a time when secondary education was rare for Taiwanese girls. After graduating from university, she returned home to manage the family business and eventually inherited the shop. Thus, we can at least be sure that she did not enter the monastic order out of poverty, as often the case in Chinese Buddhist and Daoist priesthoods during the early twentieth century. As a child, bhikṣuṇī Tianyi lived in a zhaijiao nunnery for a short period of time and for a while considered joining the zhaijiao order. But she later chose to join the Orthodox Chinese Buddhist order out of the aspiration for a more strict spiritual practice. From this fact, we can see that bhikṣuṇī Tianyi was an active agent in pursuing her own religious life.
Bhikṣuṇī Tianyi received Buddhist monastic ordination in 1953; from then on till her death she worked diligently for the reconstruction of the nuns' order. However, she did not place the responsibility on the monks. Rather, it was crucial for her that nuns should take up the responsibility of guiding their own lives. She urged Buddhist nuns to be independent and self-reliant, to learn to do every task by themselves, and to have the ability to solve their own problems. Throughout her lifetime, she advocated the ideas that "women must be taught by women" and "bhikshuni stand up." I do not know whether she was aware of the feminist wave that was going on in the West during the later part of her life, but bhikṣuṇī Tianyi no doubt had contributed a great deal to the feminist transformation of the monastic order.
Having been influenced by bhikṣuṇī Tianyi's feminist ideas, Luminary nuns did not hesitate to catch the favorable social trends to advance themselves. The traditional suppression of organized religious groups by the imperial courts of China had limited the social functions that could be performed by organized religious groups. However, beginning in the 1980s, social, economic, and political changes in Taiwan enabled Buddhism to enjoy great expansion. For example, the
lift of martial law in 1987 and the prosperous economy provided the possible social space and financial strength for Buddhist organizations to engage in various social functions. Luminary nuns use this opportunity well. By the time of writing this essay, Luminary nuns have established five branch centers throughout Taiwan, to, on one hand, achieve their goal of spreading Dharma, and, on the other hand, to attract more devotees outside the immediate area of Luminary Temple and thus more financial support from the laity.
Among the social functions that Luminary nuns hold is women's retreat. An article in their quarterly magazine reveals their intention for the establishment of women's retreats:
Monastics take refuge in Buddha and follow the spiritual path of Dharma. Monastics renounce the world to follow the Buddha's path, but not to dissociate from the society nor to loathe the society. . . . Dharma should be preached to everyone and not just women. But after several Dharma retreats for the general public, we found it difficult. To achieve Buddhist educational and cultural goals, it is necessary to penetrate different stages and individualities. In other words, people of different statuses and classes have different needs. . . . [Our goal is to] establish women's righteous faith in Dharma. We wish that through involving themselves with various activities in the retreat, women can discover the wholeness of Dharma in their daily-life and eventually enable themselves for further growth.
This statement shows that Luminary nuns value Dharma-preaching and social works highly. More significantly, they recognize the importance of the different needs in women and men. Many Western Buddhist women have argued for the need to have women Buddhist teachers for women. The fact that Luminary nuns recognize the special needs of women and run special retreats for women might be viewed as a step towards feminist transformation of Buddhist structure.
Another significant feminist transformation by Luminary order is the founding of its own publishing house. Ursula King points out that "the greatest problem lies in the fundamentally patriarchal and androcentric framework of the theological and religious writings of the past where women have been written about and defined by others, without having a voice themselves". Indeed, scholars in the West often understand Buddhism through texts that were written by monks and where women and the laity remain hidden. The existence of the publishing house enables Luminary nuns to record their stories and to have a voice of their own. Except for the quarterly magazine, XiangGuang ZhuangYan, which regularly features articles written by the nuns, there is also an internal newsletter and Internet discussion board that allow the nuns to exchange their experiences among themselves. Besides the magazine and newsletter, the publishing house of Luminary order also publishes books on Dharma, including books that are translated from other languages and traditions. Luminary nuns have noticed the lack of records on Buddhist nuns in history; they thus have begun a project of searching and writing down the stories of Buddhist nuns in Taiwan in order to preserve a more adequate history. The fact that I can learn a great about Luminary nuns simply by visiting their website proves that they are not a silent group. The voice of Luminary nuns should and can be heard.
But the incident with the Catholic nuns was not the only factor that motivated bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin to seek the improvement of the monastic education for Buddhist nuns. She never forgot the idea, "bhikshuni stand up," advocated by bhikṣuṇī Tianyi. For the nuns' order to be independent and self-reliant, education is certainly a key. Furthermore, bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin joined the order at a time when the status of Buddhist nuns was very low in Taiwan. She realized that in order to improve the status of Buddhist nuns in the society, monastic education was essential.
She argues that being a monastic is like being a professional, and just like a professional needs professional training, a monastic also needs special monastic training. Although the goal for a bhikṣuṇī is the ultimate liberation, living in the world means that a bhikṣuṇī still has to deal with other people, including both the monastics and the laity. Hence, to learn how to interact with other people properly is crucial. For her, monastic education should not only teach Dharma, but the education itself should be a process that helps a nun to absorb both her body and mind in the spiritual practice. Only by providing solid support from both inside and outside the monastic order, Dharma may last long in the world. Therefore, bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin is an active agent who works diligently to reconstruct the monastic education for Buddhist nuns. Her idea for the monastic education contents both religious elements (for example, the need to learn the righteous Dharma) and practical elements (for example, the unavoidable needs to interact with other people).
In 1980, Luminary Buddhist Institute for nuns was finally founded. A Buddhist nun does not have to be a member of Luminary order to enter the Institute. However, to change the ignorant and uneducated image of Buddhist nuns, the Institute sets high admission standard. The Institute requires a nun to have at least senior high school education to enroll, in order to ensure that all of the students have similar capability to absorb the trainings together. The founding of the Institute are coincident with a time when higher education was becoming more and more common for both men and women in Taiwan. The high admission standard set by the Institute ensures that the trainings are given to nuns who are sincerely motivated to pursue higher Dharma education. Research shows that most Buddhist nuns in contemporary Taiwan join the order mainly for religious reason. This is an important factor, for if a nun joins the monastic order mainly for religious reason, then she is more likely than those who join the order for other reasons to be an active agent in the construction of her religious life. Once again, the Luminary order catches this social trend well. The slogan of Luminary order, "Be attentive to Buddhist education and to create Pure Land in the human realm together," creates an active and progressive image. Such an image is very appealing to young female intellectualists who sincerely want to dedicate their lives to Buddhism.
Bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin wants the trainings at Luminary Institute to be a bridge for students to go from the lay lifestyle to the monastic lifestyle. Thus, the curricula at the Institute are divided into five categories: intellectual studies, practice, community life training, monastery administration, and Dharma education,(74) covering both religious study and practical trainings. The Institute wants to avoid the situation of becoming too other-worldly and disconnected from the society. Thus, although Dharma education is the main focus at the Institute, other modern sciences, such as psychology, sociology, and information technology are also provided.(75) By the time when I did my fieldwork in 2001, Luminary Institute has gained the reputation of being a well-respected Buddhist college.
When teaching precepts to the nuns, bhikṣuṇī Wu-Yin stresses the importance of the full understanding of the precepts rather than just observing precepts blindly. The emphasis on the full understanding of the circumstance is also stressed on the teachings to the laywomen: Therefore, only through the self-examination and self-awareness, which arise from the reflection on Dharma, we may gain full understanding of our circumstance, and consequently develop the virtues of optimist, determination and benevolence. We believe that it is the true beginning of an anew and fresh life.
Another short story in XiangGuang ZhuangYan ends with a comment from a monastic:
To struggle for equality is to be one's own master. But during the struggle for independence, one should not forget the respect for the other. Only with mutual respect can there be true equality! If we treat each other with the intention for revenge, there will only be endless cycle of sufferings! The foundation of the so-called gender equality is built on mutual respect.
Therefore, it seems that Luminary nuns have followed the teachings of bhikṣuṇī Tianyi, who placed the responsibility of the nuns' welfare on the nuns themselves, rather than on the monks, Luminary nuns also teach laywomen to be self-reliant and take control of their own situation. They encourage laywomen not to perceive themselves as victims, and to maintain harmony and respect toward wrongdoers. On the surface, such teachings appear to be a nonconfrontation with the patriarchy and oppression, and it does not seem feminist. However, the teachings of Luminary nuns might be seen as a strategist approach, which emphasizes the importance of developing strategies in the resistance against the oppression. Being strategists does not mean the passive acceptance of the oppressed conditions. In Luminary nuns' teachings, the empowerment for women does not come from the confrontation with patriarchy, but from within. The emphasis on a woman's responsibility for her own situation leads to the emphasis on the need to develop survival skills and a righteous mind; consequently, the woman is given the internal strength to face whatever oppression she might find herself in.
The success of Luminary order might be attributed to the social and economic conditions in Taiwan. For example, had Taiwan had a long history of monastic order, there might be more obstacles for Buddhist nuns to reconstruct their religious life because there would exist more privileged ones. But because monastic tradition is relatively new in Taiwan, Buddhist nuns might have more space to shape their religious life. Other factors, such as the increasing mobility of people in Taiwan, which gives a monastic order the opportunity to attract devotees and donation outside their immediate temple area, also contribute to the success of Luminary order.
However, without there being active agent in shaping their religious life, Luminary nuns would not have gained such success. Luminary nuns have been active agents in using the favorable social and economic conditions to advance themselves. Luminary nuns certainly have two choices: They could be passive and follow whatever orders the monastic patriarchs told them to do, or they could be active and try to improve themselves. Luminary nuns have chosen the latter option and moved towards the goal of independence and self-reliance. Because they have been active agents in the construction of their religious life, I see the phenomenon of Luminary nuns a feminist movement.
Although most monastics, not surprisingly, opposed his proposed reforms, Taixu's followers worked towards updating Buddhism and engaged in much social and philanthropic work through the 1920s. They were also active in social and educational activities in China's cities. However, they ran into opposition from intellectuals and government officials who, infused with May 4th ideas, opposed all religion as superstition.where he became the editor of an influential Buddhist journal and a respected scholar. He differed from his teacher in that, whereas Taixu was willing to engage in politics, Yinshun eschewed it. He advocated “a return to appropriate religious practice and charity activity on the part of lay Buddhists”, and he forbade monastics from visiting “brothels, red-light districts, bars and political organisations, because doing so could easily arouse defiled thoughts and deeds”21. This is reflected in Tzu Chi's identical position on political involvement, no surprise since Yinshun was the tonsure master of Tzu Chi founder, Venerable Cheng Yen (WW, Zhengyan).
There are similarities between socially engaged Buddhism in Taiwan and the “engaged Buddhism” of South-East Asia. They advocate the abolition of institutions sanctioning inequality and human suffering; they speak the language of modernism and display a favourable attitude towards technology, science, liberty, equality and democracy; they collapse the mundane-supramundane divide; they want lay members to become active participants; they favour interfaith co-operation and see other religions as also playing a positive role in the world
A strong difference between Taiwan's socially engaged Buddhism and the engaged Buddhism found elsewhere in Asia is in attitudes towards politics. Manifestations of engaged Buddhism are often strongly political, e.g. in Sri Lanka and Vietnam25. In Taiwan, however, most groups formally reject direct participation in the political process. For example, while Fo Guang Shan founder Venerable Hsing Yun (Xingyun) embraces the rights and freedoms that are prized in Western democracies, and emphasises equality and democracy26, he eschews interference in the political process: as Fo Guang Shan members, people should “show concern but do not interfere”, and lobbying for policies constitutes interference27. Tzu Chi founder, Cheng Yen, also eschews participation in politics; in fact this is one of the extra five commandments that Tzu Chi adherents are held to.
To summarise the characteristics of socially engaged Buddhism, there is an emphasis on compassion—feeling and acting. The Pure Land is this earth; what needs to be transformed is not the earth but people's hearts, their consciousness and intent, and vis-á-vis the latter, behaviour is not so important as the intent behind it. Working in society to improve it by the laity is a valid way to achieve purification and enlightenment.
The six socially engaged Buddhist groups
Fo Guang Shan
18Fo Guang Shan was founded by Hsing Yun (b. 1927) in 1967. Like the founders of all the socially engaged Buddhist groups, save Tzu Chi, he is from mainland China. He entered a Buddhist life very early, receiving his precepts in 1941 at age 14. In 1949 he came to Taiwan to escape the Communists only to be arrested along with a number of other Buddhist monastics on suspicion of subversion; however, he and the others were released after 23 days. He took a position in 1952 in Ilan, where he built up a large following through his teaching and writing, and over the next decade he founded several temples. He was also elected to the board of directors of the Buddhist Association of the Republic of China28. But he turned down the appointment on the grounds that he was too young.
In 1966 he bought a remote piece of hill land in Kaohsiung County, “land that no-one else wanted” according to a nun at Fo Guang Shan's Brisbane, Australia, Chung Tian Monastery. He commenced building of a huge complex housing a monastery, museum, guest house, library, classrooms, various places of worship, and offices. The first phase was completed in 1967, and Fo Guang Shan has grown rapidly ever since. It has over three hundred branches in Taiwan and claims around one million members at present. It has also spread to many countries around the world; e.g. Australia presently has three Fo Guang Shan temples.
Fo Guang Shan promotes cultural activities, in particular Chinese culture and Buddhism studies. From 1995 it has entered Buddhist hymn chanters in international music festivals. It runs a press that publishes books, texts and journals, as well as video and audio instruction material related to Buddhism. Believing strongly that the arts lead people towards a Buddhist state of mind, it features artworks in its buildings and has six museums of Buddhist art, one each in Taiwan, the United States, France and South Africa and two in Australia.
It publishes a daily newspaper, the Merit Times (Renjian fubao), which contains news of the day, local politics, international news, financial news, etc. However, it contains no sensationalised news and, when reporting crime, it analyses the “cause”, rather than the “result”, i.e. the crime itself. Its lay organisation also holds cultural classes, e.g. cooking vegetarian dishes, flower arranging, calligraphy and music.
Although Fo Guang Shan was founded a year after Tzu Chi, it was probably the most prominent socially engaged Buddhist group through the 1980s, partly because of Hsing Yun's reputation, partly because of the spectacular Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Kaohsiung. It grew steadily through the 1980s then, like other Buddhist groups, expanded rapidly in the early 1990s. More recently its growth has slowed owing to the growth of Tzu Chi and Fagushan. Fo Guang Shan's problem is a “lack of a clear selling point”36. It lacks the specialised meditative techniques of Fagushan and the expansive and highly visible (though not touted) social service activities of Tzu Chi. Ironically, it was this “jack of all trades” combination of activities which partly accounted for its early success, it being the first Buddhist group to have well-known social as well as religious roles.
Fagushan
Fagushan was established by Venerable Sheng Yen. He was born ca. 1929 in Jiangsu and spent the first period of his life suffering through droughts, war, poverty and a disrupted primary education, finishing only grade four. In 1943, he accompanied a neighbour to a monastery to become a monk, this giving him the opportunity to study further. In 1949, he was drafted into the Republic of China military forces and went with his unit to Taiwan. He remained in the military until 1960, when he resumed his monastic vocation. Soon afterwards, he retreated into the mountains of southern Taiwan for six years to meditate, study and write. He also created a meditation style called “Chan in motion” which blended yoga and martial arts with seated meditation. In 1969 he was tonsured by Dongchu (1908-1977) of the Nung Chan Temple.
Later, he accepted an invitation by the Buddhist Association of America to teach Chan meditation. During this period, he travelled widely, teaching in the UK, Germany, Russia, Eastern Europe and Central and South America. According to Fagushan sources, this enabled him to develop “a Chan teaching that transcended ethnic and cultural boundaries, one that integrated the traditional and the modern into a form that both East and West could accept”
Fagushan describes its mission as follows: “We advocate the protection of the spiritual environment and the five-fold spiritual renaissance, as well as the three types of education: education through academics, education through public outreach, and education through caring service. Various programmes are offered to meet the spiritual and educational needs of people at all stages of their lives. Some of these programmes include international Buddhist conferences, ecological seminars and lectures, social welfare programmes and meditation retreats”.
Fagushan's central goal is to educate the public in Buddhism with the ultimate goal of realising the Pure Land on earth. “Protecting the environment” refers largely to the spiritual environment, i.e. purifying the mind. When people's minds are purified, they will be filled “with a gratitude for life as well as kindness and compassion . . . [and] they will devote the fruit of their efforts to others”43. Protecting the natural environment is only one part of environmental protection. The group has established a Benevolence Foundation, but it mostly donates money to other charity organisations; direct charitable donations to the poor are only made on three special occasions per year—the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Chinese New Year44. However, according to a Fagushan spokesperson, in addition to projects in orphanages, disaster relief and old age care, Fagushan spends about NT$200 million per year (about US$6 million) to assist families just above the poverty line and thus ineligible for government assistance.
Chung Tai Chan Szu
Chung Tai was founded by the Venerable Wei Chueh. In the early 1970s he on his own began an austere regime of meditative practice. He developed what he claims as his own style of meditation, described as “breath counting”, “breath observing”, and “middle way reality meditation”, to calm our preoccupied mind, purify it, and realise our true nature. The group also credits him with being important in reviving Chan meditation in Taiwan, though he is by no means the only relatively major figure to have emphasised Chan. However, Chung Tai Chan Szu more single-mindedly advocates the Chan Dharma path than the other groups.
In the mid-1980s, Wei Chueh attracted the attention of people in the area where he was meditating and began to attract followers. He established the Ling Chuan Monastery where he instructed followers in Buddhism and Chan meditation, gave lectures and conducted seven-day meditation sessions. Over time, his following outgrew the Ling Chuan Monastery so work commenced on a new site, the Chung Tai Monastery in Puli, Nantou County. There are now sixty additional Chung Tai Chan centres throughout Taiwan. There is also a Chung Tai Buddhist Institute which comprises a senior middle school, a college and a graduate school where over three hundred monks and nuns receive training. Chung Tai Chan Szu has also spread to Canada and the United States. In 2000, Wei Chueh established the Buddha Gate Monastery in Lafayette, California, which is attended by five monks from Taiwan and conducts classes in Buddhism and Chan meditation in English and in Chinese.
Chung Tai Chan Szu is the least socially engaged of the six Buddhist groups. A member, criticising poor relief by groups such as Tzu Chi, said that it puts it efforts on purifying the mind. “Much of the money others give the poor is spent on drink. The real problem lies in the mind. Take care of that and they won't need relief, or, at least, the relief given will be used properly”. Strictly speaking, it is not renjian fojiao as it is not based on Taixu's teachings. However, nuns interviewed claimed that it is.
Chung Tai Chan Szu more strongly encourages monastic life. The Chung Tai Monastery has around 1,600 monastics, and it encourages members to engage in weekend practice of the Eight Prohibitory Commandments (baguan zhai jie), not: to kill; take things not given; engage in “ignoble” (i.e. sexual) conduct; speak falsely; drink alcohol; indulge in cosmetics, personal adornments, dancing or music; sleep on fine beds (instead a mat on the ground); or eat after noon47. In addition one follows a vegetarian diet. The education it provides is either Buddhist or with very strong Buddhist content.
Chung Tai Chan Szu is also the most controversial of the six groups. The Puli Chung Tai Chan Szu Monastery has attracted criticism because of its cost (over US$650 million), people saying that such expense is unwarranted when there are so many other needs to take care of. In addition, Wei Chueh has become involved in politics in a very partisan way, opposing the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in both the 2000 and especially the 2004 presidential election, the latter because of his opposition to the Law on Religion (zongjiaofa), which demands that religious groups be financially accountable.
Further, a highly controversial incident took place in 1996. Chung Tai Chan Szu held summer camps for youngsters to teach them about Buddhism and Buddhist ceremonies in July, assisted by university student volunteers. Unexpectedly, at the end of the camp, about forty volunteers from several of the branch monasteries disappeared. Alarmed parents made inquiries at the sponsoring branch monasteries, but were told nothing about the whereabouts of their offspring. Later, parents heard that their youngsters would be at the main Chung Tai Chan Szu Monastery in Puli. Once this information became known, the Chung Tai Monastery became the object of public criticism.
Fu-chih
Fu-chih was founded in 1987 by Venerable Jih Chang. While having a strong base in Han Buddhism and Confucianism, Jih Chang regarded Tibetan Buddhism to be the most advanced and refined form. He teaches from the Putidao dici guanglun (The Extensive and Orderly Treatise on Perfect Wisdom), a text by the Tibetan reformer Tsong-kha-pa, making Fu-chih the Taiwan group with the strongest emphasis on Tibetan Buddhism. However, Fu-chih is also ecumenical49; although its bookstore in Taipei places books by the Dalai Lama in the most prominent position, it also carries books by non-Chinese who represent other forms of belief. Fu-chih literature states that as it globalises, the organisation desires to blend into local cultures, to understand the needs of the local people and society and give them what is suitable. A volunteer worker stated in an interview that Fu-chih does not expect Buddhism to sweep away other religions, and it respects all sincere faiths and groups.
As is the case with several other Buddhist groups, Fu-chih has established several foundations, one of which is the Fu-chih Foundation. “The [Fu-chih] Foundation has three great undertakings, a healthy body, mind and spirit. This is based on three pillars: Buddha Dharma, culture and education, and compassion” 50. It attempts to accomplish these through education and promoting organic foods. Its educational initiatives include its publications, book sales, courses on Buddhism and other subjects, supplying course material to the Taiwan Ministry of Education programme in Life Education and establishing a school complex in central Taiwan which, according to their plan, will educate from kindergarten through post-graduate studies. Fu-chih also holds a series of summer camps for educators and tertiary students where they are introduced to Buddhist thought and principles in the hope of improving the overall level of morality and ensuring that people have an accurate conception of Buddhism.Fu-chih runs two magazine series, The Voice of Fu-chih, and Friends of Fu-chih, both of which publish articles on life influenced by Buddhist thought and achieving a better quality of life rather than on Buddhism itself. Its contributions to the Life Education programme are similar, stories about good people doing good things in accordance with Buddhist principles. Its school complex, at which most students will be boarded, is designed to create a good Buddhist atmosphere in which children can grow up and learn. Finally, it should be noted that, like several other socially engaged Buddhist groups, Fu-chih regards educating people in the Buddha Dharma a social service in that it furthers efforts to make the earth the Pure Land.
Fu-chih's promotion of organic foods has two aims, to protect the earth and those life forms killed by the use of agricultural chemicals, and to protect human health, both that of the farmers growing the crops and that of consumers. To achieve these aims, Jih Chang established the Compassion Organic Agriculture Foundation in 1997. It has since become one of the government-recognised testing bodies for organic produce in co-operation with the Farmers Association. It has also developed many chemical additive-free food products which are sold throughout Taiwan in its Li-Jen Shops. In line with this form of activity, it holds various sorts of cooking classes and has a section on foods, cooking and the environment in its bookshop.
Fu-chih does not proselytise and is not trying to achieve strong or rapid growth. It eschews media publicity, and does not inform the media when or where it is holding events. It spreads by holding classes on the Broad Treatise and topics of community interest; those who affiliate do so as the “result” of a prior “cause” (yinyuan). It presently has an active membership of about 20,000. It has a temple where monastics live and where members go periodically to worship, but it is not a grand temple and neither its whereabouts nor even its existence are publicised. Much of the work of the organisation takes place in a thirteen-story building in Taipei which it uses for administration and classrooms with, on the ground floor level, its book shop and organic food outlet. There is also a small place of worship on the top floor.
Ling Jiou Shan
Ling Jiou Shan is one of the two smaller socially-engaged Buddhist groups. It stands out from other groups in that, first, it is by far the most ecumenical. Like Fo Guang Shan and Fu-chih, aside from its Mahayana-Han base, it also embraces the Theravada and Tibetan traditions. However, it goes one step further, advocating a dialogue between all religious traditions, a position backed up by its best known feature, its Museum of World Religions.
He was 15 when he first heard about Guanyin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy and compassion, and he later read Pu Menpin (WWW), which opened a road to Buddhism for him. He began to study, meditate and abstain from eating meat. In order to steel his resolve, he tattooed on his wrists “enlightenment rewards Guanyin”, “I will not rest until I become a Buddha”, and “I will bring salvation to all living creatures”.
Ling Jiou Shan Buddhism has two special characteristics. First, it combines the three major traditions in what Xindao calls Three Vehicle Buddhism54. Xindao “combines the three into one as a way to encourage his disciples to look, listen, study and think more, to be more open minded and to have a broader field of vision”. Second, Ling Jiou Shan emphasises Chan cultivation but has its own form, “life meditation” (shenghuochan), i.e. taking the spirit of Chan into everyday life. Xindao created this form because he realises that the people of today are not suited for periodic fasting or other forms of assiduous cultivation. Through it, he aims to instil in people the concordance between Buddhism and everyday life, to emphasise that there is wisdom everywhere in life, and to render people relaxed and happy in body and spirit. He has also established a Chan Cultivation Institute which uses a structured, step-by-step approach, the same text used by Fu-chih for the learning of Chan cultivation. The Institute offers secluded meditation, student services, and teachers.
In 1989-90, Xindao established the Ling Jiou Shan Wisdom Education and Cultural Foundation, the Ling Jiou Shan Protect Buddhism Association, and the International Buddhist Centre in order to spread Buddhism. He hopes that through Buddhism people will come to know, and become compassionate, will learn to respect all beliefs, embrace all peoples, and love all life, thus completing the great wish for world peace.
]Its other contributions to education are the Chan Cultivation Institute with its step by step system to study Buddhism and meditation, the Three Vehicles Buddhist Academy, and the Huiming Academy, which uses a university system of instruction and divides curriculum between Buddhist and secular (non-profit organisations and management) courses. It also contributes to the Life Education project through a series of children's textbooks.
Regarding philanthropic activities, it established the Taipei County Private Ling Jiou Shan Social Welfare Foundation which carries out social assistance programmes providing free medical care, relief aid for the elderly and scholarships and other aid including counselling to children from single-parent families in Kungliao, where the main Ling Jiou Shan temple is located, and in locations in Taipei County and City. It also sponsors an environmental activity, the Qinshan Pure Water activity in which believers and residents in Kungliao clean up the seaside area. It also says masses for the dying/dead, which Buddhists believe is a great source of comfort for the relatives and the soul of the deceased.
Cheng Yen was born as Wang Chin-yun in 1937 in Chingshui, a town in west-central Taiwan. Adopted out to the family of her father's younger brother, she was raised in a relatively well-off family. At 15, her (adoptive) mother became seriously ill with a stomach ailment. Wang prayed to Guanyin, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, to help her mother, vowing to devote 12 years of her life to serving Guanyin and become a vegetarian if her mother was cured. Her mother recovered, and Chin-yun became a vegetarian as promised.
She returned to the Hualien area where she began to attract followers because of “miraculous” events that happened around her. As her group formed, she resolved to maintain Sangha independence and instituted rules: no sutra chanting or Dharma ritual service for fees and no begging. “Instead her followers took whatever handicrafts they could subcontract from factories to make a living, such as sewing paper bags and making baby shoes, so as to abide by the Zen master Baizhang's motto of ‘no toil, no meal’, a slogan still prominent in the Tzu Chi headquarters”. This philosophy, along with two later experiences, established Tzu Chi's mission of serving society. The first was Cheng Yen's reaction when she heard that a woman had died after being turned away from a hospital because she did not have money to pay a bond. The second was when, during a discussion, Catholic nuns asked Cheng Yen why, given the Buddhist notion of universal love, did they not build hospitals, schools, and other facilities to help the unfortunate.
As Tzu Chi grew, it developed an extensive programme of service to society and assistance to the poor. It has a first-class hospital and medical school, the latter since becoming a comprehensive university. There is a nursing college and a kindergarten through senior middle school facility nearby. Moreover, these are located in Hualien, which was previously poorly served by the public medical and education systems, and also has a high percentage of aboriginal and other poor people. Tzu Chi's hospitals and schools allow free entry to those who cannot afford to pay. It is building another hospital, and has other clinics as well. It has a large bone marrow donation programme with global access. It distributes relief goods to the poor on a monthly basis; branches have lists of the poor in their areas who come each month to receive medical treatment, haircuts and cash donations. It also has environmental protection and recycling programmes, the latter generating a considerable stream of revenue. Finally, it has a television channel, Da'ai (WW, Great Love) TV, which has regular programming similar to the Fo Guang Shan newspaper with news but no racy items, sensationalism or gossip.
Another characteristic of Tzu Chi is that it is an overwhelmingly lay organisation. Membership figures for Tzu Chi are fuzzy because of the way it counts members, but even if it does not have the five million members it claims world wide, it is still a very large organisation. However, late in 2003, it had only about 150 monastics (all nuns), and while many of them work hard in various areas of the organisation, most of the staff are lay members. Moreover, much of the work both in the organisation and in the social services provided is done by volunteers.
With regard to religious training, most groups hold classes, summer camps, and retreats for the general membership. Fagushan, Chung Tai Chan Szu and Fo Guang Shan have university or postgraduate courses in Buddhism, and monastic training is also available at monasteries. Tzu Chi, with its emphasis on cultivation by action, puts the least effort into religious training, though candidates for commissioner and volunteers must undergo prior systematic training.
The contributions to life education by Ling Jiou Shan, Fu-chih and Fo Guang Shan constitute a category of education intermediate between the religious and the secular. From the perspectives of these groups, this teaching of religion-inspired morality and life skills is a positive contribution to society in the intention to form more moral and well-adjusted attitudes to life in all its permutations and living, which in turn contributes to making the Earth a Pure Land.
In terms of culture, all groups view the output of their publishing houses as a contribution to culture. Several of the groups also teach or allow outside groups to teach classes on their premises in such activities as calligraphy, painting, dance, musical instruments and cooking. Fo Guang Shan and Ling Jiou Shan also contribute to culture through their museums. Fo Guang Shan has six museums and some of its other buildings house paintings and sculpture. It also holds festivals of Buddhist music at which Buddhists from abroad can put Buddhist lyrics to music that represents their own cultures.
All groups engage in philanthropy and charity, though the extent differs greatly. All contribute to disaster relief. Fu-chih, one of the smaller groups, has no other such activities and Chung Tai Chan Szu has mainly short-term projects. Ling Jiou Shan, also a small group, has small though ongoing programmes to assist the elderly and children in one-parent families. Fagushan has more extensive regular charity programmes. Fo Guang Shan provides a wide range of social services, in particular to orphans, prisoners, and the elderly and also operates mobile clinics in remote areas. Tzu Chi, the largest group, puts most of its efforts into philanthropic work. Together these groups make significant contributions to Taiwan's social welfare infrastructure.
Finally, Fu-chih, Ling Jiou Shan, Tzu Chi and Fo Guang Shan directly contribute to environmental protection. Fu-chih does so through its organic agriculture programmes and Ling Jiou Shan through seaside clean-ups and conferences. Tzu Chi and Fo Guang Shan have very extensive litter collection and recycling programmes.
In sum, socially engaged Buddhism has succeeded in directing the energies of millions of people in Taiwan towards raising general morality, helping the unfortunate and providing for them a feeling of inclusion in the wider society, and in improving the civic nature of Taiwan society.
