Engaged Buddhism for an Engulfed World: New Perspectives on Humanistic Buddhism

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2025) | Viewed by 5470

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Kraków, Poland
Interests: history of Buddhist religion; philosophy in China and Japan

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Starting in the late 19th century, anti-religious movements such as ‘school-building on monastic properties’ (廟產興學) and the introduction of Western religions posed an unprecedented crisis for Chinese Buddhism. This crisis weakened the economical foundation of the monasteries and even stripped some monasteries of their properties and possessions, making it hard for their normal functioning to continue. The traditional status of monastics was also severely challenged, forcing many monastics to return to lay life. Meanwhile, local religious activities centering around the monasteries also came to be seriously limited, while the overall development of Buddhism halted and even retrograded.

However, crisis also spurred reforms in Buddhist education, leading to the creation of many modern Buddhist colleges. In response to the crisis, some traditional Buddhist schools, such as Tiantai and Pure Land, also experienced renaissance. But perhaps the most notable outcome emerging from this crisis is the movement of Engaged or Humanistic Buddhism (Renjian Fojiao, 人間佛教) led by Master Taixu (太虛) (1890-1947), which underpinned the renaissance of Chinese Buddhism in the 20th century.

Engaged Buddhism advocates the application of Buddhist philosophy in everyday life and the use of Buddhist practices for the sake of the betterment of oneself and society. It promotes a sense of engagement and responsibility for the world and has led more and more Chinese Buddhists to care about the welfare of society and to contribute to charity, education, environment protection, and public health, among other social causes.

Engaged Buddhism also represents a modernized religious movement. It embraces modern values such as gender equality, diversity, individual freedom, and scientific and technological outlook; thus, it is uniquely suitable for facilitating the dialogue between Eastern and Western religions.

Buddhism itself promotes multiculturalism. Since its origin in India, it has taken up abode in many cultural and geographical areas in Central, East, and Southeast Asia, and today, its influences continue reaching all around the world. Its successful transplantation into so many diverse cultures is indebted to its spirit of inclusivity. Buddhism is not hostile to other forms of thinking and in fact encourages its followers to respect cultural and ideological diversity. This inclusive spirit emerged as an advantage in the propagation of Buddhism on foreign soils. Secondly, Buddhism is highly adaptable, constantly letting itself be modified by host cultures. Moreover, Buddhist missionaries are often highly cultured individuals who possess the precious ability to communicate cross-culturally, which is a quality strengthening the international appeal of Buddhism.

If we say Engaged Buddhism was birthed passively by the socio-historical circumstances at the time, then we must ask whether it could play a more active role in today’s world that is threatened by a reverse trend of globalization and increasing hostility between some major cultures and states. It is thus worthwhile for scholars to study whether and how Engaged Buddhism could wield its cross-cultural capacity to contribute to world peace and cooperation.

Prof. Dr. Jinhua Chen
Dr. Jakub Zamorski
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • engaged or humanistic Buddhism (Renjian Fojiao, 人間佛教)
  • modernization
  • globalization
  • Taixu
  • school-building on monastic properties (廟產興學)
  • multiculturalism

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2428 KiB  
Article
Buddhist Cosmopolitanism? Abbot Chao Kung and the International Interaction of Modern Chinese Buddhism
by Jiade Shao
Religions 2024, 15(12), 1439; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15121439 - 27 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1096
Abstract
Master Chao Kung 照空 (Ignatius Trebitsch Lincoln, 1879–1943), who asserted to be the first European to undergo monastic ordination in China, possessed a multifaceted identity. According to the Chinese newspapers of the 1930s, Master Chao Kung was documented simultaneously as a clergyman, a [...] Read more.
Master Chao Kung 照空 (Ignatius Trebitsch Lincoln, 1879–1943), who asserted to be the first European to undergo monastic ordination in China, possessed a multifaceted identity. According to the Chinese newspapers of the 1930s, Master Chao Kung was documented simultaneously as a clergyman, a British Parliamentarian, and a German spy before he transitioned into monastic life. Throughout his activities as a monk in China, Chao Kung garnered significant attention from both the public and the domestic Buddhist community and frequently engaged in matters concerning Japan and Tibet, where he elicited mixed evaluations. This paper endeavors to scrutinize Chao Kung’s monastic journey during his residence in China based on an array of historical sources, to analyze the distinctiveness of his role and its impact on Chinese Buddhism as well as on the global Buddhist network, by situating it within the broader framework of the globalization of Buddhism in the modern era and the context of the intricate political dynamics of the Republican period. Full article
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32 pages, 978 KiB  
Article
A Comparative Perspective of “Engaged Buddhism” and “Renjian Fojiao” (“Humanistic Buddhism”) in Chinese Speaking Discourse: Exclusivism, Inclusivism, or Pragmatism?
by Carsten Krause
Religions 2024, 15(11), 1306; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15111306 - 25 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1743
Abstract
The two modern concepts, “Engaged Buddhism” and renjian fojiao 人間佛教, with the variety of its English translations (such as “Humanistic Buddhism”), were developed and discussed with and without reference to each other over several decades. This article raises the question of how “Engaged [...] Read more.
The two modern concepts, “Engaged Buddhism” and renjian fojiao 人間佛教, with the variety of its English translations (such as “Humanistic Buddhism”), were developed and discussed with and without reference to each other over several decades. This article raises the question of how “Engaged Buddhism” has been portrayed in the Chinese-speaking world. It therefore reflects on a hybrid conceptual history and distinguishes between “concept-unaffected” and “concept-affected” (“concept-affirming”, “concept-negating”, and “concept-corresponding”) positionings in the Buddhist world, as well as a “concept-distancing” and “concept-processing” scholarship of Buddhist studies. The concept of “Engaged Buddhism” has been rendered with various Chinese terms in mainland China and Taiwan, e.g., “rushi fojiao” 入世佛教 (Buddhism that Enters the World), “canyu fojiao” 參與佛教 (Participatory Buddhism), and “zuoyi fojiao” 左翼佛教 (Left-Wing Buddhism). As can be seen from a rich body of sources, its discussion among Chinese-speaking Buddhists and scholars increased over the past twenty years and has been strongly characterized by comparisons with “renjian fojiao”, which can lead to different currents, such as exclusivism, inclusivism, and pragmatism. Full article
17 pages, 409 KiB  
Article
From Monks to Educators: Venerable Zongyue and Buddhist Charitable Educational Activities in Early Twentieth-Century Beijing
by Wei Wu
Religions 2024, 15(7), 779; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070779 - 27 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1181
Abstract
This article explores the charitable activities of Chinese Buddhists in Beijing in the first decades of the twentieth century, with a focus on Buddhists’ efforts in building schools and promoting modern education. Specifically, the activities led by Venerable Zongyue 宗月 (1880–1941) are examined, [...] Read more.
This article explores the charitable activities of Chinese Buddhists in Beijing in the first decades of the twentieth century, with a focus on Buddhists’ efforts in building schools and promoting modern education. Specifically, the activities led by Venerable Zongyue 宗月 (1880–1941) are examined, in his role spearheading various Buddhist charitable activities in Beijing, including building several schools for commoners (pingmin xuexiao 平民學校) in the 1920s. Zongyue also established a library and a Buddhist newspaper called Fobao Xunkan 佛寶旬刊 to promote ideas about philanthropy. In the late 1920s, inspired by Zongyue’s example, as well as under pressure from the government during the anti-superstition campaigns, many other temples in Beijing began building schools to offer educational opportunities to students. This article investigates the interactions between Buddhism, education, and the government. By examining the initiatives started by Zongyue and the role of Chinese Buddhists in promoting charitable educational activities and social change, this article sheds light on the broader impact of Buddhism on Chinese society in the early twentieth century. Full article
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