This article focuses on accounts of bodily asceticism published in Buddhist periodicals in Republican China (1912–1949) in order to explore the mentality and motivation of publicly presenting this seemingly fanatic and backward tradition in an...
The East Asian world has shared both universal characteristics and regional particularities, forming a Buddhist cultural area for more than 1500 years. One of the main features of East Asian Buddhism is a “state–Buddhist link”. This...
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, Maste...
The revival of Buddhism in Korea began in the 20th century as the nation suffered a downfall from the colonization of the Japanese Imperialists. In this chaotic time of social turmoil, transformation into a modern nation resulted not from a natural f...
This article compares the precept revival movements in Korean and Japanese Buddhism in the early modern period. It examines how monks in both countries, in particular, in the Korean Hyujŏng lineage and the Japanese Shingon sect, restored and uti...
Buddhists started arriving in Australia in large numbers during the mid-1800s, and the first Buddhist societies and centres began to be formed in the mid-late 1900s. This paper examines the role of women in bringing Buddhism to and establishing it in...
The restrictive measures against Buddhism under the Neo-Confucian Chosŏn dynasty resulted in the decline of Korean Buddhism at the start of the twentieth century. As the Chosŏn government started to make sweeping changes in the name of modernization,...
Charismatic Buddhist monks are instrumental in modernising Buddhism as they have been entrusted with an important role of resurrecting religion and Sinhala society throughout the course of Sri Lankan history. Ven. Pitaduwe Siridhamma, later known as...
This paper highlights Thailand’s distinctive form of Buddhist Modernism through an exploration of religious piety among female sex workers in the city of Chiangmai. The generally accepted key basis of Buddhist Modernism, as depicted by certain...
This study examines the life of Yi Ch’ŏngch’un 李靑春 (1886–1955), one of the first female disciples of Wŏn Buddhism, a 20th-century Korean religious movement. Her story shows modernity’s impact on...
Under the influence of “Using the Temple Property for Schools”(UTPSs) movement, the monastic education of Han Buddhism 漢傳佛教僧教育 in modern China, as a whole, has gradually moved towards the m...
Drawing on Foucault’s theoretical framework of “space and power”, this paper examines the discursive construction of “knowledge” in the context of Chinese Buddhist education. It traces the historical transformation of Chinese Buddhist education from...
Mahayana Buddhism is well known for being successfully implanted in various cultures. Chinese Buddhism, considered one of the three great religions of China along with Confucianism and Taoism, is a classic example. From China, Buddhism traveled furth...
Chan-bul-ga (찬불가, 讚佛歌), which in English means ‘songs in praise of the Buddha’, refers to a style of Korean Buddhist hymn that emerged during the modernization of Korean Buddhism. Buddhist hymns&m...
This paper explores the origin and role of the Buddhist taxonomic category “zong 宗” (“sect” or “school”) in the formation of modern Buddhism in China. It does so by examining a highly significant late-Qing B...
This article explores the narrative descriptions of the Chinese religious landscape embedded within nineteenth century Christian missionary writings. I demonstrate the potential use of Protestant missionary writings as sources in the academic study o...
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 l...
This paper studies the ways that Walker, a short film by the Malaysian-Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-Liang, visualizes the relationship between Buddhism and modernity. Via detailed film analysis as well as attention to sources in premodern Buddhist trad...
During the era of the Republic of China, a number of Buddhists rediscovered early meditation techniques. These practices were mainly revived from canonical scriptures, following a modern text-based approach to Buddhism. Within this framework, specifi...
In early 20th-century Korea, Buddhist magazines emerged as vital extra-canonical sources, offering a modern platform that complemented traditional Buddhist texts. These publications navigated the complexities between succeeding Buddhist tradition and...
This paper examines the construction and maintenance of Chinese Han Buddhist temples in modern China against the backdrop of societal transformation. Initially, it analyzes the profound impact of social changes since the mid-19th century on Buddhist...
This essay traces the Japanese reception of Zhuhong’s Tract on Refraining from Killing and on Releasing Life in the early modern period. Ritual animal releases have a long history in Japan beginning in the seventh century, approximately two centuries...
In Japan, explicitly religious content is not commonly found in popular music. Against this mainstream tendency, since approximately 2008, ecclesiastic and non-ecclesiastic actors alike have made musical arrangements of the Heart Sutra. What do these...
In this article, I examine the popular Victorian poem The Light of Asia (1879) and its reception and adaptation in late nineteenth and early twentieth century colonial India. Authored by the popular writer, Sir Edwin Arnold, The Light of Asia is typi...
This article explores the history and procedures of the 49-day Buddhist funeral ceremony, which functions as a ritual for the dead and a healing tool for the bereaved. The significance of this ceremony has its origins in The Treatise of the Great Com...
This essay considers the importance of the transspecies imagination for moral cultivation in contemporary Chinese Buddhism. Drawing on scriptural, theoretical, and fieldwork-based ethnographic data, it argues that olfaction—often considered the...
The Tibetan yoga practice known as “winds, channels, and inner heat” (rtsa rlung gtum mo) is physically challenging, and yet is intentionally designed to transform the mind. This chapter explores the relationship between Buddhist doctrine and this ph...
This paper analyses the Japanese influence upon Taiwanese Buddhist communities during the Colonial Period. I will discuss the interplay between monasticism, education, and politics by examining the process of institutionalisation of monastics and Bud...
In this essay, we, a professor and a student, share our experience of teaching and learning in a class on Buddhism and cognitive science at George Washington University. Our goal is not to argue for one approach over others, but to present a guide on...
Desire is an important philosophical topic that deeply impacts everyday life. Philosophical practice is an emerging trend that uses philosophical theories and methods as a guide to living a eudaimonic life. In this paper, we define desire philosophic...
The word “Buddhism” conjures up a variety of images and connotations: monks meditating on hilltops, mindfulness, cheerful Buddha caricatures. It is unlikely that these depictions suggest engagement with societal issues. And yet, this is p...
This article explores the apologetic discourse towards the convergence between Pure Land Buddhism and theoretical physics of the contemporary Chinese Buddhist monk, Da An (1959- ). Faced with the formidable challenge posed by contemporary science tow...
In the post-World War II era, Sōka Gakkai has deployed the terminology and concept of “religion” (shūkyō 宗教) in a variety of contexts and to a variety of ends. Do these positions simply reflect a post-war stra...
This study examines the identity and characteristics of modern Korean Buddhist education through an analysis of the religious studies lecture notes of a student from the Buddhist Central Seminary (Pulgyo Chungang Hangnim, 佛敎中...
The shift toward modernity has come with many changes that affect religion. This article investigates some of those changes with the aim of showing how Korean Buddhism is adjusting to contemporary spirituality. The article begins with a consideration...
Humanistic Buddhism is one of the mainstreams of modern Buddhism, with special emphasis on the humanistic dimension. With the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Humanistic Buddhism is also at an important stage of modernization a...
Since the appearance of Buddha, texts and images depicting his life have circulated across Eurasia, serving as significant mediums for disseminating Buddhist ideology. Japan has historically been influenced by the canon of Chinese Buddhism while conc...
Thoughts on the relationship between Buddhism and Tibetans permeate Pema Tseden’s films. His early films focused on whether the Buddhist spirit, such as feelings, dedication, and self-sacrifice, was recognized in modern Tibet. Identity is a pro...
As described in several recent studies, the appropriation of the concept “religion 宗教” in modern Japan made “Buddhism 仏教” enter a transformation process that led, ultimately, to the reimagining of i...
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 refer...
Following the introduction of Buddhism to China, various strategies of accommodation with Chinese culture were developed, all amounting to some form of syncretism with Chinese religions, mainly Confucianism. Buddhism in pre-modern Korea displayed sim...
When the historical past in the study of Chosŏn Buddhism is unearthed, one would discover that Buddhist studies was in fact closely tied to Korea’s recent history of colonization by Japan and to the postcolonial influences of the West. Thi...
This article examines how two contemporary Zen Buddhist communities in Germany—Zen Peacemakers Germany and Akazienzendo Berlin—engage in ecological activism through the lens of eco-Buddhism. Drawing on eco-Buddhism, the study investigates...
Samguk yusa 三國遺事 (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms), compiled by Iryŏn 一然 (1206–1289), a prominent Buddhist monk in Koryŏ, stands as one of Korea’s most valued historical classics. This...
This study aims to relate the emerging field of community psychology with the philosophical thoughts of Wonhyo, a prominent figure in Korean Buddhism, from the aspect of their common orientation, to explore the development of both Buddhist philosophy...
The first decade of the twentieth century marked a turning point for Japanese Buddhism. With the introduction of Western academia, Buddhist scholars began to uncover the history of Buddhism, and through their efforts, they discovered India as the bir...
This article focuses on the Chinese woman writer Lü Bicheng 呂碧城 (1883–1943) and her relationship with the worldwide movement for the revival of Buddhism in the early twentieth century. Lü rose up in the context of the “new woman...
In the early twentieth century, Indonesia was a predominantly Muslim majority colony under the Dutch Christian colonial authorities. The 1930 volkstelling (census record) conducted by the Dutch colonial government recorded four religions being practi...
Buddhism has been a significant part of Hangzhou’s rich history. Throughout the twentieth century, Hangzhou’s Buddhist culture continued to inspire many Chinese writers, one of the most prominent being Yu Dafu. The writer stayed in Hangzh...
This convergent mixed-methods investigation explores the changing place of Buddhism in Chinese youth lives in the post-pandemic era using data from a national survey (N = 2812) and semi-structured interviews (n = 24). Although traditional religious a...
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