DOCSLIB.ORG

One Could Probably Try to Argue That Taixu 太虛 (1890–1947) Was Not the Most Important Chinese Monk of the Twentieth Century, but It Would Be Hard Going

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
One Could Probably Try to Argue That Taixu 太虛 (1890–1947) Was Not the Most Important Chinese Monk of the Twentieth Century, but It Would Be Hard Going 242 book reviews Anarchy in the Pure Land: Reinventing the Cult of Maitreya in Modern Chinese Buddhism. By Justin Ritzinger. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. xii + 334 pages. Hardcover. isbn 978-0190491161. us$74.00. One could probably try to argue that Taixu 太虛 (1890–1947) was not the most important Chinese monk of the twentieth century, but it would be hard going. During his lifetime he wrote extensively on a broad range of topics, founded numerous important institutions, and taught some of the leading Buddhists of the century. He is lauded throughout the Sinophone Buddhist world as a visionary, a reformer, and the creator of Humanistic Buddhism (Renjian fojiao 人間佛教), a broad movement focused on the problems of our world that con- tinues to serve as a central inspiration within Chinese Buddhism. All of this is certainly true, but Taixu was a far more multifaceted thinker, and his involve- ment with traditional Buddhist thought is far more complex than this picture suggests. In this book, Justin Ritzinger seeks to nuance the accepted view by exploring the lasting impact of radicalism on Taixu’s thought, and the ways in which this manifested itself in his devotion to the Bodhisattva Maitreya. Schol- ars tend to view Taixu’s involvement with radicalism as a short-lived dalliance of youth, and one that had little or no lasting impact on his later Buddhist thought. They also treat Taixu as a nearly secular modernist. Ritzinger argues here that both of these impressions are false. This is a work of intellectual history. Although institutional issues are dis- cussed in passing, the primary goal of this book is to explain the context, devel- opment, and enduring legacy of Taixu’s ideas about, and devotion to, Maitreya. While intellectual history is not the only approach used by contemporary scholars of modern Chinese Buddhism, it is a favored one. Here Ritzinger employs it in classical fashion as he analyzes the development over time of the ideas of a single individual, and the impact that contemporary events and trends had on that individual’s thinking. Much of his source material consists of articles from radical and Buddhist journals, and published records of lec- tures given by Taixu. Many of Ritzinger’s sources have only been widely available to scholars for the past decade, and he uses them to tell a story that differs in significant ways from the received history. For example, these sources allow him to correct some aspects of the biography of Taixu articulated by the primary inheritor of his thought, Yinshun 印順 (1906–2004). Taken together, Yinshun’s biographies of Taixu are treated as the definitive statement on who Taixu was, but, as Ritz- inger notes, Yinshun did not have access to all of the documents available to us today. Moreover, Yinshun wrote his works in Taiwan at a time when anything with even a whiff of Communism about it faced censure. This led Yinshun to © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/22143955-00502009Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 03:45:48AM via free access <UN> book reviews 243 downplay the radical and utopian elements of Taixu’s thought, relegating them to a footnote in the discussion of Taixu’s early years. Just as the ongoing impact of radicalism on Taixu’s thought has been large- ly elided, so too has Taixu’s role in establishing a foundation for the modern veneration of Maitreya and the articulation of spiritual practices centered on Maitreya’s Pure Land. Ritzinger argues that in reinventing the cult of Maitreya, Taixu engaged in a creative reinterpretation of the Chinese Buddhist tradi- tion that should be seen as “modern,” and he draws from the work of Charles Taylor to make this case. Rather than see the turn toward cultic devotion as a reactionary turn away from a secular and this-worldly modernity, Ritzinger says we should see it as one more element of Taixu’s modernism, one that in- volved a complex of negotiation and invention. Not only has the modernism of Taixu’s devotion to Maitreya been ignored, that very devotion itself has been overlooked. As Ritzinger notes, even an authority such as the respected scholar of Taiwanese Buddhism Jiang Canteng 江燦騰 places the origins of modern Maitreya devotion with Yinshun, and not that monk’s teacher Taixu. This book is divided into three main sections, and given the coherence of each, I will summarize the book by section rather than chapter. The first two sections are structured in a similar way: the first half of each focuses on histori- cal context and relevant information from Taixu’s biography. The second half of each of the first two sections contains a careful analysis of several primary sources that support the main focus of that section. This is an effective struc- ture, and each of the sections builds to a clear point. The first section, “Taixu’s Buddhist Radicalism,” begins by telling the story of Taixu’s early life, his en- counter with anarchist socialist thought, and his involvement in radical groups prior to his entry into religious seclusion in 1914. The section then moves into a detailed study of two articles Taixu wrote for radical journals, and one article he wrote for a Buddhist journal during this period. These sources have not re- ceived much attention from previous scholars, and Ritzinger goes into great detail in his analysis of the Buddhist dimensions of Taixu’s radical thought. He argues that much of Taixu’s early radicalism centered on the notion of datong 大同, an indigenous Chinese utopian ideal that was being discussed by a wide range of thinkers at the time. The second section, “The Cult of Maitreya,” is the heart of the book. It first traces the formal history of Taixu’s attempt to establish a practical and insti- tutional basis for a Maitreya devotion, from his formal inauguration of the Maitreya School (Cizong 慈宗) in February 1924 to the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Here, Ritzinger brings to light this enduring thread within Taixu’s personal devotion, framing his discussion in terms of Taixu’s concerns about his own salvation, and his response to changes in the political review of religion and chinese society 5 (2018) 229-257Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 03:45:48AM via free access <UN> 244 book reviews climate. Rather than simply catalog Taxiu’s statements about Maitreya, Ritz- inger constructs a timeline of the development of the contents of that thought. Although Taixu first emphasized Maitreya’s status as the spiritual founder of the Yogācāra School, which was very popular among Chinese Buddhist intel- lectuals at the time, he eventually stressed Maitreya’s role as the teacher for a Pure Land that could, and would be created on this very earth through the working of compassionate Buddhists. After providing this background, Ritz- inger enters into an extended analysis of three texts that Taixu treated as the “Three Essentials of the Maitreya School” (Cizong sanyao 慈宗三要). Drawing on the classical texts themselves, as well as Taixu’s commentaries, Ritzinger shows how Taixu used them to respond to a variety of modern issues, includ- ing Darwinism, scientific epistemology generally, and the ideal ways to reform Chinese society for the good of all people. The third section of the book, “Worlds Closing and Opening,” extends the study beyond the death of Taixu in 1947. Chapter 5 focuses on the period from 1950 to the 1980s. It briefly discusses how, in the People’s Republic of China, even as Buddhism as a whole suffered under the heavy yoke of Communist suppression, radical Maitreyan utopianism was criticized for its commitment to a pacifist revolution, which ran counter to the firm Communist belief in the need for violent class struggle. This is followed with a much more extended discussion of the situation in Taiwan, focusing on the struggle that Yinshun faced during the period of the rising power of conservative Buddhists. The fi- nal chapter brings us up to the present day. It outlines some of the current developments in Maitreya devotion over the last few decades in the prc and Taiwan, and provides a few pages each on various temples and study associa- tions that have focused their attentions on Maitreya. Perhaps the most interest- ing element of this chapter is the inclusion of the “heterodox” groups Yiguan Dao 一貫道 and Maitreya Great Way (Mile Dadao 彌勒大道). Although Ritz- inger mentions only in passing elsewhere the relationship between Maitreya devotion and the early progenitors of these groups, the so-called redemptive societies of the late Imperial and Republican periods, here he begins to make the case that these groups inherited specific and significant elements of Taixu’s thought. It is an interesting point, and one that deserves to be followed up on. As should be clear from the comments made above, this book is in deep conversation with the scholarship, both Anglophone and Sinophone, on mod- ern Chinese Buddhism. As such, it cannot be read in isolation. It gives enough background on both Taixu and the historical period that the nonspecialist will have some insight into what is going on, but it is not a book for generalists. This book’s greatest contributions are for specialists or those otherwise knowledge- able about modern Chinese Buddhism. Taixu is universally known within the review of religion and chineseDownloaded society from 5 Brill.com09/25/2021 (2018) 229-257 03:45:48AM via free access <UN> book reviews 245 Chinese Buddhist world, and almost as universally beloved. This book gives us new insight into the man and frees us from some of the biases that late twentieth-century Chinese politics have imposed on our understanding of him.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lankavatara-Sutra.Pdf
    Table of Contents Other works by Red Pine Title Page Preface CHAPTER ONE: - KING RAVANA’S REQUEST CHAPTER TWO: - MAHAMATI’S QUESTIONS I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX XXXI XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXV XXXVI XXXVII XXXVIII XXXIX XL XLI XLII XLIII XLIV XLV XLVI XLVII XLVIII XLIX L LI LII LIII LIV LV LVI CHAPTER THREE: - MORE QUESTIONS LVII LVII LIX LX LXI LXII LXII LXIV LXV LXVI LXVII LXVIII LXIX LXX LXXI LXXII LXXIII LXXIVIV LXXV LXXVI LXXVII LXXVIII LXXIX CHAPTER FOUR: - FINAL QUESTIONS LXXX LXXXI LXXXII LXXXIII LXXXIV LXXXV LXXXVI LXXXVII LXXXVIII LXXXIX XC LANKAVATARA MANTRA GLOSSARY BIBLIOGRAPHY Copyright Page Other works by Red Pine The Diamond Sutra The Heart Sutra The Platform Sutra In Such Hard Times: The Poetry of Wei Ying-wu Lao-tzu’s Taoteching The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain The Zen Works of Stonehouse: Poems and Talks of a 14th-Century Hermit The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma P’u Ming’s Oxherding Pictures & Verses TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE Zen traces its genesis to one day around 400 B.C. when the Buddha held up a flower and a monk named Kashyapa smiled. From that day on, this simplest yet most profound of teachings was handed down from one generation to the next. At least this is the story that was first recorded a thousand years later, but in China, not in India. Apparently Zen was too simple to be noticed in the land of its origin, where it remained an invisible teaching.
    [Show full text]
  • Constructing Irregular Theology
    Constructing Irregular Th eology Studies in Systematic Theology Series Editors Stephen Bevans S.V.D., Catholic Th eological Union, Chicago Miikka Ruokanen, University of Helsinki and Nanjing Union Th eological Seminary Advisory Board Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Fuller Th eological Seminary Jesse Mugambi, University of Nairobi Rachel Zhu Xiaohong, Fudan University, Shanghai Wanda Deifelt, Luther College VOLUME 1 Constructing Irregular Theology Bamboo and Minjung in East Asian Perspective By Paul S. Chung LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chung, Paul S., 1958– Constructing irregular theology : bamboo and Minjung in East Asian perspective / by Paul S. Chung. p. cm. — (Studies in systematic theology, ISSN 1876-1518 ; v. 1) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17417-7 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Christianity and other religions. 2. Asia—Religion. 3. Th eology—Asia. 4. Philosophy, Asian. I. Title. II. Series. BR128.A77C49 2009 230.095—dc22 2009010949 ISSN 1876-1518 ISBN 978 90 04 17417 7 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Th e Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 2 Wuguang’S Quest
    Cover Page The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/49753 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation Author: Bahir, C. Title: Reenchanting Buddhism via modernizing magic: Guru Wuguang of Taiwan’s philosophy and science of ‘superstition’ Issue Date: 2017-06-01 Chapter 2 Wuguang’s Quest Spirit, far from being opposed to the biological (as in the Cartesian dualism of body and mind), is the potentiality of human life—through conscious positing of future foals—for purposeful creation and growth. It is the possibility of structural self-transcendence made incipiently conscious in man...Its close connection with consciousness precludes exclusive linking of spirit with the irrational. French esprit, like German Geist and analogous terms in other languages, embraces “spirit” and “mind” in a single concept; hence the spiritual quest can include both the intellectual and scientific search for truth and the religious pursuit of salvation, which are fundamentally akin...Yet the ultimate indeterminacy of scientific truth need not entail a directionless relativism. On the contrary, an indeterminate goal engendered through purposive trial and error is a prime criterion for the spiritual quest (as for its biological and psychological antecedents), which thus attains in scientific inquiry one of its fullest expressions. ~ Robert Mitchell Torrance242 Wuguang was a complex individual who led a multi-faceted life that consisted of several somewhat self-contained phases. In each phase he attempted to master a specific thought tradition and harmonize it with those already in his eclectic repertoire. These traditions include: Daoism, Chinese folk religion, Chan, Zhenyan/Shingon and Tibetan Buddhism as well as modern philosophy and science.
    [Show full text]
  • Seon Dialogues 禪語錄禪語錄 Seonseon Dialoguesdialogues John Jorgensen
    8 COLLECTED WORKS OF KOREAN BUDDHISM 8 SEON DIALOGUES 禪語錄禪語錄 SEONSEON DIALOGUESDIALOGUES JOHN JORGENSEN COLLECTED WORKS OF KOREAN BUDDHISM VOLUME 8 禪語錄 SEON DIALOGUES Collected Works of Korean Buddhism, Vol. 8 Seon Dialogues Edited and Translated by John Jorgensen Published by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism Distributed by the Compilation Committee of Korean Buddhist Thought 45 Gyeonji-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-170, Korea / T. 82-2-725-0364 / F. 82-2-725-0365 First printed on June 25, 2012 Designed by ahn graphics ltd. Printed by Chun-il Munhwasa, Paju, Korea © 2012 by the Compilation Committee of Korean Buddhist Thought, Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism This project has been supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Republic of Korea. ISBN: 978-89-94117-12-6 ISBN: 978-89-94117-17-1 (Set) Printed in Korea COLLECTED WORKS OF KOREAN BUDDHISM VOLUME 8 禪語錄 SEON DIALOGUES EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY JOHN JORGENSEN i Preface to The Collected Works of Korean Buddhism At the start of the twenty-first century, humanity looked with hope on the dawning of a new millennium. A decade later, however, the global village still faces the continued reality of suffering, whether it is the slaughter of innocents in politically volatile regions, the ongoing economic crisis that currently roils the world financial system, or repeated natural disasters. Buddhism has always taught that the world is inherently unstable and its teachings are rooted in the perception of the three marks that govern all conditioned existence: impermanence, suffering, and non-self. Indeed, the veracity of the Buddhist worldview continues to be borne out by our collective experience today.
    [Show full text]
  • Chan Buddhism During the Times of Venerable Master Yixuan and Venerable Master Hsing Yun: Applying Chinese Chan Principles to Contemporary Society
    《 》學報 ‧ 藝文│第三十二期 外文論文 Chan Buddhism During the Times of Venerable Master Yixuan and Venerable Master Hsing Yun: Applying Chinese Chan Principles to Contemporary Society Shi Juewei Director, Humanistic Buddhism Centre (Australia) Linji Venerable Master Yixuan 臨濟義玄 (d. 866) and Fo Guang Venerable Master Hsing Yun 佛光星雲1 (1927–), although separated by more than a millennium, innovatively applied Chan teachings to the societies in which they lived to help their devotees discover their humanity and transcend their existential conditions. Both religious leaders not only survived persecution, but brought their faiths to greater heights. This paper studies how these masters adapted Chan Buddhist teachings to the woes and conditions of their times. In particular, I shall review how Venerable Master Yixuan and Venerable Master Hsing Yun adapted the teachings of their predecessors, added value to the socio- political milieu of their times, and used familiar language to reconcile reality and their beliefs. Background These two Chan masters were selected because of the significance of their contributions. Venerable Master Yixuan was not only the founder of a popular 1. In the Pinyin system, the name should be expressed as Xingyun. In this paper, I use the more popular “Hsing Yun” instead. 170 Chan Buddhism During the Times of Venerable Master Yixuan and Venerable Master Hsing Yun: Applying Chinese Chan Principles to Contemporary Society Linji2 school in Chan Buddhism but was also posthumously awarded the title of Meditation Master of Wisdom Illumination (Huizhao Chanshi 慧照禪師)3 by Emperor Yizong 懿宗 of the Tang dynasty (r. 859–873). Venerable Master Hsing Yun, a strong proponent of Humanistic Buddhism, is the recipient of over 30 honorary doctoral degrees and honorary professorships from universities around the world.4 To have received such accolades, both Chan masters ought to have made momentous contribution to their societies.
    [Show full text]
  • Out of the Shadows: Socially Engaged Buddhist Women
    University of San Diego Digital USD Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship Department of Theology and Religious Studies 2019 Out of the Shadows: Socially Engaged Buddhist Women Karma Lekshe Tsomo PhD University of San Diego, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/thrs-faculty Part of the Buddhist Studies Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Digital USD Citation Tsomo, Karma Lekshe PhD, "Out of the Shadows: Socially Engaged Buddhist Women" (2019). Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship. 25. https://digital.sandiego.edu/thrs-faculty/25 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Digital USD. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Digital USD. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Section Titles Placed Here | I Out of the Shadows Socially Engaged Buddhist Women Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo SAKYADHITA | HONOLULU First Edition: Sri Satguru Publications 2006 Second Edition: Sakyadhita 2019 Copyright © 2019 Karma Lekshe Tsomo All rights reserved No part of this book may not be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage or retreival system, without the prior written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations. Cover design Copyright © 2006 Allen Wynar Sakyadhita Conference Poster
    [Show full text]
  • A Study on the Emergence of the Buddhist Critical Constructive Reflection
    Sculpting-Scholarship: A Study on the Emergence of the Buddhist Critical Constructive Reflection A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Religious Studies at University of the West In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies by Nathan Fredrick DeBoer Summer 2020 Approval Page for Graduate Approved and recommended for acceptance as a dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies Nathan Fredrick DeBoer, Candidate Sculpting-Scholarship: A Study on the Emergence of the Buddhist Critical Constructive Reflection APPROVED: William Chu, 9-3-20 Chair Darui Long, Sept. 4, 2020 Committee Member Miroj Shakya, Sept 4, 2020 Committee Member I hereby declare that this thesis/dissertation has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at any other institution, and that it is entirely my own work. © 2020 Nathan Fredrick DeBoer ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Acknowledgements The sum individuals who played a role in helping me, in body and mind, to the completion of this dissertation is beyond the telling. However, a few stand as first among equals. First and foremost is Dr. William Chu, whose inexhaustible patience for enduring my relentless, recklessly timed phone calls is truly of a bodhisattva’s proportion. Dr. Anne Hooghart, my high school Japanese language teacher and longtime friend, painstakingly went over each of these chapters, pruning away grammatical and spelling infelicities. My family was a great source of encouragement and support. The wide group of friends from Fourth Coast Café in Kalamazoo, Michigan, also aided with conversation, caffeine, and confectionary.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Full Issue
    East Asian History NUMBER 41 • AUGUST 2017 www.eastasianhistory.org CONTENTS 1–2 Guest Editor’s Preface Shih-Wen Sue Chen 3–14 ‘Aspiring to Enlightenment’: Buddhism and Atheism in 1980s China Scott Pacey 15–24 Activist Practitioners in the Qigong Boom of the 1980s Utiraruto Otehode and Benjamin Penny 25–40 Displaced Fantasy: Pulp Science Fiction in the Early Reform Era of the People’s Republic Of China Rui Kunze 王瑞 41–48 The Emergence of Independent Minds in the 1980s Liu Qing 刘擎 49–56 1984: What’s Been Lost and What’s Been Gained Sang Ye 桑晔 57–71 Intellectual Men and Women in the 1980s Fiction of Huang Beijia 黄蓓佳 Li Meng 李萌 online Chinese Magazines of the 1980s: An Online Exhibition only Curated by Shih-Wen Sue Chen Editor Benjamin Penny, The Australian National University Guest Editor Shih-Wen Sue Chen, Deakin University Editorial Assistant Lindy Allen Editorial Board Geremie R. Barmé (Founding Editor) Katarzyna Cwiertka (Leiden) Roald Maliangkay (ANU) Ivo Smits (Leiden) Tessa Morris-Suzuki (ANU) Design and production Lindy Allen and Katie Hayne Print PDFs based on an original design by Maureen MacKenzie-Taylor This is the forty-first issue of East Asian History, the fourth published in electronic form, August 2017. It continues the series previously entitled Papers on Far Eastern History. Contributions to www.eastasianhistory.org/contribute Back issues www.eastasianhistory.org/archive To cite this journal, use page numbers from PDF versions ISSN (electronic) 1839-9010 Copyright notice Copyright for the intellectual content of each paper is retained by its author.
    [Show full text]
  • The Expression “The Myriad Dharmas Are Only Consciousness” in Early 20Th Century Chinese Buddhism
    Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal (2010, 23:71-92) Taipei: Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies 中華佛學學報第二十三期 頁71-92 (民國九十九年)，臺北：中華佛學研究所 ISSN:1017-7132 The Expression “The Myriad Dharmas are Only Consciousness” in Early 20th Century Chinese Buddhism Erik J. Hammerstrom Assistant Professor, Pacifi c Lutheran University1 Abstract This article offers a preliminary examination of the ways in which Consciousness-Only thought was adapted to modern intellectual discourses in China from the 1910s to the 1940s. It begins by tracing the canonical origins of the phrase “the three realms are only mind, the myriad dharmas are only consciousness (sanjie wei xin, wanfa wei shi 三界唯心，萬法唯識).” It then looks at several examples of how this expression was used by Buddhist writers in the early 20th century. It is argued that Buddhists chose to use the doctrine of Consciousness-Only (weishi) as a Buddhist ontology in contradistinction to the idealism (weixin) and materialism (weiwu) of philosophy. Keywords: Consciousness-Only, Philosophy, Science, Taixu, Wang Xiaoxu 1 I wish to acknowledge the various forms of support I received in writing this article: Research and writing was begun in the spring of 2008 while I was a Fulbright Fellow in Taiwan and a visiting scholar at Dharma Drum Buddhist College. It was completed with the support of a Sheng Yen Education Foundation Dissertation Fellowship while I was working on my dissertation. 72 ‧ Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal Volume 23 (2010) 二十世紀初期中國佛教對萬法唯識之表述 Erik J. Hammerstrom 太平洋路德大學助理教授 摘要 此篇文章初步檢視在1910到1940年唯識思想如何為中國現代知識份子所講述。 從回溯經典所說的「三界唯心，萬法唯識」開始，由不同的例子著手看待此思想如 何為二十世紀早期的佛教論述家所運用；此處要表明的是相對於唯心及唯物思想， 佛教徒選擇唯識之教義作為佛教的本體論。 關鍵字： 唯識、哲學、科學、太虛、王小徐 “The Myriad Dharmas are Only Consciousness” • 73 Introduction Scholars often point to the new popularity of Consciousness-Only thought (weishi 唯識) among lay and ordained Buddhists as one of the more important changes that took place in Chinese Buddhism in the first half of the 20th century.
    [Show full text]
  • The Heritage of Taixu: Philosophy, Taiwan, and Beyond
    DOI: 10.4312/as.2020.8.3.251-277 251 The Heritage of Taixu: Philosophy, Taiwan, and Beyond Bart DESSEIN*23 Abstract Much scholarly attention has been devoted to the way the Chinese intellectual world tried to formulate an answer to the challenge posed by European modernity, as well as to the way European political thinking (nationalism, socialism, communism, anarchism) impacted traditional Chinese political thinking. In contrast, very little attention has been devoted to the way these same political philosophies also influenced the Chinese Bud- dhist answer to European modernity. This article discusses the ways in which the ‘reform of Buddhism’ proposed by the famous Venerable Taixu (1889–1947) was shaped by both the political and military events that determined the history of China in the first half of the twentieth century, and by his genuine determination to modernize Buddhism. Keywords: Taixu, Sanmin zhuyi, socialism, anarchism, cross-strait relations Taixujeva dediščina: filozofija, Tajvan in onkraj Izvleček V stroki so veliko pozornosti posvečali načinu, s katerim je želel kitajski intelektualni svet zasnovati svoj odgovor na izzive evropske modernosti, ter načinu, kako je evropska poli- tična misel (nacionalizem, socializem, komunizem, anarhizem) vplivala na tradicionalno kitajsko politično misel. V nasprotju s tem pa so zelo malo pozornosti posvetili temu, kako so te iste politične filozofije vplivale na odgovor kitajskega budizma na izziv evropske mo- dernosti. Članek obravnava način, kako so na »reformo budizma«, ki jo je predlagal slavni Častitljivi Taixu (1889–1947), vplivali tako politični in vojaški dogodki, ki so zaznamovali zgodovino Kitajske v prvi polovici 20. stoletja, kakor tudi njegova pristna odločenost mo- dernizirati budizem.
    [Show full text]
  • By Martino Dibeltulo a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of The
    THE REVIVAL OF TANTRISM: TIBETAN BUDDHISM AND MODERN CHINA by Martino Dibeltulo A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Asian Languages and Cultures) in The University of Michigan 2015 Doctoral Committee: Professor Donald S. Lopez, Jr., Chair Assistant Professor Micah Auerback Assistant Professor Benjamin Brose Professor Tomoko Masuzawa Associate Professor Elliot Sperling, Indiana University Associate Professor Gray Tuttle, Columbia University © Martino Dibeltulo ————————————2015 All rights reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation owes its completion to the labors of many people and to the contribution of many institutions. First of all, I would like to thank the members of my committee, who have inspired me and supported me in many ways during my graduate career. My advisor, Professor Donald Lopez, has always offered the best advice, providing me with the intellectual space that has seen this project grow into the present form. The clear, insightful, and timely comments he has made on each of my many drafts have illuminated my writing, inspiring my commitment to scholarship in Buddhist Studies. Both in the research and writing stages, Professor Micah Auerback has generously offered his insight into the study of Buddhism in modern and contemporary Japan, unselfishly helping me to read and translate texts from the Japanese language. Since my early graduate years, Professor Benjamin Brose has been a mentor and a friend, providing me with essential advice on the study of Buddhism in China. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Tomoko Masuzawa, who has welcomed me in several of her graduate seminars, where this dissertation was conceived as a genealogy.
    [Show full text]
  • List of Abstracts
    XVIIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies August 18 to August 23, 2014 University of Vienna Vienna, Austria List of Abstracts XVIIth Congress of the IABS Material Visions – avijñapti-rūpa in Practice Greene, Eric (University of Bristol, GBR) Within many of their major doctrinal treatises, Sarvāstivādins are presented as defending their doctrinal position on the reality of “unmanifest matter” (avijñapti-rūpa) with reference to, among other things, meditation practice. Certain visions experienced by advanced meditators are, it is claimed, instances of avijñapti-rūpa, and this view on the nature of these visions is presented as contrasting with the position of at least some other doctrinal schools. It is undeniable that avijñapti-rūpa plays several important roles within the overarching framework of the Sarvāstivādin doctrinal system. We may wonder, however, whether the role of avijñapti-rūpa in meditation was something that had any particular significance within Sarvāstivādin-influenced meditative traditions themselves. As a step towards answering this question, in this paper I will explore a number of 5th-century meditation treatises preserved in Chinese that are either translations of texts associated with the Sarvāstivādin-influenced yogācāra meditators of North-west India, or which are Chinese developments of the practices associated with these groups. Leaving aside the contentious (and, perhaps, ill-phrased and unanswerable) question of whether the doctrine of avijñapti-rūpa originally emerged from meditation
    [Show full text]