Chinese Buddhist Moral Practices in Everyday Life: Dharma Drum Mountain, Volunteering and the Self A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Social Science in the Faculty of Humanities 2010 Tsung-Han Yang School of Social Science Department of Sociology Table of Contents List of Tables…………………….............................................................9 Abstract ...................................................................................................10 Declaration……………………………………………………………...11 Copyright Statement…………………………………………………...11 Acknowledgements..................................................................................12 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………13 Introduction: Motivation For and Aims of the Thesis........................................13 Religion, Volunteering and Everyday Life………………………………………23 The Ethical Dimension of Everyday Life………………………………………..26 Religious Moral Habitus…………………………………………….……………27 The Sociological Perspective on Religious Moral Habitus……………………...28 Dharma Drum Mountain’s Chinese Buddhist Moral Habitus…………………...32 The Confucian View of Social Relationship and Morality ………………...….32 The Chinese Buddhist View of Social Relationships and Morality …………...34 Sheng Yen’s Notion of Character Education ………………………………….35 The Goal of Character Education…………………………………………..37 The Content of Character Education……………………………………….39 Summary of the thesis…………………………………………………………….40 2. An Introduction to Dharma Drum Mountain……………………..44 Introduction............................................................................................................44 The Modernisation of Chinese Buddhism……………………………………….46 Introduction……………………………………………………………………...46. Taixu and Yinshun’s Notions of Humanistic Buddhism……………………....47 2 Debates on Buddhist Modernity ……………………………………………....47 Leaders of Buddhist Modernists: Taixu and Yinshun ………………………....48 The Taiwanese Buddhist Context Since 1949…………………………………...51 Structural Impacts on the Development of Chinese Buddhism in Taiwan ……51 The Characteristics of Chinese Buddhism in Taiwan …………………………55 The History of Dharma Drum Mountain………………………………………..58 The Organisational Structure of Dharma Drum Mountain……………………61 Dharma Drum Mountain’s Meditation Practice………………………………..62 The Three Kinds of Morality in Sheng Yen’s Notion of Character Education.64 Introduction………………………………………………………………………65 Sheng Yen’s Notion of Moral Emotions: Moral Emotions as Means of Emotion Managenemt……………………………………………………………………..65 Gratitude ………………………………………………………………………68 Shame ………………………………………………………………………….70 Repentance …………………………………………………………………….70 Empathy: an Important Moral Emotion for Building Relationships ………….71 Respect and Care as Two Core Moral Dispositions of Dharma Drum Mountain.72 Respect ………………………………………………………………………...73 Care …………………………………………………………………………...75 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………76 3. Methodology………………………………………………………...79 Introduction............................................................................................................79 The Sampling of the Research Group……………………………………………80 The Interview Process………………………………...…………………………..82 Introduction………………………………………………………………………82 Design of Interview Questions……………………………………...…………...83 3 Sampling Method for the Interview………………………………………...........85 Details of the Interview…………………...……………………………………..88 Participant Observation…………………………………………………………..91 Access to Settings……………………………………………………...………...91 The Participant Observation Process………………………………..…………...93 The Young Buddhist Society ………………………………………………......93 1. The Earlier Stage of Participation: Pure Participant…………..………..94 2. The Middle Stage of Participation: Researcher and Participant………..95 3. The Final Stage of Participation: a Researcher in Volunteering……….96 The World Centre for Buddhist Education …………………………………....97 The End-of-Life Chanting Group ……………………………………………...97 Ethical Considerations…………………………………………………………....99 Responsibilities Towards Research Participants and Honouring Trust…………99 Negotiating Informed Consent…………………………………………………100 Confidentiality, Privacy and Anonymity……………………………………….100 Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………..101 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..102 4. Three Types of Volunteer Works at Dharma Drum Mountain..106 Introduction………………………………………………………………………106 Volunteer Work at the End-of-life Chanting Group…………………………..107 The Taiwanese Buddhist End-of-Life Chanting Context………………………107 The Introduction of the End-of-Life Chanting Group………………………….108 Volunteering Guidelines for the End-of-Life Service………………………….111 End-of-Life Care………………………………………………………………..113 Interaction with the Dying ………………………………………………...…113 Interactions with Family Members: the Family Meeting …………………....116 4 The Moment of Death: Chanting the Buddha’s Name and Letting the Dead Body Speak …………………………………………………………………...118 The Buddhist Funeral Rite ……………………………………………….......121 Volunteer Work at the World Centre for Buddhist Education………....……123 Introduction……………………………………………………………………..123 The Daily Schedule of Volunteering………………………………………...…124 Volunteer Work at the Visitor Service Centre………………………………….127 The First Encounter with Visitors ……………………………………………128 The Beginning of Meditation Practice …………………………………….....129 Different Kinds of Meditation Teaching …………………………………..…130 Volunteer Work at the Young Buddhist Society…………………………..…..135 Introduction……………………………………………………………………..135 Short-term Activity Organisation………………………………………………138 1. Pre-activity Preparations …………………………………………………138 2. Organisation on the Day the Activity Took Place ………………………...140 Long-term Activity Organisation……………………………………………....141 1. Pre-activity Preparations ………………………………………………....141 2. Organisation on the Day the Activity Took Place ……………………...…144 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..145 5. Family: Intergenerational and Marital Relationships…………..150 Introduction………………………………………………………………………150 The Family Background of Volunteers at Dharma Drum Mountain………...152 Intergenerational Relationships………………………………………………...155 Introduction……………………………………………………………………..155 Parents as Volunteers…………………………………………………………...156 Daily Family Routines …………………………………………………….....156 5 Life Events …………………………………………………………………...161 Buddhist Practice as a Form of Mutual Caretaking………………………161 Using Social Capital to Help Children……………………………………163 Adult Children as Volunteers…………………………………………………..165 Introduction ………………………………………………………………….165 Daily Family Routines ………………………………………..……………...167 Adult Children from Buddhist Families………………………………..…167 Adult Children from Non-Buddhist Families……………………………..172 Life Events …………………………………………………………………...176 Introduction………………………………………………………………..176 Illness……………………………………………………………………...177 Death………………………………………………………………………179 Marital Relationships……………………………………………………………181 Introduction……………………………………………………………………..181 Daily Family Routines ………………………………...………………………..181 Married Male Volunteers ……………………………………………………183 Married Female Volunteers……… …………………………………………..185 Life Events……………………………………………………………………...187 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………......188 6. Friendships: Buddhist Friendships and Non- Buddhist Friendships ………………………………………………………………………192 Introduction……………………………………………………………………...192 Buddhist Friendships…………………………………………………………….193 Introduction……………………………………………………………………..193 How Buddhist Friendship Begins: Acquaintanceship………………………….195 6 The Development of Buddhist Friendships: Attending Religious Congregations and Doing for Others Together in Volunteering………………………………..201 The Complexity of Buddhist Friendships………………………………………204 Non-Buddhist Friendships………………………………………………………209 Introduction……………………………………………………………………..209 Volunteers’ Interactions with Their Circle of Friends………………………….211 Introduction ………………………………………………………………….211 Typology of Volunteers’ Interactions with Their Circle of Friends………… .211 The Three-stage Transformation of Friendships with Circle of Friends…… 213 The Introduction of Buddhist Volunteering to the Circle of Friends ……….216 Volunteers’ Relationships with Their Colleagues ……………………………..218 Introduction…………………………………………………………………….218 Introducing Buddhism to Colleagues…………………………………………..218 Self-Evaluation and Intersubjective Negotiations with Colleagues……………221 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..........224 7. The Development of Chinese Buddhist Moral Habitus at Dharma Drum Mountain……………………………………………………229 Introduction…………………………………………………………………..…..229 Buddhist Reading Groups…………………………………………….................230 Dharma Class…………………………………………………………………….235 Volunteering……………………………………………………………………...240 Other Volunteers………………………………………………………….........240 Buddhist Monastics…………………………………………………….............246 Everyday Life…………………………………………………………………….248 Circle of Friends………………………………………………………………..248 Family…………………………………………………………………………..253 7 Introduction ………………………………………………………………….253 Evaluation and Intersubjective Coordination of Family Routines ………….253 Self-awareness and Self-Evaluation from Caring for Family Illness ……….256 Conclusion………………………...……………………………………………...258 8. Conclusion………………………………………………………….262 Introduction………………………………………………………………………262 The Main Findings of the Thesis………………………………………………..262 Suggestions for Future Research………………………………………………..271 Appendix 1 A List of Interviewees………………………………………………276 Appendix 2 Interview Questions………………………………………………...281 Bibliography……………………………………………………….………………..287 8 List of Tables 3.1 The Distribution of Respondents…………..……………………………………...87 5.1: Indicators