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3 Foguang Humanistic Buddhism In the last chapter, I focused on the master as personality. Here, I shift my attention to consider him as a creative and persuasive advocate of a new vision of Chinese Buddhist teachings. The key term that the master uses to designate the form of practice at Foguangshan is ‘‘Renjian Fojiao,’’ which translates into English as ‘‘Humanistic Buddhism.’’1 My discussion will, therefore, be structured around this phrase. Master Xingyun did not coin the term ‘‘Renjian Fojiao,’’ nor is he the only contemporary Chinese Buddhist cleric in whose lexicon it plays a central role. Master Taixu (1889–1947), widely regarded as the most influential of the Buddhist modernizers during the Republican era, was the first to employ the concept, although he usually referred to it as ‘‘Rensheng Fojiao.’’ In Taixu’s opinion, Chinese Buddhism had over the last several centuries suffered a great decline, a deterioration due mostly to an overemphasis on funerary and other rites devoted to transferring merit for the benefit of the deceased. He therefore devised the term ‘‘Rensheng Fojiao’’ to remind people that, as it is the living (rensheng) who are in the best position to cultivate the necessary merit and wisdom to attain enlightenment , Buddhists should devote their energies to maximizing this opportunity, both for themselves and for others (Pittman 2001, 169–181). The general preference for the term ‘‘Renjian Fojiao’’ has come about through the work of Master Taixu’s most famous disciple, Ven. Yinshun (b. 1906). He preferred ‘‘renjian’’ over ‘‘rensheng’’ to give even more emphasis to the fact that Buddhism should not just focus on the living but participate actively in human society (renjian, ‘‘in the human domain,’’ ‘‘in the midst of people’’). It should not be inordinately devoted to worshiping buddhas as though they were deities, a tendency that, in his opinion, has plagued the Mahayana tradition since its inception (Shi Yinshun 1993, 1–63).2 Both Master Xingyun and Ven. Zhengyan (the very influential nun who founded Taiwan’s largest lay Buddhist association, Ciji Gongde Hui) have followed Ven. Yinshun’s terminology. Taiwan’s most famous Chan master, Ven. Shengyan, has preferred to maintain the wording ‘‘Rensheng Fojiao,’’ both to show his indebtedness to Master Taixu and to distinguish himself from Taiwan’s other leading proponents of Humanistic Buddhism. All five clerics qualify ‘‘Buddhism’’ with adjectives approximating the English ‘‘humanistic’’ so as to redirect people’s attention back from other realms and lifetimes to present existence in this world. 44 • Foguang Humanistic Buddhism Shakyamuni Buddha, they remind people, was no spirit or god but a person who was born in this world, cultivated himself in this world, and attained enlightenment in this world. Buddhists should, therefore, model their practice on him and not devote so much of their time and energy to abstract discussions, performing rites on behalf of the deceased, or seeking a better rebirth in some far-off pure land. The assertion that Buddhists should emulate Shakyamuni begs the question of what exactly it means to do this. To follow in the footsteps of the Buddha, avers Master Xingyun, means simply to tread the middle path, neither succumbing to the temptations of desires nor stubbornly insisting on rigorous asceticism. One will not find at Foguangshan such practices as sealed confinement, long-term vows of silence, or the use of one’s own blood to copy sutras. The difference between the attitudes at Foguangshan and those at Zhongtaishan, the monastery that houses Taiwan’s second largest sangha but whose master, Ven. Weijue, advocates a ‘‘traditional’’ rather than ‘‘humanistic’’ form of Buddhism, is striking on this point. Foguang monastics would never dream of requesting to be confined alone in order to attend completely to their own cultivation. At Zhongtaishan, being permitted by Master Weijue to enter confinement is regarded as a very high honor, and clerics lament publicly that conditions permitting this have not yet coalesced.3 Along with avoidance of asceticism, Humanistic Buddhists believe that treading the middle path implies a certain openness to altering aspects of Buddhist practice, especially those aspects of monastic life that, having been rendered outmoded by current circumstances, have become obstacles to benefiting others. Foguang monks and nuns are emphatic that to base one’s conduct on that of the Buddha does not entail sedulously aping everything he did. Just because the Buddha walked everywhere, says Master Xingyun, does not mean that twentieth-century monastics must forgo travel by automobile, train...

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