Reforming Chinese Buddhism through the Zheng Xin (Right Faith) Movement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tan Lee Ooi
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Buddhism ◽  
Revitalization Movement ◽  
Local Initiatives ◽  
Chinese Religions ◽  
Faith Movement

This chapter maps local initiatives of the Buddhist revitalization movement in Malaysia. Focusing on two groups, the Malaysian Buddhist Association and the Youth Buddhist Association of Malaysia, the history and process of Buddhist revitalization that occurred through local efforts are examined. The notion of Zheng Xin (Right Faith) Buddhism originating from the idea of modern Buddhism has been adopted by the two groups. The process has been strengthened through formalizing the refuge taking ceremony and Buddhicizing the Hungry Ghost Festival. A tussle between reformist Buddhists and a sect called Unity Sect (Yi Guan Dao) is examined to understand a case of religious contestation among Chinese religions germinated by Buddhist revitalization.

Buddhist Revitalization and Chinese Religions in Malaysia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tan Lee Ooi
Keyword(s):  
Belief System ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Cultural Complexity ◽  
Minority Community ◽  
Ethnic Chinese ◽  
Revitalization Movement ◽  
Chinese Religions ◽  
Exit Option ◽  
Muslim Majority

Buddhist Revitalization and Chinese Religions in Malaysia tells the story of how a minority community comes to grips with the challenges of modernity, history, globalization, and cultural assertion in an ever-changing Malaysia. It captures the religious connection, transformation, and tension within a complex traditional belief system in a multi-religious society. In particular, the book revolves around a discussion on the religious revitalization of Chinese Buddhism in modern Malaysia. This Buddhist revitalization movement is intertwined with various forces, such as colonialism, religious transnationalism, and global capitalism. Reformist Buddhists have helped to remake Malaysia’s urban-dwelling Chinese community and have provided an exit option in the Malay and Muslim majority nation state. As Malaysia modernizes, there have been increasing efforts by certain segments of the country’s ethnic Chinese Buddhist population to separate Buddhism from popular Chinese religions. Nevertheless, these reformist groups face counterforces from traditional Chinese religionists within the context of the cultural complexity of the Chinese belief system.

Buddhism

1995 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 354-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. McRae
Keyword(s):  
Religious Practices ◽  
Chinese Buddhism ◽  
Buddhist Studies ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Chinese Religions ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry

In comparison with other forms of Chinese religions, the study of Chinese Buddhism benefits from several factors. First, the international range of Buddhism allows for fruitful comparison with developments in other neighboring cultures such as India and Japan, and the contemporary identity of Buddhism as a missionary—or at least adoptable—religion provides a continuing audience and community of scholars. Second, the maturity of Buddhist studies as a field of scholarly inquiry, especially in Japan and Europe, has allowed for synergistic cooperation with colleagues having different educational backgrounds and points of view. And, third, the recent emphasis on the study of nonmainstream or popular religious practices has presented challenges that have led the field in new and exciting directions. An attempt to bring together scholars working in these different areas is reported in McRae and Armijo-Hussein et al. 1989.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin R. Ritzinger
Keyword(s):  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Chinese Buddhism ◽  
Pure Land ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Chinese Religions ◽  
Key Aspects

The introduction presents the anomaly at the heart of the study: namely, that the “reform faction” of modern Chinese Buddhism, which is generally portrayed as demythologized, promoted devotion to the bodhisattva Maitreya and rebirth in his heavenly pure land. It frames this anomaly in the context of scholarship on modern Buddhism and Chinese religions and lays out a “pull” model of religious modernization derived from the thought of Charles Taylor as a counterbalance to the prevailing “push” models derived from Weberian and postmodernist models. It also introduces the four key aspects of the earlier Maitreyan tradition and offers a discussion of the sources, structure, and significance of the work.

The Political Economy of Local Governance in Yemen

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-69
Author(s):  
Benoit Challand ◽  
Joshua Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Strong State ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Local Initiatives ◽  
Self Rule

This paper provides an historical exploration of local governance in Yemen across the past sixty years. It highlights the presence of a strong tradition of local self-rule, self-help, and participation “from below” as well as the presence of a rival, official, political culture upheld by central elites that celebrates centralization and the strong state. Shifts in the predominance of one or the other tendency have coincided with shifts in the political economy of the Yemeni state(s). When it favored the local, central rulers were compelled to give space to local initiatives and Yemen experienced moments of political participation and local development.

Brook Ziporyn’s (Chinese) Buddhist Reading of Chinese Philosophy

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-267
Author(s):  
Paul J. D'Ambrosio
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Philosophy ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Chinese Buddhism ◽  
Classroom Discussions ◽  
The Core ◽  
Chinese Thought ◽  
Core Issue ◽  
Tiantai Buddhism ◽  
Early Chinese Philosophy

This review article defends Brook Ziporyn against the charge, quite common in graduate classroom discussions, if not in print, that his readings of early Chinese philosophy are ‘overly Buddhist’. These readings are found in his three most recent books: Ironies of Oneness and Difference: Coherence in Early Chinese Thought, Beyond Oneness and Difference: Li and Coherence in Chinese Buddhist Thought and Its Antecedents, and Emptiness and Omnipresence: An Essential Introduction to Tiantai Buddhism. His readings are clearly Buddhist-influenced, but this is not in and of itself problematic. The core issue is rather to what degree these ‘Buddhist elements’ are actually already existent in, and have subsequently been carried over from, early Chinese thought in the development of Chinese Buddhism. Indeed, some scholars of Chinese Buddhism have pointed out that much of the vocabulary, concepts, and logic used in schools such as Tiantai may owe more to Daoist influences than to Buddhist ones. Accordingly, Ziporyn’s ‘overly Buddhist’ approach might simply be an avenue of interpretation that is actually quite in line with the thinking in the early texts themselves, albeit one that is less familiar (i.e. an early Chinese Buddhist or Ziporyn’s approach). The article also aims to show how Ziporyn’s theory concerning the importance of ‘coherence’ in early and later Chinese philosophy is also quite important in his above work on Tiantai Buddhism, Emptiness and Omnipresence. While in this work Ziporyn almost entirely abstains from using the language of coherence, much of it actually rests on a strong coherence-based foundation, thereby demonstrating not Ziporyn’s own prejudice, but rather the thoroughgoing importance and versatility of his arguments on coherence. Indeed, understanding the importance of coherence in his readings of Tiantai Buddhism (despite the fact that he does not explicitly use coherence-related vocabulary) only bolsters the defense against the claims that he makes ‘overly Buddhist’ readings of early Chinese philosophy.

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