Buddhism and Modernity

The academic research of the Catholic priest Du Erwei generated strong responses from Buddhists. Du claimed that Buddhism was descended from earlier lunar religion—and thus, implicitly, that it embodied a “primitive” stage of religious thought. As an anthropologist and scholar affiliated with National Taiwan University, Du drew from voluminous academic sources, meaning that his theory demanded a rigorous Buddhist response. This chapter discusses Yinshun’s writings from the period, which aimed at showing how fundamental Buddhist beliefs transcended history and that Christianity itself was, as Du Erwei had claimed about Buddhism, historically-derived. Modern historiographical forms thus increasingly paralleled the appeal to values, showing their importance for identity formation and as a standard for religious “truth”.

Sermons Among Mountains

The figures covered in this volume were Buddhist elites—they were associated with major monastic institutions, publishing ventures, or the BAROC. This chapter discusses a range of Buddhist groups emerging in the 1960s, or thereafter, that cited an influence from Christianity, but which did not contribute to the discussion covered here. It also covers the transition to more positive forms of dialogue, which were paralleled by the decline of KMT power, the complexification of Taiwanese identity, and the slowed growth of Christianity. At the same time, the Christian influence on later groups is clear, pointing to the complex relationship Buddhism had with Christianity in Taiwan.

Introduction

The introduction outlines the study’s historical context and main questions. Beginning with a discussion of a 1981 conference on Buddhism and politics, it asks why elite Buddhist figures, in the decade after Chiang Kai-shek’s death, aligned KMT ideology with Buddhism—especially when the two figureheads of the party, Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, were both Christians. Stepping back, and having outlined a phase of Christian growth in the early postwar era, it then describes the party’s modern Chinese cultural vision and values, which it promoted in the postwar period and which elite Buddhists aspired to in their competition with Christians for adherents. It then outlines the focus of the study: how Buddhists defined themselves as patriotic, “Chinese” and “modern”, in contrast to Christians, as a way of generating socio-political acceptability.

Decline and Revitalization

The General who Awakens the World had, by the 1960s, left the military and resumed his monastic life as Shengyan. Like Yinshun, he would become one of the most significant Chinese Buddhists of the twentieth century. Shengyan’s scholarship on religious history aimed to show how belief systems fit into a scheme of religious evolution, according to which Buddhism— using academic evidence—was judged as more “advanced” than other traditions, including Christianity. Using two of Shengyan’s academic works, this chapter shows how his Buddhist apologetics represented an elaboration of Yinshun’s scholarly approach to upholding notions of Buddhist superiority. Buddhists had lamented what they saw as the decline of their tradition in the twentieth century; Shengyan’s scholarship was also an attempt to restore “true” Buddhism, which would be seen as thoroughly compatible with the modern world.

Buddhism and Patriotism

The KMT sought to foster one value in particular—that of patriotism, or loyalty to the Republic of China. In this context, the elite Buddhists covered in this chapter presented Buddhism as patriotic, and aligned with the “modern” Chinese values promoted in the post-war context. On the other hand, they presented Christianity as antithetical to these. Such a stance painted Christianity as inherently unpatriotic, and therefore discordant with the KMT’s socio-political vision. Interfaith competition thus allowed these Buddhists to craft, and express, a politically acceptable identity. The chapter examines these issues through the writings of two Buddhist figures: Zhuyun and Shengyan (then writing as “The General who Awakens the World”), and a Christian pastor, Wu Enpu.

Conclusion

The conclusion sets out the main contributions of this study. First, it shows that a cohort of well-known, elite Buddhists engaged in intense competition with Christians in the postwar period, seeking to align themselves with the contemporary socio-political context. Second, it shows that the type of modernity matters when discussing religion in the modern world. In this case, the study showed that Buddhists identified with the broad set of values that flourished in the postwar period under the KMT, and that they competed with Christians on the basis of these. Finally, the study shows that identity itself is not simply the product of internal religious resources (beliefs, modes of practice, authorities), but also emerges through engagement or competition with external value sets (such as political ideologies or other religions).

Buddhism and Chinese Culture

The Buddhists covered in this volume also presented their tradition as compatible with Chinese culture, contrasting it with Christianity. This chapter focuses on the well-known Buddhist Yinshun, who argued that biblical belief conflicted with Chinese cultural values, and introduces Gong Tianmin, a Christian, whose academic study of Buddhism aimed at showing it to be historically derived. Gong’s approach is contrasted with Yinshun’s, who, within his own scheme of Buddhist history, took core beliefs to be fundamentally “true”. The chapter will show that the Buddhist writers, covered here, displayed a preoccupation with Western values such as freedom, democracy and egalitarianism, but also with defining these as Chinese—and hence, as Buddhist.