Taiwan Today

Buddhist organizations in Taiwan have shaped their own humanistic brand of the religion.

Nung Chan Monastery in northern Taipei City’s Beitou District is a place of profound serenity, providing refuge for those seeking peace of mind. With a stunning reflecting pool fronting its main hall, the Water-Moon Dharma Center is among the complex’s top sights. A year after it opened, the center won top honors at the 2013 edition of Taiwan Architecture Award for its welcoming, open space transcending religious and nonreligious tastes.

The breathtaking site was inspired by a vision of a flower in the sky and moon on the water experienced by Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) founder Sheng Yen (聖嚴) during a meditation session. By presenting buildings and natural surroundings together with their reflected images, the design is intended to draw parallels between the real and the illusory. Though DDM is now headquartered in New Taipei City’s Jinshan District, it traces its roots to the tranquil mountain environs of Nung Chan, where it was established by Sheng Yen in 1989.

Since then DDM has expanded into a major base in Taiwan for teaching Chan Buddhism, a school of Mahayana originating in China in the sixth century. Other divisions of the religion, such as those following Tibetan and Southeast Asian traditions, also have a very active presence in the country. Today Buddhism is one of Taiwan’s predominant religious influences, with numerous Buddhist beliefs and practices having melded into traditional folk faiths. Introduced in the 17th century along with Han immigrants from China during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, the religion has bourgeoned over the centuries into multiple popular and officially recognized forms.

Flourishing Presence

The multitrack development in Taiwan began as a result of geopolitical factors in peripheral areas of the Chinese empire and was cemented during the subsequent five decades of Japanese colonial rule (1895-1945), according to Li Yu-chen (李玉珍), director of the Graduate Institute of Religious Studies at National Chengchi University in Taipei. During that period, Chan teachings and Japanese Zen doctrine quickly gained prominence, she said, adding that unique homegrown traditions emerged as the two schools of thought evolved through modern innovations and reforms embraced by local practitioners. A schism arose in the postwar era when monks tried to enforce orthodox ideology from China by repressing local and Japanese variants.

Despite the suppression, unorthodox versions of the religion persevered, and locally created Buddhist groups started forming in the mid-1960s, most notably Tzu Chi Foundation based in eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County and Fo Guang Shan in the southern metropolis of Kaohsiung. Once martial law was lifted in 1987, DDM and Chung Tai Shan, headquartered in the central county of Nantou, joined the growing ranks of religious organizations in the country. “With its liberal culture and pluralistic values, Taiwan provides the perfect conditions for such grassroots groups to thrive,” Li said.

According to Li, the 1990s saw Taiwan emerge as a major international force for promoting Buddhist teachings. Among the influential figures driving the trend was Sheng Yen, who divided his time between teaching Chan Buddhism in Taipei and New York. In August 2000, Sheng Yen attended the U.N. Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the global body’s New York headquarters and delivered a speech calling for compassion in the face of religious conflicts and discrimination. Two years later he was invited to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Switzerland and the founding meeting of World Council of Religious Leaders in Thailand, where he reiterated his principle of protecting the spiritual environment. Viewing religious concerns as a major source of international discord, the master sought to enhance world peace through his endeavors.

As part of efforts to foster global exchanges, top DDM representatives attended the International Conference on Cohesive Societies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University in June last year to explore the role of faith in interreligious relations. Former DDM Abbot Guo Dong (釋果東) believes such events are excellent opportunities to seek common ground while tolerating differences. “There must be a specific approach for believers to follow,” he said. “But there should not be an obsession with the rightfulness of a particular method or stance.”

Humanistic Inclination

DDM has also played a major role in promoting altruistic values as an educational organization, Guo Dong said. The result of a merger between DDM’s original two schools, Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts was established in New Taipei in 2014 and now operates as one of seven Buddhist-run institutions of higher learning across the country. The other six are Fo Guang University (FGU) in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County, Hsuan Chuang University in the northern city of Hsinchu, Huafan University in New Taipei, Nanhua University in the southern county of Chiayi as well as Tzu Chi University and Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology in Hualien.

Nanhua and FGU, which started recruiting students in 1996 and 2000 respectively, are part of the Fo Guang Shan school system, which also incorporates universities in Australia, the Philippines and the U.S. The system’s leader, FGU President Yung Chaur-shin (楊朝祥), served as deputy head of the Ministry of Education from 1989 to 1997 and then as the minister before accepting an invitation from Fo Guang Shan founder Hsing Yun (星雲‬) to take up his current mantle. Under his custodianship, FGU’s College of Buddhist Studies offers degrees from bachelor to doctoral levels in such areas as art, literature, music and philosophy. 

Other departments at the school also integrate elements of Buddhism into courses ranging from art, design and language to media, psychology and business administration. According to Yung, Buddhist philosophy shapes the school’s guiding principles, which it imparts to religious and secular students alike. The administration believes in encouraging substantial involvement in everyday life. “Therefore our religious vision can make real, concrete contributions to ordinary people in the community,” Yung said.

According to Li, this humanistic aspect is a distinct feature of the religion in Taiwan. “It’s less about mysticism and looking toward other realms and much more about self-restraint in day-to-day life and advancing society as a whole,” she said. Many Buddhist groups chiefly function as service providers to disadvantaged groups such as disabled and elderly populations and low-income households. “But they’re more than just distributors of welfare; these organizations have helped shape a new ‘civil model’ of Buddhism benefiting all members of the public.”

Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw