Taiwan Today

Shih Chao-hwei isn't your typical Buddhist nun. She has fought publicly for animal rights, helping enact a 1998 ban on horse racing in Taiwan. She has argued forcefully against the "divine pig" practice, in which pigs are raised to grotesque proportions and then slaughtered to honor Hakka ancestors. And she has lobbied hard for laws to limit abortion.

Her latest cause: blocking casinos. President Ma Ying-jeou's government has signaled its willingness to allow gambling on outlying islands like Penghu. If Shih gets her way though, that will never happen.

Many Buddhist monks and nuns remove themselves from the hurly-burly of society by retreating to meditate in remote monasteries. But Shih has done just the opposite. She is one of the most visible, aggressive practitioners of what some call "engaged Buddhism"--a socially (and sometimes, politically) active strain of Buddhism that in recent years has been gaining more adherents in Taiwan and throughout Asia.

"Meditation is just the training of the spirit," she says. "But we must put that training into practice--we must transfer it to society."

Behind that imperative is a philosophical struggle within Buddhism, between those who prioritize personal liberation and those who prioritize social change. "Most Buddhists only concern themselves with achieving inner harmony, or maybe helping people who are facing difficulties," Shih says. "But I think that's not true harmony ... if you only pay attention to your own welfare, you'll just focus on what you can gain or lose. But if you pay attention to a cause or struggle, you can forget yourself. Then true harmony will occur."

Not all Buddhists would agree, of course. Some object to Shih's brand of in-your-face activism, finding it hard to reconcile with the classical image of Buddhist masters who retreat to remote monasteries to escape the petty desires, struggles and chaos of society.

But Shih's basic philosophy is shared by some of Taiwan's most rapidly growing Buddhist groups, such as Tzu Chi Buddhist Compassion Relief Association and Dharma Drum Mountain. Although those two groups avoid Shih's brand of political activism, they too preach social engagement as a means of attaining Buddha's goals.

Receptive Audience

That message is finding a receptive audience. According to Ministry of the Interior officials, in 2006, there were more than 8 million Buddhists in Taiwan, up sharply from the 5.5 million in 2001. It is hard to know how many of those count as "engaged Buddhists" or whether they specifically joined Buddhist organizations to engage in social activism. But experts say most of the increase is explained by Taiwanese who are ditching the island's traditional mishmash of Taoist, Buddhist and folk beliefs and instead joining more institutionalized groups--especially "engaged" Buddhist groups. Dharma Drum, for example, says its membership has grown tenfold in the last 15 years.

The ideas behind modern-day "engaged Buddhism" have a long pedigree. According to David Schak, a professor at Australia's Griffith University and an expert on Taiwan's activist Buddhists, Taiwan's Buddhist revival traces to Master Tai Xu, a monk who was active in early 20th century mainland China.

Master Tai advocated a sort of Protestant Reformation for Buddhism, arguing that monks and nuns should get out of the monasteries and become more engaged with society. Tai himself became politically engaged, serving as a de facto liaison between mainland China's government and Southeast Asia during World War II.

Some of Tai's followers came to Taiwan after the communists seized power in mainland China, where the new regime began harsh crackdowns on organized religion. One of these exiles was Ying Shun, who is seen as the father of modern-day, engaged Buddhism in Taiwan. While advocating social involvement, though, Ying thought Buddhists should not get mixed up directly in politics.

Ying's followers in turn include most of the big names in activist Buddhism in Taiwan today. Among these are the nun Shih, who is also the head of the Life Conservation Association and a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Hsuan Chuang University; Hsing Yun, the founder of the famous Fo Guang Shan monastery outside Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan; and Cheng Yen, the nun who founded and is the driving force behind the global Buddhist relief group Tzu Chi.

Good Works

Tzu Chi perhaps best exemplifies activist Buddhism in Taiwan. The organization places less emphasis on study of scripture--aside from reading Cheng Yen's aphorisms--and more on good works. Such work is carried out through a massive, global volunteer network, which the group says numbers 10 million worldwide. That network has delivered aid to victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, victims of Hurricane Katrina in the United States in 2005 and victims of the earthquake in Sichuan province, mainland China earlier this year.

Behind Tzu Chi's social and relief work is a philosophy that attempts to resolve one of Buddhism's fundamental contradictions, Schak says. "If you look at Buddhism, there's a conflict between cultivating yourself through meditation and study and doing things for other people--applying compassion," Schak says. "With Tzu Chi, there's a kind of 'Nike' ethics there: 'Just do it.' You cultivate yourself by helping others."

Take Lai Rei-ling, 32, who works in the humanitarian development department of the Hualien-based Tzu Chi Foundation. Lai worked in Taiwan's television news media until she was injured in a car accident while doing a story near Hualien. With the help of Tzu Chi's famous "blue angel" volunteers, she recovered at the Tzu Chi hospital. She has been with the organization ever since, and now teaches media skills--including interview skills and film, video and web production--to other Tzu Chi volunteers with the goal of producing positive stories about Taiwan that will be distributed by the organization. Lai says Tzu Chi teaches its members to appreciate how fortunate they are, and that this comes with an obligation to help those who are not as lucky. According to Lai, Master Cheng Yen says this sense of social obligation is a return to the "real" teachings of the Buddha.

From Study to Practice

"Most Buddhists think, 'I pray, so I'm a good Buddhist,'" Lai says. "But according to Master Cheng Yen, Buddha said you can't just study, you must put your study into practice. That's why we [Tzu Chi members] don't focus on studying Buddha--we put into practice what he taught."

Tzu Chi may be best known for its disaster relief, putting Buddhist compassion into real-world practice through donations, medical help and shelter.

After Hurricane Katrina, it committed US$4 million to relief efforts, including providing dental treatment for evacuees in Houston from a mobile dental vehicle. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Tzu Chi delivered 12 tons of food, medical supplies and relief supplies to Aceh province, Indonesia and sent a medical and relief team to Sri Lanka with another two tons of supplies. And after the massive 2006 earthquake in Indonesia, it set up a medical clinic in the Bantul region, which treated 265 patients, and also delivered rice and other supplies.

Dharma Drum, founded in 1989, is a more recent "engaged" Buddhist group that emphasizes education. "Through education, people can see that doing good deeds is good for oneself," says Susan Chen of Dharma Drum's Department of International Relations and Development. When asked about her organization's brand of engaged Buddhism, Chen says that "in old Buddhist teachings, when you die you go to heaven, to another place. But what we're promoting is that you try to build this paradise on earth."

She and others regularly help the elderly, especially praying for the dying. They run a 24-hour hotline allowing relatives of those near death to request Dharma Drum volunteers to come pray for their loved ones.

Social Impact

Griffith University's Schak says that in Taiwan, the impact of "engaged" Buddhism has been primarily social. Tzu Chi and Fo Guang Shan, another global Taiwan-based Buddhist group, were started in the 1960s and 1970s respectively. They grew along with Taiwan's economic progress and improved higher education.

During the martial law era, Taiwan had laws controlling religion. When martial law was lifted in 1987, Tzu Chi, Fo Guang Shan and other Buddhist organizations boomed. Since then, such groups have been a key driving force behind the rise of Taiwan's civil society amid democratization.

Now, Tzu Chi and Fo Guang Shan are huge, media-savvy organizations. Tzu Chi is known for its regimented hierarchy, while Fo Guang Shan has embraced unconventional public relations methods--radio broadcasts, comic books, megaphones and a theme-park like monastery outside Kaohsiung--to win converts.

Like Tzu Chi, Fo Guang Shan also engages in charity work and disaster relief. It donated ambulances to relief efforts after the Sichuan earthquake in May. It gave all proceeds from its Buddhist choir's tour of the United States to victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. It runs orphanages, senior citizens' homes and clinics around the world, as well as mobile medical clinics in remote parts of Taiwan.

Culture and Education

But where charity work is a focus for Tzu Chi, it is not the main priority for Fo Guang Shan. "Culture and education are much more influential than charity programs," says Manho Shih, a Fo Guang Shan nun. "The goal is to learn the Dharma--the teachings of the Buddha--and then apply those teachings in daily life."

Manho Shih says Fo Guang Shan prefers the term "humanistic Buddhism" to describe its brand of faith. But it shares a core philosophy--putting Buddhism's teachings into practice to improve society--with other activist Buddhist groups.

"The thinking is, our mentality should be transcendental, but we should be engaged in mundane affairs--in people's affairs," she says. "In our temple, we emphasize the spirit of the Bodhisattvas [enlightened ones who put off complete personal liberation to help others, similar to "saints" in Christianity]. We emphasize extending a helping hand to people."

For Dharma Drum, as with Tzu Chi, social engagement has limits, though. Both groups insist on steering clear of politics. During the protests against former President Chen Shui-bian in the fall of 2006, for example, Tzu Chi's Cheng Yen specifically instructed followers not to take to the streets to join the so-called "Red Shirt Army." For Dharma Drum, it is also important to stay above the political fray. "We don't get involved in any politics, because religion shouldn't be manipulated by politicians," Susan Chen says.

Not so for Master Hsing Yun, the founder of Fo Guang Shan, who is one Buddhist leader who has dabbled in politics. During the 2006 anti-Chen protests, for example, he publicly urged the president to step down. In 1996, Fo Guang Shan found itself at the center of a political scandal in the United States when controversy erupted over campaign donations to the US Democratic Party after then Vice President Al Gore had lunch at the Hsi Lai Temple outside Los Angeles--a Fo Guang Shan branch temple.

Political Involvement

There have been other instances of political involvement. A Buddhist monk ran for president in Taiwan in 1996 but got embarrassingly low support. And in the run-up to the 2000 presidential election, Master Wei Chueh, the founder of Chung Tai Chan Monastery in central Taiwan, urged people to vote for the Kuomintang (KMT). In the 2004 presidential election, Wei condemned then President Chen Shui-bian for de-emphasizing Chinese culture in Taiwan and for wrecking the economy. (Chen won both times, and the master later stepped down from a leadership position.)

The Life Conservation Association's Shih Chao-wei may be the most overtly political of Taiwan's engaged Buddhists. She unapologetically admits that she has broken with her one-time master, Ying Shun, in entering the political arena. But for Shih, engaging in political struggle is the only way to build a society that better reflects Buddhist compassion toward all living things.

Not that she has always succeeded. In battling the "divine pig" practice, for example, Shih says her organization has come up against fierce resistance from conservative Hakkas. "They say we don't respect their traditions," Shih says. "They say, 'you're Buddhist, we're Taoists, and you shouldn't use your religious ideas to oppose our actions.' So the problem is very complex, and we haven't succeeded yet."

Shih's political engagement has also led to deep disappointment. Before the 2000 presidential election, she supported Chen Shui-bian because she viewed his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as being more pro-environment than the KMT. She also thought a transfer of power would be good for Taiwan after 50 years of KMT rule.

But now, she says, "in terms of the environment, the DPP hasn't done a good job." So in elections earlier this year, she decided not to endorse either party, because "their stances don't have much connection with our issues."

"Now we support issues, we don't support specific politicians or parties," Shih says. But if Shih sounds jaded by her experience with partisan politics, her enthusiasm for social change is undiminished. Increasingly, it seems, that is also true for more and more of Taiwan's Buddhists.
___________________________
Jonathan Adams is a Taipei-based freelance journalist.

Copyright © 2008 by Jonathan Adams