Chinese Buddhism Today

Yu-Shuang Yao and Richard Gombrich’s Chinese Buddhism Today: Conservatism, Modernism, Syncretism and Enjoying Life on the Buddha’s Light Mountain endeavors to convey the ethos of Fo Guang Shan (FGS—Buddha’s Light Mountain) by focusing on the views and activities of its founder and leader, the Venerable Hsing Yun. As the monograph’s subtitle indicates, the authors unpack the tactics employed by Hsing Yun in his bid to preserve the best of mainstream Chinese Buddhism while simultaneously updating the tradition to meet the needs of modern-day life.

Chinese Buddhism Today provides a succinct, yet thorough introduction to the history of Fo Guang Shan. The reader comes away with a real sense of Hsing Yun’s optimism and the energy he injected into the organization ever since he established it in 1967. Two audiences in particular will find this monograph useful. First, those with an interest in contemporary society in Taiwan, but who have limited background in Buddhism, will not only become familiar with one of the preeminent religious organizations on the island, but will also learn much about such fundamental Buddhist doctrines as the four Noble Truths (16-18) and karma (38-42), as well as the central assumptions of Pure Land Buddhism (21-25). Alternatively, those familiar with Buddhism, but who do not focus on the religion’s development in contemporary Chinese society, will gain clear insight into how a very charismatic individual has shaped the tradition through founding both a worldwide network of monasteries and an accompanying lay society, Buddha’s Light International Association. Such readers will also take interest in the authors’ examination of the logic underlying certain Buddhist teachings—most notably the inter-relationship between intention and the transfer of merit (44-50, 97-99)—although the monograph does not focus on such conceptual analysis (and one should note that the discussion of transferring merit relies primarily on Theravada and general Mahayana rather than FGS-specific material as evidence).

Overall, I recommend this monograph as a worthwhile read for those unfamiliar with Fo Guang Shan, although I do have two quibbles. First, in their introduction the authors state that they will focus on two features of the movement that have only been covered tangentially by others: the ways in which Hsing Yun was influenced by his teacher Tai Xu; and the differences in strategies that distinguish FGS and Tzu Chi, the only Buddhist institution in Taiwan comparable to FGS in terms of influence, both on the island and globally (2-3). In my opinion, they only partially succeed in doing so. They do refer to Tai Xu quite a bit throughout the text, and Tzu Chi now and again (most notably 54-57), but only in passing, and with little in the way of specifics.  Specialists wishing for a deeper analysis of these topics would be better served by reading the authors’ articles “Christianity as model and analogue in the formation of the ‘Humanistic’ Buddhism of Tài Xū and Hsīng Yún” (Buddhist Studies Review 34.2, 2017) and “Fo Guang Shan seen through telescope and microscope” (Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies 14, 2018). In other words, the strength of the present monograph is not so much in giving new insight into a particular aspect of FGS as in providing a concise encapsulation of research about Hsing Yun and his organization already conducted by themselves and others.

The second aspect of the book that I wish had been developed further is the treatment of Fo Guang Shan’s key events and transformations over the past two decades as Hsing Yun’s failing health required him to step to the background. While Chinese Buddhism Today mentions several of FGS’s more recent activities, for instance the creation of a basketball team that has competed on an international stage (29), the establishment of a research center of Buddhist studies at Fo Guang University (30), and the construction of the Buddha Memorial Center (BMC; 110-114), only the last of these receives more than a sentence or two of description. The penultimate chapter offers a vivid overview of the BMC, with some explanation of the structure’s significance, but I think the authors could have gone further in this regard. A closer analysis of the layout of the structure as well as of Buddha Land in the Human World—the 340-page book published by FGS to celebrate the center (first English edition, 2013)—likely would have given fascinating insight into the organization’s current self-understanding of its place in both history and the contemporary world.

Above, I use the term “quibble” intentionally since these two criticisms would be of concern only to the small community of scholars who have intensively researched FGS. For those who don’t focus on contemporary Chinese Buddhism in Taiwan, this monograph provides a very assessable introduction to Hsing Yun’s thought and FGS’s history. Those wishing to go into more depth can then utilize the monograph’s bibliography to find relevant publications.

In the book’s introduction, Yao and Gombrich refer to the challenges confronting a new religion upon the death of its founder (12). While they mention this in the context of the death of the Buddha, such an observation holds true with any religious group when its charismatic leader dies. This is the situation in which FGS now finds itself. Hsing Yun passed away in 2023, the year after Chinese Buddhism Today was published. Yao, Gombrich, and the rest of us who have conducted research on FGS and other Buddhist movements in contemporary Taiwan will certainly look on with interest to see what strategies FGS leadership utilizes to negotiate this transitional period, and with what degree of success.

Stuart Chandler is a professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Stuart Chandler

Date Of Review:

March 19, 2024