Jack Meng-Tat Chia
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- August 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190090975
- eISBN:
- 9780190091002
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190090975.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Chapter 3 uses Yen Pei’s life and career as a window into the larger and more complex dynamics of migration and transregional Buddhist circulations in the South China Sea during the second half of ...
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Chapter 3 uses Yen Pei’s life and career as a window into the larger and more complex dynamics of migration and transregional Buddhist circulations in the South China Sea during the second half of the twentieth century. The chapter draws on the case of Yen Pei to reveal that, first, migrant monks were significant actors in connecting the Buddhist communities in China and Southeast Asia, and second, Singapore’s so-called reformist Buddhist movement can be better understood by contextualizing it within the broader history of South China Sea Buddhism in the twentieth century. The first half of this chapter discusses Yen Pei’s decade-long career in Taiwan between 1952 and 1964 and his three missionary trips to Southeast Asia in 1958, 1961, and 1964. The second half of the chapter focuses on his religious career in Singapore from 1964 to his death in 1996.Less
Chapter 3 uses Yen Pei’s life and career as a window into the larger and more complex dynamics of migration and transregional Buddhist circulations in the South China Sea during the second half of the twentieth century. The chapter draws on the case of Yen Pei to reveal that, first, migrant monks were significant actors in connecting the Buddhist communities in China and Southeast Asia, and second, Singapore’s so-called reformist Buddhist movement can be better understood by contextualizing it within the broader history of South China Sea Buddhism in the twentieth century. The first half of this chapter discusses Yen Pei’s decade-long career in Taiwan between 1952 and 1964 and his three missionary trips to Southeast Asia in 1958, 1961, and 1964. The second half of the chapter focuses on his religious career in Singapore from 1964 to his death in 1996.
Justin Ritzinger
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190491161
- eISBN:
- 9780190491185
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190491161.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Anarchy in the Pure Land investigates the cult of Maitreya, the future Buddha, promoted by the Chinese Buddhist reform movement spearheaded by Taixu as an avenue through which to consider the ...
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Anarchy in the Pure Land investigates the cult of Maitreya, the future Buddha, promoted by the Chinese Buddhist reform movement spearheaded by Taixu as an avenue through which to consider the formation of alternative modernities. The cult presents an apparent anomaly: It shows precisely the kind of concern for ritual, supernatural beings, and the afterlife that much scholarship contends the reformers rejected in the name of “modernity.” This book shows that rather than a concession to tradition, the reimagining of ideas and practices associated with Maitreya was an important site for formulating a Buddhist vision of modernity. To make sense of this it develops a new perspective on alternative modernities by drawing on Charles Taylor’s notion of moral frameworks, arguing that the cult of Maitreya represents an attempt to articulate a new constellation of values that integrates novel understandings of the good clustered around modern visions of utopia with the central Buddhist value of Buddhahood. Part I traces the roots of this constellation to Taixu’s youthful career as an anarchist. Part II examines its articulation in the “Maitreya School’s” theology and the cult’s development from its inception to World War II. Part III examines its subsequent decline and its contemporary legacy within and beyond orthodox Buddhism.Less
Anarchy in the Pure Land investigates the cult of Maitreya, the future Buddha, promoted by the Chinese Buddhist reform movement spearheaded by Taixu as an avenue through which to consider the formation of alternative modernities. The cult presents an apparent anomaly: It shows precisely the kind of concern for ritual, supernatural beings, and the afterlife that much scholarship contends the reformers rejected in the name of “modernity.” This book shows that rather than a concession to tradition, the reimagining of ideas and practices associated with Maitreya was an important site for formulating a Buddhist vision of modernity. To make sense of this it develops a new perspective on alternative modernities by drawing on Charles Taylor’s notion of moral frameworks, arguing that the cult of Maitreya represents an attempt to articulate a new constellation of values that integrates novel understandings of the good clustered around modern visions of utopia with the central Buddhist value of Buddhahood. Part I traces the roots of this constellation to Taixu’s youthful career as an anarchist. Part II examines its articulation in the “Maitreya School’s” theology and the cult’s development from its inception to World War II. Part III examines its subsequent decline and its contemporary legacy within and beyond orthodox Buddhism.
