buddhistethics posted: "ISSN
1076-9005 Volume 25, 2018 The Place of Socially Engaged Buddhism in China:
Emerging Religious Identity in the Local Community of Urban Shanghai Weishan
Huang Chinese University of Hong Kong This article aims to analyze a
realization of so"
New post on Journal of Buddhist Ethics
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 25, 2018
The Place of Socially
Engaged Buddhism in China: Emerging Religious Identity in the Local
Community of Urban Shanghai
Weishan Huang
Chinese University of Hong Kong
This article aims
to analyze a realization of socially engaged Buddhism outside of
Buddhist monasteries in China by using the case studies of Tzu Chi
Foundation. Since the 2000s, state-led religious charities have been
gradually implemented among Han Buddhist monasteries in China. With a
renewal of the religious idea of “Humanistic Buddhism,” temples have
set up guideline to conduct their charitable work. At the same time,
Buddhist communities have become more diversified due to the
international immigration of Buddhist groups. While social service is
the central focus of Tzu Chi Foundation worldwide, I raise the
question of how a global movement of moral reform and social service
can help us re-think the normative account of “public engagement” in
a highly regulated and censored society such as China. Based on the
ethnographic work, I argue the successful structural adaption of the
Tzu Chi movement corresponding with, first, the promotion of socially
engaged Buddhism, which aligns with state policy and interests.
Secondly, the timely change of organizational missions corresponding
with the shift in social identity of urban residents from “Work
Units” to “Communities” in urban Shanghai.
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