Religion in Taiwan is very common and pluralistic, with Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam, as well as Christianity and Catholicism, having a wide range of followers.
It is said that the largest number of believers is in Taoism, or in Mazu, the Heavenly Empress who blesses peace on the sea, which is certainly understandable to Taiwanese who live on the island and have been connected to the sea for generations. Followers of Western religions, such as Christianity and Catholicism, seem to be on the rise in recent years, and steepled churches with high crosses can be seen from time to time among the gilded Buddhist temples and Mazu temples in both cities and villages. Buddhism in Taiwan, on the other hand, not only has fewer followers than Taoism, it also has a less long history. Of course, many people actually believe in both Taoism and Buddhism at the same time. With the development of Taiwan's economy, especially the many monks to promote Buddhism, Taiwan's Buddhism has developed significantly over the past few decades, the most representative of the "four major jungles", namely: the witness Yen's Tzu Chi Merit Association; Nebula Master's Fo Guang Shan; Sheng Yen's Dharma Drum Mountain; but the old monk Jue Zhongtai Zen Monastery.
These four jungles, almost all of which have huge organizations of monks and millions of followers, vast temples and huge assets, have also set up schools and hospitals, and have their own newspapers, websites and TV stations, etc., have made a wide impact on the island and in the three regions on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, as well as in the international arena.
The four major jungles, in terms of their geographical distribution in Taiwan, happen to be one in the south, one in the north, one in the center and one in the east. Dharma Drum Mountain in Taipei County, located in the northern part of Taiwan; Zhongtai Zen Monastery in Nantou County in Taichung, that is, the central part of Taiwan; Buddha's Light Mountain in Kaohsiung County, known as "Tainan Buddha"; Tzu Chi in Hualien County, residing in the eastern part of Taiwan. Of course, each of the major jungles also has its own branches in various parts of Taiwan and even overseas. In terms of their inheritance of the ancestral court and the way to promote the law, the four jungles have their own sects, each with its own characteristics, but also have an obvious **** nature, is to promote "human Buddhism", that is, to promote Buddhism to face the world, to serve the community.
One
She is a thin but strong woman, and the only bhikkhuni Buddhist leader among the four jungles. She was born in Taichung to a wealthy family, and because of her parents' illnesses, she went to temples as a child to pray for her parents' well-being. at the age of 25, she shaved her head and became a monk, then converted to Elder Yin Shun as her teacher, and adhering to her teacher's order, "for Buddhism and for the sake of all sentient beings," she founded the "Tzu Chi Association of Merit and Virtue" in Hualien County in 1966. In 1966, he founded the "Tzu Chi Benevolent Association" in Hualien County. From the first 50 cents saved in a bamboo tube to the tens of billions of dollars raised today, from the first 30 or so followers to the current 4 million members, and from the initial start in Hualien to the establishment of branches in more than 60 countries around the globe, Master Zhen Yen and the people of Tzu Chi have created an incredible miracle on earth. They have practiced the tenet of "being compassionate, helping the world and saving lives", and wherever there are disasters, there are Tzu Chi people. Tzu Chi's charitable endeavors involve disaster relief, environmental protection, bone marrow donation, stem cell transplantation, etc. They have traveled all over the world, such as Africa, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and of course, mainland China, especially during the SARS (SARS) outbreak in 2003 and the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. In Taiwan, we can see Tzu Chi volunteers busy with all kinds of good deeds anywhere and anytime. They include bosses, rich businessmen, officials, celebrities, women, students, and people of different nationalities, races, and religious beliefs have devoted themselves to the Tzu Chi cause. It is said that one out of every five people in Taiwan has participated in Tzu Chi's educational, cultural, medical and charitable endeavors and activities to a greater or lesser extent. As a result, Tzu Chi, with its extraordinary philanthropic performance, officially became a United Nations non-governmental organization in 2003 under the name of "Taiwan Buddhist Charitable Foundation", and Supreme Master Cheng Yen has been known as "Teresa of the Orient", and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times, and some people simply call it "The Earthly Goddess of Mercy". The first time I saw this, I was able to see it.
Two
The Venerable Sheng Yen of the Dharma Drum Mountain, who passed away in February 2009, is now a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Taiwan dignitaries such as Ma Ying-jeou personally went to offer condolences, and Ma, as a disciple of the Venerable Master, also personally placed the Master's relic letter for burial. Mainland China Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi, Director of the Religious Affairs Bureau Ye Xiaowen and Buddhist Association President Yicheng Elder have sent condolence messages, which shows the status of Venerable Master Sheng Yen in the Buddhist community in Taiwan. A native of Nantong, Jiangsu Province, Venerable Sheng Yen became a monk at the age of 14 in his hometown of Wushan Guangjiao Temple, and then joined the army in Taiwan, where he served as a military intelligence officer for the Kuomintang, and then retired from the army in 1960 and rejoined the Buddhist sect, and went to Japan to obtain a doctorate degree. After completing his studies, Venerable Sheng Yen returned to Taiwan to study under Elder Dongchu of the Nongtsen Monastery. He took over the Buddhist affairs after the Elder passed away in 1977, and in 1989 he purchased a land and founded Dharma Drum Mountain in Jinshan Township, Taipei County. Venerable Sheng Yen was one of the few "doctoral" monks and learned monks in Taiwan, and was a great scholar, writer, and educator with an extremely profound study of Buddhism. During his lifetime, he has written more than a hundred books in Chinese, Japanese, and English, such as "Buddhism of Righteousness", "Outline of Precepts", "Meditation Guidelines", "The Happiness of Letting Go", "The Book of Wisdom", and "A Good Old Age", all of which are everlasting bestsellers in Taiwan. Venerable Master Sheng Yen puts forward the concept of "upgrading human qualities and building a pure land on earth" and advocates the promotion of holistic education through the three major education programs of the Great Academy, the Great Ecumenization, and the Great Concern, and has successively founded the "Chinese Institute of Buddhist Studies", the Dharma Drum Institute of Buddhism, the Sangha University, and the Dharma Drum University, among others. He has also served as a tutor for master's and doctoral students at many universities in Taiwan. He has also initiated social movements such as "Mindfulness of the Environment", "Mindfulness of the May Fourth Movement", and "Mindfulness of the Sixth Lunar New Year", which have had a wide impact. As a result, he is known as "the spiritual pillar of all Taiwanese".
Three
The above two major jungles, unfortunately, during the period in Taiwan I did not have the opportunity to visit their base camps, while the Buddha's Light Mountain and Zhongtai Zen Temple is fortunate to be associated with a more personal experience.
First, let's talk about Zhongtai Zen Temple. Zhongtai Zen Temple is located in Puli Township, Nantou County, Taichung, and adjacent to Sun Moon Lake, only a 20-minute drive. Perhaps because of this relationship, Zhongtai Zen Temple has become a must-see tourist attraction when visiting Taiwan. Perhaps it has little to do with Sun Moon Lake, and it is entirely its own character and charm that attracts tourists.
We arrived at the Zhongtai Zen Temple after about an hour's drive from Taichung City. Looking from afar, the Zen temple looks like a lofty mountain with an extremely majestic and magnificent architecture, designed for the famous Taiwanese designer, Mr. Li Zuyuan Jushi, the designer of the Taipei 101 building. Before designing the building, he visited major temples and churches around the world to learn from their strengths and to be inspired. Yijue personally presided over the old monk, over a period of 10 years, at a cost of 4 billion Taiwan dollars, in September 1, 2001 Zen Temple was officially completed and opened to the light. Zhongtai Zen Temple was completed but mixed reviews, praised its breakthrough in the general pattern of the temple, is a bold innovation; opponents thought not in the West, unorthodox. But no matter what, its architectural scale of the grandiose, the momentum of the vast, elaborate materials, advanced equipment, are breathtaking, no wonder people want to crown the "five-star" temple's elegant name.
There is no general temple gate, we get off in front of the temple, down a ramp up, rather like the Potala Palace in Tibet. After entering the door was received by the temple, deputy abbot see Zun master in the parlor with us to talk, tea, arranged a bhikkhuni accompanied by the tour. In the first floor of the main hall, we saw the four great heavenly kings, feel more spectacular than the ancient Egyptian temple statues. On the second floor is the Mahamuni Hall, dedicated to Sakyamuni Buddha, which is said to be carved out of red granite from India. From the second floor we took the elevator directly to the 16th floor and visited from top to bottom. Whether it is the Buddha Hall or meditation hall, are elegant and open, beautiful, no ordinary temple that kind of smoke, noisy congestion feeling. The entire temple does not set incense, no incense, Buddha statues in front of the flowers and water lilies, fully in line with the current promotion of low-carbon environmental protection concept, I thought this way of saluting the Buddha is really worth promoting.
Visiting the Zen temple for more than an hour, and then go to visit the Zen temple museum. At that time, the Zhejiang Provincial Museum about the Ashoka Pagoda (i.e. Leifeng Pagoda) special cultural relics exhibition in this loan exhibition, which is rare to see. We first visited this special exhibition, and then look at the permanent exhibition of the Zen temple. Zhongtai Zen Temple's own collection of cultural relics, most of which are related to Buddhism, are categorized and displayed according to different materials (such as copper, iron, wood, stone, paper, silk, etc.), and there are quite a lot of treasures. The curator of the museum, a bhikkhuni with a doctorate degree, personally explained to us. In terms of its facilities and means of display, even compared with ordinary public **** museum is no less than first-class.
After the visit, I recalled that Venerable Master Seezun mentioned the Buddhist "five", i.e., scientific, artistic, living, educational and academic, which was put forward by Venerable Master Yijue when he received us, and it was fully reflected here. How to combine Buddhism with modern life, you can definitely get some true meaning when you go to Zhongtai Zen Monastery. This is indeed a jungle with the times (Note: "with the times" is accompanied by bhikkhuni all the way to speak the most words), modernization of Buddhism here can be said to have reached the extreme, leaving the imprint of the times, that is, this end of the work is also great.
Weijue Lao monk is a Sichuan Yingshan people, over the years has been firmly uphold the unification of the motherland, promote cross-strait religious and cultural exchanges. Early years put forward the "three passes" theory: "cross-strait is not through, religion first; religion is not through, Buddhism first; Buddhism is not through, China and Taiwan first." Some years ago, the "Taiwan independence" elements in the island to carry out the so-called "referendum", but Jue LaoWuXiang resolutely opposed to this kind of secessionist behavior, called for "absolutely do not lead the referendum". In recent years, he has sent a number of young masters of Zhongtai Zen Monastery to study for doctoral degrees at Sichuan University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This year, despite being in his 80s, he made a special trip to the mainland to visit the Shanghai World Expo.
Four
Finally, a word about Fo Guang Shan. Fo Guang Shan is located on the north bank of the Gaoping River, the boundary river between Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties. Originally a barren mountain, Master Nebula purchased the site in 1967 and led his disciples through thick and thin, painstakingly managing it for decades, and it has now become a Buddhist sanctuary with lush greenery, halls and buildings, and a wide range of meteorological features.
Master Nebula is the founding patriarch of Fo Guang Shan and enjoys a high status in the religious world of Taiwan. Not only that, he has developed the cause of Buddhism to the whole world, is a very international reputation of the high priest. However, through several contacts and conversations, I felt that the Master is in fact an approachable elder and a wise man with a sense of humor.
It is thanks to Mr. Tian Qing, the director of the Institute of Music at the Academy, that I have come to know Master Nebula. He met Master Nebula through Zhao Pu Lao in his early years, and later taught at the Buddha's Light University, which he founded, and thus became very familiar with him. Our first meeting with Master Nebula was in Taichung (Fo Guang Shan has such branches in all major cities in Taiwan), where the Master told several hilarious and humorous jokes with profound meanings. Shortly thereafter, Tian Qing and I were invited to attend the opening ceremony of Master Nebula's "One Character Calligraphy Exhibition" at the Taipei Residence, where we talked with the Master and learned that the Master was the same age as my father (born in 1927), which made us feel even closer to him. About half a year later, Tian Qing and I tried our best to promote, Nebula master "a calligraphy exhibition" in May this year in Beijing in the National Art Museum of China, the master personally came to the scene of the speech, and to our China Academy of Art made a speech, was warmly welcomed. During my stay in Beijing, I accompanied the master and got to know him better.
Master Nebula is Jiangsu Jiangdu people, 12 years old in Nanjing Qixia Mountain monk, then into the Qixia Institute of Buddhism. 1949 spring organization of monks ambulance team to Taiwan, the early years mainly in Yilan to promote the Way, through the hardships. After the founding of Fo Guang Shan, to promote "Humanistic Buddhism" as the principle, set up "to promote Buddhism through culture, to train talents through education, to benefit the society through charity, to purify people's hearts through *** cultivation" purpose, and is committed to promoting the cause of Buddhist education, culture, charity, and Dharma propagation. He has founded more than 200 Buddhist temples around the world, such as Xilai, Nantian, and Nanhua temples, which are the number one Buddhist temples in North America, Australia, and Africa respectively. He also founded 9 art museums, 26 libraries, 12 bookstores, 50 Chinese schools, 16 Buddhist jungle colleges, and primary and secondary schools such as Zhiguang, Pumen, and Juntou, as well as universities in the United States such as Xilai, Taiwan Buddha's Light, Nanhua, and Australia's Nantian, thus realizing his grand wish of "Buddha's light shining on all five continents," and pioneering the great cause of Buddhism, which was never seen by any other Buddhist. The master has realized his ambition of "spreading the light of Buddha to the five continents" and has created a great cause of Buddhism that has never been seen before.
The Master's writings are numerous, including "Biography of Sakyamuni Buddha", "Master Nebula's Lectures", "Buddhist Series", "Buddha's Light Textbook", "Hundreds of Words from the Past", "Buddha's Light Prayer", "Between Enlightenment and Mystery", "Contemporary Humanistic Thoughts", "Humanistic Buddhism Series", "Humanistic Buddhism Quotations", etc., which have been translated into more than ten languages, such as English, Japanese, German, French, Western, Korean, Thai and Portuguese, etc., and have been circulated all over the world. and circulated all over the world. According to what the Master told me, he was engaged in literary creation in his youth, wrote novels and plays, and edited magazines. Therefore, the Master's writings, whether they are books preaching Buddhism or exhorting good deeds, are all understandable and fascinating. This is what I felt after reading several of his books that were given to me by the master.
Master Nebula retired from his abbotship of Fo Guang Shan at the extremely wise age of 58. However, under a scientific and rigorous system developed by the Master, Fo Guang Shan's endeavors continue to flourish. At Fo Guang Shan, Venerable Ru Chang, Chief Curator of the Fo Guang Yuan Art Museum, accompanied us to visit the meditation hall, the squatters, the bookstore, the Great Buddha City, the Mahamudra Hall, the Hall of Great Compassion, the Hall of Great Wisdom, the Art Museum, and the Patriarchal History Museum ...... Everywhere we could feel the spirit and charisma of the Master. Finally, we visited the Buddha Memorial Hall under construction, which is a grand scale complex with a busy construction site, foreshadowing a brighter future for Fo Guang Shan.
(The author, Wang Nengxian, is a doctor of literature from Peking University, and is currently vice president and researcher of the China Academy of Art)