Master Taixu(太虚, 1890-1947) was an eminent monk of modern China, and is well-known for his passionate appeal for a fundamental reform of Chinese Buddhism and the establishment of “Humanistic Buddhism(renjian fojiao...Master Taixu(太虚, 1890-1947) was an eminent monk of modern China, and is well-known for his passionate appeal for a fundamental reform of Chinese Buddhism and the establishment of “Humanistic Buddhism(renjian fojiao 人间佛教, meaning Buddhism in human life).” While being well versed in traditional Chinese culture and Buddhist thought, he also embraced the Western social sciences, such as psychology and sociology. Historical documents show that he was also familiar with the new currents of European sociology of the day and he had developed his own interpretation of these theories and methodologies. This study mainly focuses on the sociology within his voluminous works. By combing through Master Taixu’s ideas such as a call for the creation of a new system of work ethic based on Buddhist values and a new kind of Buddhist “Realism” with the goal of helping to reform society and modernize China, this paper attempts to explore the potential for further sociological study regarding the relationship between Buddhism and secular society based on his social theory, thus establishing that Master Taixu was an important pioneer of interpreting modern sociology from the perspective of Buddhism.展开更多
基金preliminary result of the 2017 major project of National Social Science Fund of China titled“Social Life History of Chinese Buddhist Monks”(17ZDA233)
文摘Master Taixu(太虚, 1890-1947) was an eminent monk of modern China, and is well-known for his passionate appeal for a fundamental reform of Chinese Buddhism and the establishment of “Humanistic Buddhism(renjian fojiao 人间佛教, meaning Buddhism in human life).” While being well versed in traditional Chinese culture and Buddhist thought, he also embraced the Western social sciences, such as psychology and sociology. Historical documents show that he was also familiar with the new currents of European sociology of the day and he had developed his own interpretation of these theories and methodologies. This study mainly focuses on the sociology within his voluminous works. By combing through Master Taixu’s ideas such as a call for the creation of a new system of work ethic based on Buddhist values and a new kind of Buddhist “Realism” with the goal of helping to reform society and modernize China, this paper attempts to explore the potential for further sociological study regarding the relationship between Buddhism and secular society based on his social theory, thus establishing that Master Taixu was an important pioneer of interpreting modern sociology from the perspective of Buddhism.
