Workshop: “When a new Generation comes up: Buddhist Leadership and Lay People in Contemporary China”
10.02.2020 (9:30 – 18:00) + 11.02.2020 (9:00 – 12:00)
Universität Hamburg, Asien-Afrika-Institut, Raum 123 ESA Ost
Every kind of leadership in the People’s Republic of China has been confronted with severe challenges since the end of the Cultural Revolution. In the religious field, leaders of Buddhist monasteries underwent complex processes of revitalising or reinventing Buddhist traditions. At the same time, they continuously had to adapt to changing political rules, commercial environments, as well as to the social and religious expectations of new generations of lay people.
While many Buddhist abbots and abbesses of the first “post-Mao” generation had been ordained before the Cultural Revolution, within the last four decades, a younger generation has come to power almost all over the country. The representatives of this “new” generation have much in common: They were born in the 1960/70s, ordained and trained by more or less famous masters during the 1980/90s, and selected for Buddhist leadership according to the same political rules. Having a similar biographical background and to some degree being part of a common elite network, on the one hand, they have faced very different challenges on the other hand. Meanwhile, many of them are on the way to establish their specific brands.
The workshop is going to bring together case studies surrounding questions such as: How has the “new” generation come to power, what are its main challenges and to what extent are there common patterns or differing directions of Buddhist leadership strategies in the present and concerning the future.
Workshop convenor: Dr. Carsten Krause 康易清博士, Research Fellow, Numata Center for Buddhist Studies, Universität Hamburg
Contact: carsten.krause"AT"uni-hamburg.de
A flyer of the conference can be downloaded here.
