Workshop: “When a new Generation comes up: Buddhist Leadership and Lay People in Contemporary China”
Workshop Schedule
Monday, 10.01.2020 9:30 – 18:00
9:30 – 10:30 Xuan Fang 宣方 Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Religious Theory, Renmin University of China
Introductory Remarks: Power Transfer: The Rise of Chinese Buddhist Leadership in the Post-Zhao Puchu Era
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:00 Wu Yuanying 吴园英 Freie Universität, Berlin
Case Study I: Leadership transition within the Living Chan movement ― from Venerable Jinghui to his Dharma successors
12:00 – 14:00 Lunch Break
14:00 – 15:00 Carsten Krause 康易清 Numata Center for Buddhist Studies, Universität Hamburg
Case Study II: Comparative Study of a New Generation of Abbots and the Legacies of Patriarchs’ Domains
15:00 – 15:30 Coffee break
15:30 – 16:30 Haiyan Hu-von-Hinüber 胡海燕 Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt University, and Indian and Buddhist Studies, Peking- and Shenzhen-University
Case Study III: On the Social and Religious Background of the Liuzu Monastery´s Missionary Activities and International Network with Universities under the Leadership of Abbot Dayuan
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee break
17:00 – 18:00 Zhang Jiacheng 张家成 Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Zhejiang University
Case Study IV: Master Guangquan and his Model of Spreading the Dharma by Featuring Traditional Culture and Art
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Tuesday, 11.01.2020 9:00 – 12:00
9:00 – 10:00 Cao Yan 曹彦 School of Philosophy, Wuhan University
Case Study V:The Inheritance and Promotion of the Tradition by Master Mingxian
10:00 – 10:15 Coffee Break
10:15 – 11:15 Ji Zhe 汲喆 Department of Chinese Studies, Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) and Centre d’études interdisciplinaires sur le bouddhisme
Case Study VI: A New Generation of Lay Buddhist Intellectuals: The Revival of Doctrinal Studies and the Project of Canon-Reading
11:15- 12:00 Final discussion
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Workshop participants and abstracts
Xuan Fang 宣方 Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Religious Theory, Renmin University of China
Presentation in Chinese: 10.02.20, 9:30 – 10:30
Introductory Remarks:
Power Transfer: The Rise of Chinese Buddhist Leadership in the Post-Zhao Puchu Era
权势转移：后赵朴初时代中国佛教领导层的崛起之路
From the 1950s until his death in 2000, Zhao Puchu 赵朴初 (1907-2000) served as the main leader of the Buddhist Association of China 中国佛教协会 (BAC) for a long time. After the Cultural Revolution, he led the gradual revival of Chinese Buddhism and personally arranged the succession echelon of the future Chinese Buddhist leadership (third echelon). Beginning in 1993 with the 6th Council of the BAC, post-Cultural Revolution Buddhist leaders have begun to emerge. However, due to the failure of the BAC to complete the successor’s election at Zhao's lifetime, two opponents behind him aroused a fierce competition. The elections at the seventh General Assembly of the BAC in 2002 marked the all-around rise of post-Cultural Buddhist leaders; by the eighth Great Assembly of the BAC in 2010, the post-Cultural Revolution`s generation became the mainstream of the BAC’s leadership, whereas, by the ninth in 2015, the post-Cultural Revolution’s generation almost dominated the country.
This paper selects several key figures in the leadership of the BAC since the 1990s and examines their trajectories of rising and fall. It reveals the dominant factors and the competing strategies of all parties in this long process of power transfer.
从1950年代年代开始直到2000年逝世，赵朴初长期担任中国佛教协会的主要领导人，文革以后更是主导了中国佛教的逐步复兴，并亲自安排了未来中国佛教领导层的接班梯队（第三梯队）。从1993年中国佛教协会第六届理事会开始，后文革一代佛教领袖开始崭露头角。但由于中国佛教协会未能在赵生前顺利完成换届选举，在他身后两位竞争者展开了激烈的角逐。2002年举行的第七届中国佛教协会换届大会，标志着后文革一代佛教领袖的全面崛起；到2010年第八届中国佛教协会，后文革一代成为佛协领导层的主流；到2015年第九届中国佛教协会，后文革一代几乎一统江山。
本文选取1990年代以来中佛协领导层若干关键人物，考察其升降轨迹，从而揭示在这场漫长的权势转移过程中的主导性因素和各方的竞争策略。
Wu Yuanying 吴园英 Freie Universität, Berlin
Presentation in English: 10.01.20, 11:00-12:00
Case Study I: Leadership transition within the Living Chan movement ― from Venerable Jinghui to his Dharma successors
生活禅僧团的领导力转移:从净慧法师到其法嗣
At the end of the 1980s, Venerable Jinghui 净慧 (1933-2013) began restoring several monasteries and, in the early 1990s, invented an influential brand of Dharma teaching that he named Living Chan (生活禅). As a result of his engagement with Chinese Buddhism, he became a prominent example of transmitting the Dharma lineages of different traditions.
Between 1999 and 2014, Venerable Jinghui transmitted Dharma lineages from five schools (Linji 临济, Caodong 曹洞, Yunmen 云门, Weiyang 沩仰, and Fayan 法眼) two hundred times to 169 monks and nuns, partly represented (代付) in 2014 by Ven. Chuanyin 传印 (1927-) and in 2013 by Ven. Minghai 明海 (1968-). Today, Jinghui’s Dharma successors have formed a new Sangha leadership with a distinct approach to promoting Living Chan within the network of Living Chan group temples (生活禅道场). Their cooperation as a group exemplifies the possibility for a group of disciples to not only preserve traditions and invent new teachings, but also to build up a tight-knit network of branch temples.
Through case studies of Bailin Monastery 柏林寺 and Sizu Monastery 四祖寺 as well as their sub- and branch temples, this paper examines the transition of leadership within Living Chan from Jinghui to his Dharma successors. Further, it explores the challenges and opportunities of the new leadership in promoting Living Chan in the future.
上世纪八十年代末以来，净慧法师（1933-2013）着手开始中兴寺院，并于九十年代初提出了自己的修行理念——生活禅。生活禅的提出和发展现今已成为传播佛法的一个杰出典范。
1999至2014年间，有二百人次的僧尼分别从净慧法师处接临济、曹洞、云门、沩仰和法眼的法卷，其中部分法卷由传印（1927-）和明海（1968-）分别于2014年和2013年代付。净慧法师的接法者通过各自驻锡弘法一方，组建传播生活禅的网络，即“生活禅系道场”，形成了一个具有特色并致力于传播弘扬生活禅的新生代僧团领导。作为一个紧密合作的团体，“生活禅系道场”的存在证明了净慧及其法子不仅可以保持传统和发明新的传统，而且可以通过分院和别院建立一个紧密联系的寺院分支网络。
本文以柏林禅寺和四祖寺及其各分别院为例，探讨了生活禅从净慧到其继任者的转变。此外，亦探讨生活禅新领导层在未来弘扬和实践“生活禅”所面临的挑战和机遇。
Carsten Krause 康易清 Numata Center for Buddhist Studies, Universität Hamburg
Presentation in English: 10.02.2020, 14:00 – 15:00
Case Study II:
Comparative Study of a New Generation of Abbots and the Legacies of Patriarchs’ Domains (祖庭)
Buddhist monasteries have been reopened and restored under disparate circumstances at different times over the past 40 years. For monastics born in the 1960s/70s and ordained after the Cultural Revolution, taking over the leadership of those monasteries involves various challenges depending on the respective religious status and sociopolitical environment.
One common feature has been the question of how to accommodate one’s biographical background and religious career with the monastery’s legacy in order to bolster its popularity and broader legitimacy. This study focusses on a selection of monasteries which share a comparable historical background, being regarded as so-called zuting 祖庭 (“patriarch’s domain”). It discusses similarities and differences of the challenges for the new leadership to re-connect with each monastery’s legacy of the distant and near past. Further, it investigates and compares the diverse strategies of young abbots how to represent themselves and their Buddhist teachings within such a context.
The paper argues that, on the one side, compared to the decades before, a stronger sense of revival and search for unique characteristics to be revitalised has emerged. On the other side, being inspired by a continuous modernisation process, as well as challenged by heterogeneous sociopolitical developments, the new generation of abbots seems to keep a deliberate distance to the past and to strive for the invention and retraditionalization of new brands.
Haiyan Hu-von-Hinüber 胡海燕 Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt University, and Indian and Buddhist Studies, Peking- and Shenzhen-University
Presentation in English: 10.01.20, 15:30-16:30
Case Study III:
On the Social and Religious Background of the Liuzu Monastery´s Missionary Activities and International Network with Universities under the Leadership of Abbot Dayuan
六祖寺大愿方丈率领下的国际弘法以及与高校的合作 – 社会与宗教背景的案例分析
Among the monks who have been ordained after the Cultural Revolution, at the age of 24, venerable Dayuan was one of the youngest monastics to become an abbot in 1995 for leading the Renrui Monastery 仁瑞寺. As is the case with many others of his generation, his religious career can be characterised by the inspiration from old masters of different Buddhist traditions. In contrast to his predecessors, however, he was one of the first Buddhist leaders that had been trained in business management before he became a monk. After having rebuilt and revived several monasteries, master Dayuan became the abbot of the Liuzu Monastery 六祖寺 in 2005, which he developed into the basis of his nationwide network of affiliated monasteries. Instead of focusing on the teaching of only one Buddhist school, master Dayuan pursues the strategy of diversified teaching with a global Buddhist vision.
This case study investigates the social and religious background of the Liuzu Monastery´s missionary activities. It traces the development of master Dayuan’s leadership from the early stage to his project of Buddhist globalisation on the basis of an international network, especially with universities and scholars worldwide. Since master Dayuan is playing a pioneering role among Buddhist leaders of Mainland China in spreading Chinese Buddhism abroad, the study is going to explore the challenges and opportunities, as well as the relevance of master Dayuan’s experience for his contemporaries.
Zhang Jiacheng 张家成 Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Zhejiang University
Presentation in Chinese: 10.01.20, 17:00-18:00
Case Study IV:
Master Guangquan and his Model of Spreading the Dharma by Featuring Traditional Culture and Art
光泉法师及其以传统文化与艺术为特色的弘法模式
Since founding Hangzhou Buddhist Academy, serving as president of Hangzhou Buddhist Association and abbot of Lingyin Monastery 灵隐寺, Master Guangquan 光泉 (1961-) has been involved in Buddhist education, charity, art, academic research, and foreign exchanges. He has made unremitting efforts and achieved remarkable results, leading the Buddhist world in Hangzhou to the forefront of contemporary Chinese Buddhism.Reflecting the Buddhist career of Ven. Guangquan as one of the most influential leaders among the new generation of Buddhist abbots in contemporary China, this paper examines the missionary activities and the key to the success of Ven. Guangquan and his monastic community. It will identify the characteristics of a specific model to promote the Dharma which primarily consists of featuring traditional culture and art.
First of all, it ties in and continues with the integrative spirit and tradition of Buddhist culture of the Lingyin Monastery. Further, against the sociocultural background of a revival of traditional culture in contemporary China and the ongoing efforts of the Buddhist Association of China to promote a “humanistic Buddhism” (人间佛教), it is quite a successful example of how Buddhism serves as a carrier for contributing to the renaissance of Chinese traditional culture. In addition, the formation of this model to spread the Dharma is also related to the way how Ven. Guangquan, a Hangzhou native, appreciates traditional culture while being an open-minded and reflective personality – characterising him as a "learning type" (“学习型”) monk.
Based on those factors, Ven. Guangquan and his monastic community’s "regionalised and internationalised" (“区域化、国际化”) strategy of the development of Buddhist culture (“based on the local, facing the world” “立足本土、面向世界”) coincides with the zeitgeist in contemporary China and strives for the smooth unfolding of activities to spread the Dharma.
光泉法师（1961- ）自创办杭州佛学院、担任杭州市佛教协会会长及灵隐寺方丈以来，无论是在佛教教育、佛教慈善、佛教艺术、佛教学术研究乃至佛教对外交流等方面，都做出了不懈的努力，取得了不俗的成绩，引领杭州佛教界走在了当代中国佛教弘法利生事业的前列。
本文以光泉法师的佛教生涯为例，探讨作为中国佛教新一代方丈中的最有影响力的领导人物之一的光泉法师及其率领的灵隐寺僧团的弘法事迹及其成功模式，并将其概括为以传统文化和艺术为特色的弘法模式。这一成功模式，既有其普遍性，又有其个性特点：首先，它继承了灵隐寺佛教文化的融合精神与传统，是在当代中国传统文化的复兴以及中国佛教协会建设”人间佛教”的社会文化背景下，以佛教为载体复兴中国传统文化的一个比较成功的案例。其次，这一弘法模式的形成还与作为杭州人的光泉法师热爱传统文化、好学深思的个性有关，他可谓是一位“学习型”的文化僧人。第三，光泉法师及其僧团“立足本土、面向世界“（区域化、国际化）的佛教文化发展战略，也契合了当代中国时代思潮，从而保证了其弘法事业的顺利展开。
Cao Yan 曹彦 School of Philosophy, Wuhan University
Presentation in Chinese: 11.01.20, 9:00-10:00
Case Study V:
The Inheritance and Promotion of the Tradition by Master Mingxian
明贤法师对传统的传承与弘扬
Among the monks born in the 1970s, Ven. Mingxian明贤 (1973-) is one of the most influential Buddhist representatives in the religious, secular and political circles. The reason for his success is that he is widely recognized as a monastic who inherits the traditional Chinese Chan (中国禅) and strives for its practice in an authentic manner. At the same time, he is assessed as the future hope of Chinese Buddhism and a large number of like-minded people gathered around him.
In terms of inheriting the Buddhist tradition, Ven. Mingxian started with his Buddhist career at Zhenru Monastery 真如寺 in Yunju Mountain 云居山 after graduating from high school in 1992. He studied Chan diligently and borrowed the Buddhist scriptures for self-study. When Ven. Yicheng 一诚 (1926-2017) revived Jiangxi Buddhist College 江西佛学院 in 2000, Ven. Mingxian became the Director of the Undergraduate Teaching Office while working on his master's degree. In the 2006 China-India Friendship Year, after layers of screening, he and Ven. Huizai 慧在of Fo Guang Shan 佛光山 in Taiwan re-embarked on the westbound journey of Xuanzang 玄奘 (602-664). It was reported by CCTV, Guangdong Satellite TV and other media.
On his way to Buddhist leadership, having achieved the rare opportunity to become the inheritor of five Chan Sects, Ven. Mingxian has become a rising star among the monastic community. For the Buddhist laity, he has established Beihai Chan Academy 北海禅院 and opened a summer camp in the Tibetan Buddhist area of Qinghai Lake, where many students from Beijing University and Qinghua University have attended the camp and practiced Chan. Going with the time, he also designed and released the Chanlin App (禅林软件) to promote Chan to the public. However, in order to defend the orthodoxy of Chinese Buddhism, he is writing articles and publishing opinions on current issues including a serious criticism of Japanese sayings of "Mahayana not being taught by the Buddha" (大乘非佛说). Preserving Buddhist tradition also includes the worship of his master, Ven. Miguang 弥光 (1912-2008), as the place where his master’s immortal body is located has become a formal religious site, and the Wuhan Municipal Government has also granted 50 acres of land for the expansion of Shiguanyin Monastery 石观音寺.
This paper examines how Ven. Mingxian has become an influential monk by combining the revival and preservation of Buddhist tradition with innovative methods of spreading the Dharma. It argues that his success is based on his personal experience of Buddhist practice while at the same time he dares to be exposed to the public, with the result that his leadership is not only given by the government, but also mainly by adherents.
明贤法师作为70后的一位在僧界、俗界和政界有影响力的出家人。之所以能获得成功，就在于大家相信他是位能够传承地道的中国禅法，是实修实证的诚实的僧人。在他身上能看到中国佛的未来与希望。由此在他身边聚集了大量志同道合的人。
在传承传统方面，明贤法师92年高中毕业后就立志在云居山真如寺出家学习。他认真修学禅法，并借阅大藏经进行自学。2000年一诚长老恢复江西佛学院时，明贤法师一边进行研究生学习，一边任教研室主任。2006中印友好年，经过层层筛选，他与台湾佛光山的慧在法师重走玄奘西行路，被中央电视台、广东卫视等多家媒体报道。
在领导力方面，明贤法师非常稀有地嗣禅宗五家法脉，成为僧界非常有影响力的新星。在社会引导方面，明贤法师在青海湖藏传佛教地区，建立北海禅院，开办夏令营，许多北京大学、清华大学的学生在此学习禅法。另外他还发布“禅林App”，向大众宣传禅宗的正知正见。而且经常对教界和社会存在的问题撰写文章发表见解，特别是对于日本学者的“大乘非佛说”进行了极力的批评，捍卫中国佛教的正统地位，影响很大。在他的推动之下，其导师弥光老和尚坐缸成功。其真身所在地方成为正式宗教场所，武汉市政府还批了50亩的地让其扩建石观音寺。
本文着重考察了明贤法师是如何在创新性地传承和发展佛法方面成为新的一代有影响力的导师的。我们发现，明贤法师是一位所作所为敢于暴露在大众之下的诚实的出家人，是实修实证的禅师，他的领导力不只是政府赐予的，而更主要是信众赋予的。
Ji Zhe 汲喆 Department of Chinese Studies, Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) and Centre d’études interdisciplinaires sur le bouddhisme
Presentation in English or Chinese: 11.01.20, 10:15-11:15
Case Study VI:
A New Generation of Lay Buddhist Intellectuals: The Revival of Doctrinal Studies and the Project of Canon-Reading
新一代佛学知识人：义学复兴与大众阅藏工程
Some scholars who received higher education in the 1980s and 1990s were the first batch of Buddhists in China after 1949 who not only obtained a valid academic status but also freely and openly believed in religion. With the beginning of the twenty-first century, these Buddhist scholars have gained sufficient social capital and formed a close cooperative relationship with a new generation of leaders within the Buddhist sangha. In this context, distancing from "Buddhist Studies" influenced by modern western scholarship, they proposed a concept of "Content Studies" (义学), that is, "the hermeneutical Studies of Buddhist religion based on Buddhist teaching itself." From this standpoint, they criticised the Buddhist Studies of previous generations of scholars and launched a mass reading campaign to try to reconstruct the sacredness, integrity, and orthodoxy of the Dharma.
在1980-90年代接受高等教育的部分学者，是中国1949年后第一批既能获得正当的学术身份，又能自由、公开信仰宗教的佛教徒。在二十一世纪初，这佛教徒的学者已经具有足够的社会资本，并与僧团内部的新一代领袖结成了紧密的合作关系。在这一背景下，他们提出了一种与受到近代西方学术影响的“佛学”不同的“义学”的概念，即“立足于佛教本位而解释佛教之学” 。从这一立场出发，他们对前代学者的佛教研究做出批评，并发起了大众阅藏运动，尝试重建佛法的神圣性、完整性和正统性。