First Enticing With Desires: A Material Approach to Fo Guang Shan and Humanistic Buddhism

• Author / Creator

  Li, Bo

• This study explores the little-examined dimensions of a highly influential Buddhist organization, Fo Guang Shan (佛光山), which was founded in Taiwan and established more than 200 branches on all five continents. Through ethnographic research focusing on Buddhist materiality – its aesthetic framing through material forms and modern techniques – the study argues that Buddhism as a practice of mediation is “sacred in between” (Barrie 2005). In particular, an examination of its construction of urban monastic space, aesthetic foodways, re-contextualization of musical practice and creative ritual performance, enables a tangible understanding of Humanistic Buddhist thought. As an extension of Chinese Buddhism, Fo Guang Shan’s Humanistic Buddhism should not be understood as a process of secularization. By examining the concrete forms of Fo Guang Shan’s cultural products and its various re-interpretations of traditions, we will see an active transformation initiated within the Buddhist community in response to the influences of modernity and globalization in our contemporary world.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Fo Guang Shan
  • Humanistic Buddhism
  • Material religion
  • Mediation

• Graduation date

  Fall 2014

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3DF6K93V

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.