Research Article
Buddhist Revitalization and Tai Xu’s Buddhist Modernist Movement in China
Abstract
China gradually got rid of the influence of feudalism at the beginning of the 20th Century and stepped on its long and winding path of “modernization". During the same period, a Buddhist Revival in the 1920s aimed at reforming Chinese Buddhism to cope with modern society and the modern mind. One of the most important figures of Buddhist Revival is Master Tai Xu. He advocated Three Revolutions Towards Chinese Buddhism in 1913, two years after the Revolution of 1911, which signified the beginning of The Republican China. This paper will analyze why Tai Xu’s reform was defined as a Buddhist “Modernist” Movement by discussing the term "modernization” in Religious History.
Keywords: Republican China; Buddhism; Tai Xu; Modernization; Monasteries
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