Fostering Education Beyond the Classroom: Examples from Republican Buddhism and their Legacy Today

Travagnin, Stefania

Abstract

This research explores how Buddhist “education within/for lay society” translated in the Chinese context. In both the Imperial and Republican eras, Buddhist monastics and lay intellectuals did more than simply preach the laity. Trusting that Buddhist ethics could offer positive guidance to the community, central and local governments requested that Buddhist monastics lecture in other less usual venues, like military camps or prisons, or open their temple premises to soldiers and inmates. Besides formal lecturing, Chinese monastics often inspired by example, and facilitated the development of the surrounding community through their charisma, leadership, and practical initiatives. This article starts with a historical overview of education in China, and the interlinked development of religious (Buddhist and Daoist) and secular (Confucian) learning in the premodern era. The second and third parts focus on continuation and developments in the Republican era, addressing intellectual arguments and debates, as well as concrete examples of Buddho-Confucian educational initiatives outside the classroom. The study ends with reflections on the contribution of Buddhism to for global society.

Citation

Travagnin, S. (2023). Fostering Education Beyond the Classroom: Examples from Republican Buddhism and their Legacy Today

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 30, 2022
• Publication Date: May 10, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 20, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 20, 2024
• Journal: Yin-Cheng Journal of Contemporary Buddhism
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 100-132
• Keywords: Dharma teaching to the army (jundui hongfa 軍隊弘法), Dharma teaching in prison (jianyu hongfa 監獄弘法), Wang Enyang 王恩洋 (1897–1964), Monk Cihang 慈航法師 (1893–1954), Chinese Prison Dharma Propagation Society (Zhongguo jianyu hongfa she 中國監獄弘法社), Humanistic Buddhism (renjian fojiao 人間佛教), Buddhist education (fojiao jiaoyu 佛教教育), Republican Buddhism (minguo fojiao 民國佛教 )
• Publisher URL: https://journal.yincheng.org/en/issue/view/1.1/1