Description
Book SynopsisBuddhist Revitalization and Chinese Religions in Malaysia tells the story of how a minority community comes to grips with the challenges of modernity, history, globalization, and cultural assertion in an ever-changing Malaysia. It captures the religious connection, transformation, and tension within a complex traditional belief system in a multi-religious society. In particular, the book revolves around a discussion on the religious revitalization of Chinese Buddhism in modern Malaysia. This Buddhist revitalization movement is intertwined with various forces, such as colonialism, religious transnationalism, and global capitalism. Reformist Buddhists have helped to remake Malaysia’s urban-dwelling Chinese community and have provided an exit option in the Malay and Muslim majority nation state. As Malaysia modernizes, there have been increasing efforts by certain segments of the country’s ethnic Chinese Buddhist population to separate Buddhism from popular Chinese religions. Nevertheless, these reformist groups face counterforces from traditional Chinese religionists within the context of the cultural complexity of the Chinese belief system.
Trade Review"Tan Lee Ooi’s
Buddhist Revitalization and Chinese Religions in Malaysia provides a corrective to the study of Buddhism as it not only documents—historically and ethnographically—how Buddhist actors in Malaysia respond to modernity, but also how membership in different minority Buddhist traditions in Malaysia shapes ideas about religion and the state more widely. What also makes Tan’s study important to the field of Buddhist studies is the uniqueness of Malaysia as a country in which all three forms of Buddhism are quite vibrant and are equally responding to what it means to be a minority in a Malay-Muslim nation state."
- Jeffrey Samuels,
Review of Religion and Chinese Society 8 (2021)
Table of ContentsList of Tables
Abbreviations
List of Chinese Characters
Orthography
Chapter 1 Introduction
The Origins of Buddhist Revitalization
Methodology
Chapter Overviews
Chapter 2 A Brief History of Buddhist Transnational Connections
Theravada Buddhist Communities in Malaya
Early Mahayana Buddhism in Malaya
Pan-Asian Phenomena of Buddhist Modernism
Summary
Chapter 3 Reforming Chinese Buddhism through the Zheng Xin (Right Faith) Movement
The Discourse of Zheng Xin
Defending Zheng Xin Buddhism in Malaysia
Buddhicizing the Hungry Ghost Festival
The Role of the MBA
The Buddhist Youth Movement and Zheng Xin Buddhism
Summary
Chapter 4 New Transnational Connections with Taiwan
Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Merit Society
Tzu Chi and Malaysian Buddhism
Mass Participation
Fo Guang Shan
Fo Guang Shan and Malaysian Buddhism
Differences between Tzu Chi and Fo Guang Shan
Similarity of the Esthetics of Religious Space and Material
Summary
Chapter 5 Remaking Chinese Buddhists
Chinese Community and Buddhism in Malaysia
The Emergence of Second-Generation Religious Leaders: A Case of Venerable Chi Chern
Cultural Reformation in Chinese Community
The Experience of Fo Guang Shan's Celebration: Chinese New Year Lantern and Floral Festival
Tzu Chi's Chinese New Year Relief
The Declining Role of Chinese Associations
Summary
Chapter 6 Counterforces to Buddhist Revitalization
Dreams about Father
Case 2: A Battle between Chinese Religions and Buddhism at Kampung Baru Jenjarom
Case 3: An Urban Miracle of the Talking Buddha Statues
Multiple Counterforces to Buddhist Revitalization
The Relaxation of Political Correctness in Zheng Xin Buddhism
Summary
Chapter 7 Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
