published_or_final_version / Buddhist Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 285-300) Also available in print.

Humanistic Buddhism in Taiwan has become a mainstream in recent 2 decades. It¡¦s from local form to international organization, and uses the way of commercial management. On the other side, the Buddhist adopt a ¡§inner transformation¡¨ strategy to turn difficult words in the Buddhist Scripture into understandable saying. When Master Sheng Yen was a novice, he had already realized that ¡§the Buddha dharma is so great, but many people misunderstand it and so few people are willing to accept it.¡¨ Therefore, he decided to develop and promote Buddhist higher education. Master Sheng Yen held the religious spirit of universal delivery ,tireless in all his efforts. He established the Dharma Drum Mountain World Center for Buddhist Education in Jinshan Township, Taipei County, in order to practice the Threefold Education¡XExtensive Academic Education, Extensive Public Buddhist Education, and Extensive Social Care Education¡Xwhich is the foundation on which to realize the vision of ¡§uplifting the character of humanity and building a pure land on Earth¡¨. The Master would like to spread the Dharma in language and ideas that people can relate to. For this reason, the Master proposed a series of social movements, hoped to provide concepts and methods applicable in today¡¦s life. These methods include ¡§the Spiritual Environment¡¨,¡¨ Four Kinds of Environmentalism¡¦, ¡§the Fivefold Spiritual Renaissance Campaign¡¨, and ¡§the Six Ethics of the Mind¡¨. The Master is a legendary people. The vision of ¡§uplifting the character of humanity and building a pure land on Earth¡¨ has opened a new sight in Taiwan.

With this dissertation, firstly, I address the issue of Friedrich Nietzsche’s (1844-1900) so-called ‘immoralism’. When he calls himself an ‘immoralist’ and even ‘the first immoralist’ (EH Destiny 2), he seems to be the first philosopher to consider morality as something negative, something we had better got rid of. Yet, he favours ‘noble morality’ and ‘higher moralities’ which he insists ought to be possible (BGE 202). I shall interpret Nietzsche’s explicit claim of ‘immoralism’ and his ‘campaign against morality’ as a rejection of a particular kind of morality ¾ Christian morality ‘that has become prevalent and predominant as morality itself’ (EH Destiny 4). His ‘immoralism’ does not reject the idea of an ethical life. Nietzsche favours a ‘supra-moral’ version of life (GM II 2&BGE 257). The move from a moral to a supra-moral orientation to life implies a kind of self-overcoming, a process which has both a ‘negative’ (‘destructive’) and a ‘positive’ (‘productive’) side. Firstly, I shall give an account of the ‘negative’ side, which involves Nietzsche’s genealogical critique of morality. In his Genealogy, Nietzsche criticizes the man of ressentiment, the metaphysical two-worlds distinction: ‘true world’ and ‘apparent world’, and the ascetic ideal of the will to truth, which he considers as a will to nothingness (GM III 28). His notion of perspectivism advocates a plurality of values and perspectives as opposed to any notion of an absolute truth. Then, I shall look into his ‘positive’ ethic, as exemplified in the figures of Zarathustra and the Übermensch, and the paradox of the Übermenschas ‘the annihilator of morality’ (EH Books 1) and as ‘the designation of a type of supreme achievement’ (EH Books 1). By proclaiming a process of ‘self-overcoming of morality’ (BGE 32), I believe that Nietzsche proposes an experimental morality in order to improve mankind. He considers morality as a pose, as progress (BGE 216), and ‘mere symptomatology’ (TI ‘Improvers’ of Mankind 1). Morality is the effect, or symptom of a continuous improvement within an individual. Nietzsche seeks to make us become aware of our continuous self-improvement, that we should invent our own virtue (A 11) in order to become what we are. Nietzsche envisions the possibility of evolving a magnanimous and courageous human type who is capable of giving style to his character (GS 290), the supreme human achievement ¾ the Übermensch. His idea of the Übermensch implies a never-ending struggle for self-perfection and self-fulfilment. There are affinities between Nietzsche’s philosophy and Buddhism, such as emphasizing practice, the recognition of the transient nature of human existence, and an emphasis on impermanence. Buddhist teachings show various feasible ways to attain enlightenment and buddhahood. The path to enlightenment and buddhahood can be shown to share some features with Nietzsche’s process of self-overcoming, which leads to self-transformation and self-perfection. The emphasis on the practice of the spirit of Bodhisattva by Humanistic Buddhism seems to lend itself as complement to Nietzsche’s philosophy, a notion I explore in the concluding chapter of the dissertation. / Dissertation (MA (Philosophy))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Philosophy / unrestricted

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao DENISE LOPES DE SOUZA.pdf: 733208 bytes, checksum: 2e99bcae42783b794be649d88860ac11 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-06-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work aims to describe and analyse the course for monks and Dharma s teachers offered by the Universidade Livre Budista of the Zu Lai temple located in Cotia Data was obtained through interviews and observations which means the research assumes an empirical characteristic Bibliographic material was also a source of information The Zu Lai temple is a Brazilian branch of the Fo Guang Shan organization whose headquarters is in Taiwan Its objectives are to spread Dharma through culture develop talents through education benefit society through charity and purify the mind through spiritual development The founder of the organization Hsing Yün tries to spread the so called Humanistic Buddhism which has an anthropocentric characteristic and intends to emphasize the pragmatism of Buddhism Along the course students of the Universidade Livre Budista are expected to reach spiritual development through study of religion Furthermore they are expected to learn how to use Buddha´s teachings in order to benefit the environment they belong to The pragmatic characteristic emphasized in the subjects taught during the course are similar to what Ken Jones calls Socially Engaged Buddhism which is known as the need for buddhists to gather and work to promote ethical and pragmatic Buddhism focused on social benefit This work contributes to the discussion about the settlement of Fo Guang Shan in Brazil through the use of educational characteristics inherent to Buddhism Besides that it contributes to the discussion about the social role the course represents not only to the local community but also to the Chinese people and their descendants by considering the substance of the offer the inter-relation between the religious organization and society and the organizational competence of the temple The discussion is based on the theory of the sociologist Rodney Stark and mainly concludes that the strictness of the monastic rules students are supposed to obey as well as the limited validity of the diploma issued by the organization contribute to the number of students who give up the course which is significant / Este trabalho tem como objetivo descrever e analisar o curso de formação de monges e professores de Dharma da Universidade Livre Budista do Templo Zu Lai situado em Cotia A coleta de dados foi feita por meio de entrevistas e observações determinando seu caráter empírico bem como de material bibliográfico de fontes primárias e secundárias O Templo Zu Lai é a filial brasileira da organização Fo Guang Shan cuja matriz é em Taiwan a qual tem como objetivos difundir o Dharma por meio da cultura desenvolver talentos por meio da educação beneficiar a sociedade pela caridade e purificar a mente por meio do desenvolvimento espiritual O mestre fundador da organização Hsing Yün divulga o chamado Budismo Humanista que com seu caráter antropocêntrico pretende ressaltar a característica pragmática do Budismo Os alunos da Universidade Livre Budista devem com o decorrer do curso alcançar desenvolvimento espiritual por meio do estudo dessa religião e aprender como utilizar os ensinamentos budistas de forma que contribuam para o bem-estar social do meio ao qual estão inseridos A característica pragmática ressaltada pelo currículo do curso se assemelha ao que Ken Jones chama de Budismo socialmente engajado visto por alguns autores como a necessidade de reunião de budistas independente da linhagem em prol de uma abordagem ética e pragmática do Budismo focada no benefício social O trabalho contribui para a discussão sobre a instalação da organização Fo Guang Shan no Brasil por meio do uso de características educacionais inerentes no Budismo além de contribuir para a discussão sobre as motivações que levaram à instalação do curso e do que ele representa tanto para a comunidade local quanto para os chineses e seus descendentes considerando a sustância da oferta a inter-relação entre o movimento religioso e a sociedade o grau de abertura da rede de membros e a competência organizacional do templo tal discussão tem como base o sociólogo Rodney Stark Sua conclusão principal é a rigidez das regras monásticas às quais os alunos devem se submeter bem como a validade limitada do diploma emitido pela organização, determinam uma evasão significativa