Participant observation and reflective study on the contemporary Buddhist rites of Shui Lu (“Land and Sea”)ceremonies in Taiwan / 臺灣當代水陸外壇儀軌之參與觀察與研究

碩士 / 玄奘大學 / 宗教與文化學系碩士在職專班 / 106 / This dissertation explores a participant observation and Buddhist reflective study on contemporary Shui Lu(“Sea and Land”)ceremonial rituals in Taiwan.

Based on the author’s full time involvement of over thirty years in the rituals of chanting Buddhist prayers, from his early contact with folk beliefs and Taoist rituals, to presiding over the exoteric rituals of Buddhist ceremonies, an observation has been made on various aspects of contemporary Buddhist chanting rituals in Taiwan.

Presiding over the Buddhist chanting rituals of the largest exoteric Shui Lu(“Sea and Land”)Buddhist ceremony (Inner and Outer Altars) in Taiwan, the layout and functions of mandalas, the pre-ceremony publicity and information for the participants, the formalized worship on knees in unison, and so forth, are the core research themes of this paper.

During the study, interviews with 2 experienced monks and 5 lay Buddhists were conducted as research subjects in order to explore the following issues: First, in the field of preaching Buddhism, those who chant Buddhist mantras are often perceived as enjoying a relatively modest status, so how can this phenomenon be explained through academic research, in order to generate the power for achieving change? Second, through the research for this dissertation, how can the moral qualities of monks and lay people engaged in chanting Buddhist prayers be nurtured? Third, what is the connection between chanting Buddhist prayers and Buddha's saying of “becoming a Buddha”?

Through an observation of the relationship between Buddhist ritual chanting and Buddhist practice, a clear contextual analysis is provided for the general public.

The research focus of this dissertation is as follows:
1. Based on the rituals of the Inner and Outer Altars, as well as on the chanting rituals of the Shui Lu(“Sea and Land”)Buddhist ceremony, conduct a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the differences in the practices of the different schools of chanting methods.

2. Analyze the similarities and differences between, and the unique characteristics of, the two Buddhist sects in Taiwan that currently hold large Shui Lu ceremonies: the Dharma Drum Mountain and Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Society.

3. Compare and analyze the two rituals of Zhai Tian (“Offering to Buddhas and Celestial beings”) and Shi Shi (“Alms of food”).

4. Explore how the Shui Lu Dharma Function responds to the various challenges from contemporary societies, and explore how the believers achieve the transformation goal of Transcendence by participating the Shui Lu Dharma Function.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:TW/106HCU01183012
Date January 2018
CreatorsTSENG, KUO-CHUAN, 曾國全
ContributorsSHIH CHAO-HWEI, 釋昭慧
Source SetsNational Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan
Languagezh-TW
Detected LanguageEnglish
Type學位論文 ; thesis
Format150

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