SOAS Research Online

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.