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Chinese Buddhism and economic progress

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Date

2006

Volume

7

Pages

264-277

Abstract

Buddhism because of renunciation and celibacy has a tendency of being misunderstood as a spiritual tradition not dealing much with Economics. Therefore, I would like to trace the textual development of Economics in Indian Buddhism through Chinese Buddhism to Buddhism in Taiwan as well as the evolutionary approach of economic management at Buddhist monasteries in India, China and Taiwan.

This paper will be divided into five parts. The first part will examine the definition of Economics and some relevant concrete Buddhist textual accounts. The second part explores the textual account in terms of Economics and the contrast between social economics and Buddhist economics. The third part deals with the economic resources of the Buddhist monasteries in Indian Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism. The fourth part discusses the current economic management in Buddhist monasteries in Taiwan and focuses on Fo Guang Shan Monastery as a case study. The last part concludes with a summary.


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