China, Buddhism, and the new era of Globalization

Last updated on: September 10, 2018 at 9:52 pm by Justin Whitaker

China, Buddhism, and the new era of Globalization 2018-09-10T21:52:54-06:00 Justin Whitaker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Today I have some early thoughts on a topic that I hope I will return to, perhaps again and again, over the months and years to come. I live and work currently in Hong Kong, which some might mistakenly say is “part of China” or might also mistakenly say is “not part of China.”

The confusing middle ground is best exemplified by the phrase, “one country, two systems.” But that just scratches the surface. The first system is, of course, Chinese rule, but the second system at work here is, as far as I can tell, the British-colonial-business system. Just how and where exactly the two systems meet and clash is still well beyond my view. There are simple things, like needing a different visa to live here than the one I have for visits to China (a visa issued by Hong Kong, not by Beijing/China), and facebook works here (no “great firewall of China” in HK).

I grew up on a dirt road in rural, rural Montana. China was only ever some abstract “other” – the bad guys in some films, the funny sidekick perhaps, the place where all our stuff was made. I worked for a couple years at our towns best Chinese food restaurant (I’m happy to say that Yat Son’s is still there, now in East Helena), though that was much more an experience in hard work and kitchen comradery than anything else.

During my graduate school days in Bristol, England I lived with a number of fellow ‘international postgraduates’, and many were working on issues of international relations and politics. One woman I remember was doing her degree on international maritime law, specifically defending Vietnam’s claim to the Spratly Islands. More recently, another friend was working on Kenya’s response to massive Chinese influence in its commercial and shipping industries.

These and other experiences, along with 4 summer-trips to mainland China in the last 10 years, one trip to Taiwan, and life now in HK have strongly piqued my interest in both the extraordinarily dynamic political world of China and the perhaps more hidden but nonetheless important world of Buddhism here.

And, try as one might, you cannot really look deeply into politics in Asia without seeing Buddhism or vice-versa (a bit like Huayen’s “Indra’s Net”).

The first external resource I want to add here is a book review done by my BuddhistDoor Global colleague Raymond Lam. It covers The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, by Ian Johnson. As Lam writes there:

Few human endeavors are as deep and primordial as religion and few countries are as vast and multifaceted as China. Religion in China is, not surprisingly, a tricky beast to have even a basic understanding of without resorting to Western categories or long-established tropes.

He rightly emphasizes that loaded Western vocabulary (including the very word “religion”) is not helpful for surveying the explosion of faith in China due to complex historical and present-day factors. “Instead, it is much more useful to ask people how they act, or whether they believe in specific ideas.” For example, Johnson notes that people respond much more positively when one speaks of xinyang (信仰)—faith, than zongjiao (宗教)—religion.

As I’ve written about here and there over the years, we see that looking for “religion” can steer us off course when trying to understand Buddhism, even as it is lived and practiced in contemporary lives. Lam points us to some helpful numbers:

We know from the 2007 China Spiritual Life Study by Perdue University that 185 million people (roughly 13 per cent of the population) consider themselves Buddhists, with 17.3 million having formal ties to a temple as lay Buddhists (ju shi). A government survey in 2014 noted that there were 33,000 Buddhist temples in China and 500,000 monks and nuns residing in them.

It’s not my area of expertise, but I seem to recall some discussions over the years about how difficult it is to trust even these numbers: China being so large, with so much flux, and with religion (or whatever we want to call it) being such a touchy subject there. In any case, this book surely just scratches the surface of what to me is an increasingly fascinating and bewildering topic: Buddhism in China.

Luckily, Buddhistdoor has an entire section dedicated to ongoing discussions of Buddhism in the People’s Republic…

Second, an analysis of Chinese political “soft power” in Africa.

It makes China look like the new (or emerging) colonial power of the world. On the political and economic fronts, so much can happen. They could solidify a global footprint that ensures steady growth for decades to come. They could over-stretch themselves and/or wear out their welcome in many of these countries and need to retreat. They could, in perhaps 20, 30, or 50 years, establish themselves as the new global superpower, at least in terms of sheer economic reach.

However, of interest along the way will be Buddhism. Will Buddhist teachers follow the merchants and trade routes of the new Belt and Road Initiative and beyond? Could the expansion of China we are seeing now in fact be the groundwork for the greatest expansion of Buddhism that any of us have seen in our lifetimes?

I’ll end with one of the concluding remarks I gave in my HKU graduate course on Buddhism and Contemporary Society this week. I am coming here with a background steeped in Western and particularly N. American Buddhism. And, as America is a major ‘exporter of culture’, influencing trends around the world, it makes sense for us, even in Hong Kong, to spend a little time focusing directly on Buddhism in America. I pointed to Diana Eck’s excellent book on A New Religious America, which I wrote about a couple years ago here. In that book she notes, “We are astonished to learn that Los Angeles is the most complex Buddhist city in the world…”

However, looking out into my classroom of 70 or so students I saw two E. Asian nuns on one side, two or three Theravadin monks on another, not far from two Tibetan monks, and (quite likely at least) lay practitioners spanning the adult age range and likely numerous traditions and approaches. So in that moment I said, “who knows, perhaps Hong Kong is every bit as complex a Buddhist city as Los Angeles.”

Perhaps HK, especially with the Buddhist vitality of China and South and S.E. Asia nearby, is the place to look for the future of Buddhism in the world, much more so than in N. America or Europe.

Do you find benefit in this writing?
Please support independent coverage of Buddhism and join a community of patrons here.

Previous Post

September 5, 2018

Buddhist economics: further resources

Next Post

September 11, 2018 #MeTooGuru group, survivors of abusive Buddhist teachers, would like to meet Dalai Lama in Europe (petition)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Activism American Buddhism Art Book review Buddhism Buddhism Today Buddhist Ethics Burma/Myanmar China Christianity Commodification Environment Gender Happiness Health Humor India Interfaith Islam Japanese Buddhism Kant Media / News Meditation mindfulness Photography Poetry Politics quicktakes Running Teaching Technology Thailand Theism/Atheism Theravada Tibet Tibetan Buddhism Travels Uncategorized Unitarian Universalism video Western Philosophy Zen

Select a Month June 2021 January 2021 November 2020 August 2020 July 2020 March 2020 January 2020 October 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 November 2004 September 2004 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz