Description
Title: "From xue 學 to jiaoyu 教育: Conceptual understanding of ‘study’ and ‘education’ in modern Chinese Buddhism" Abstract: The history of Buddhist Sangha education in China is a multifaceted domain that includes shifts from translation and exegetical reading to the study of secular subjects, from individual lecturing to structured multi-year curricula, from monastery-based private schools to a system of academies built under an overall national Buddhist association. Those shifts and continuities in the historical development of Buddhist education are result of the diachronic inner evolution within Chinese Buddhism, but also need to be addressed through the analysis of the synchronic interaction between Buddhist communities and the education practices of the other religious groups in China, and of the exchanges between Chinese Buddhists and other non-Chinese Buddhist worlds. Finally, the domain of Buddhist education in China has experienced the intervention of non-Buddhist laity in defining teaching projects for the monastic community, and at the same time the engagement of Buddhist groups in social service through the establishment of schools and alternative educational programs for the larger society. The shifts in education systems and policies have also implied a reshaping of the social role that those religious specialists are asked to play. The changes in institutions, policies, and curricula have been paralleled by the revisions of terms used to label the various elements in the education sector. This paper will propose a parallel and critical analysis of the transformations in education policies and the history of the ideas of learning, education, and pedagogy though the study of different conceptual terms – such as xue 學 and jiaoyu 教育 – and institution names – such as xueshe 學社, xuetang 學堂, foxueyuan 佛學院 – that are found in the Chinese Buddhist context. Those concepts will be defined in their historical significance and explored in their religious implication. Most of the paper will address the changes of the conceptual and institutional naming that took place in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in China and Taiwan, underline the Buddhist and secular factors that led to such naming, and question the effects of the renewed concepts on religious practice. The paper will end with methodological suggestions for advancing the study of religious education, and will propose the study of actors in networks as a new leading path.| Period | 11-Dec-2015 |
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| Event title | CCKF and KNAW International Conference 'Framing the Study of Religion in Modern China and Taiwan': Concepts, Methods and New Research Paths |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Groningen, NetherlandsShow on map |