In religious conversations, syncretism is often perceived negatively even though it is actually a healthy process. One form of syncretism that emerged in Indonesia is the religion of Tridharma which ...consists of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism. This paper discusses syncretism in the religion of Tridharma in Indonesia. Using a historical approach during the 1970s, this paper is a literature study of two magazines affiliated with the religion of Tridharma, namely the Hikmah Tridharma magazine and the Tjahaja Tri-Dharma magazine. This paper rethinks the concept of syncretism as a dirty word, or at least negative form, to one of neutrality. Considering religion as dynamic, syncretism in the religion of Tridharma or Sam Kauw has been a historical process since the Ming dynasty in Mainland China. The Hikmah Tridharma magazine and the Tjahaja Tri-Dharma magazine during the 1970s illustrate how syncretism in the body of Tridharma religion occurs not only between Buddism, Confucianism, and Daoism but also with Hinduism and group of theosophy. As one element of the dynamics of religious belief, the politics of recognition is important. In Indonesia, the state gave a different attitude to Chinese religions or all things Chinese-affiliated in general during the New Order era, and the era of transition to reform, Gus Dur. This then triggered contestation between Chinese religions themselves in Indonesia, especially between the religion of Tridharma and Confucianism.
This paper takes a fresh look at the global spread of the Chinese–Taiwanese new religious movement Yiguandao (一貫道; the emic transcription is “I-Kuan Tao”) by directing attention to the concrete ...places where transnational connections and interactions actually transpire, i.e., temples, shrines, and other sites of worship. Emically known as “Buddha halls” (fotang 佛堂), these places range from large-scale temple complexes, to small niches of worship in people’s private residences. Yet, they all share the potential of becoming venues of transregional interactions through processes of migration, the circulation of personnel, and local outreach. I argued that we need to take the distinct character of these localities more seriously, in order to fully understand the global networks of Yiguandao groups. Through their specific embeddedness in both local affairs and transnational projects, these temples are not simply local chapters of the (mostly) Taiwanese headquarters, but instead they are “translocalities” or even “portals of globalization”—two concepts developed in migration and global studies to help understand the significance of place in the recent phase of so-called globalization. By exploring Yiguandao temples across the globe, this paper critically evaluated these approaches, and their usefulness for the study of global religions. Empirically, it drew on both print and online material, as well as ethnographic fieldwork conducted by the author in Taiwan, Vienna (Austria), California, South Africa, and Japan from 2016 to 2018.
Chinese kinship, the basis and vital force of Chinese societies, is defined by patrilineal descent; thus, it has an agnatic character. The Chinese kinship system was brought to Southeast Asia by ...Chinese communities in their various diasporic trajectories. Its patriarchal norms have been maintained through various social institutions, under which women were generally peripheral. This article utilizes new materials garnered from fieldwork on women's temples in Singapore to demonstrate how unmarried, widowed, and unattached Chinese women organized themselves and their networks through matricentric religious establishments. Further, they reconfigured, rebuilt, and reorganized their kinships based on religious lineages, dialect groups, and mutual interests rather than blood. Through providing empirical insights into the gendering and religionizing of Chinese kinships in Southeast Asia, this article seeks to address the persistent male bias in studies of Chinese kinship, arguing for the need to consider non-normative family units that center around women and female religious leadership. Many of the religious women concerned were associated with Buddhism in some way; therefore, this article suggests that Buddhist "families" on the ground do not necessarily comply with traditional Buddhist monastic orders. Rather, they have fluid dispositions and diversified natures. The ambivalence that characterized these local forms of Chinese Buddhism enabled women to navigate and negotiate their multiple socioreligious identities and create their own spiritual homes in male-centered Chinese diaspora communities in Southeast Asia.
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In the past two decades, scholars have devoted much attention to the measure of Chinese religions, mainly using the scheme based on denominational affiliation, which is the most common approach to ...religious classification in western societies. However, the denomination-based scheme cannot capture the actual religious life of China. We point out four challenges this scheme encounters in survey research in China: the foreignness of the Chinese term ‘religion’ (Zongjiao); the misconception of denominational affiliation; the inapplicability of compulsory, one-single-choice religion; and the social or political sensitivity of specific religions, especially Protestantism. After critiquing the traditional scheme used to measure Chinese religions, we offer a new approach that addresses its shortcomings. Our revised approach attempts to research belief without using the term ‘religion’, focuses on belief in deities rather than on denominational affiliation, and allows multiple answers to the question about religious beliefs. In order to compare the denomination-based scheme with the deity-based scheme, we conducted experiments in the three waves of the China Family Panel Studies in 2012, 2014, and 2016. Our results show that the deity-based scheme yields more meaningful interpretations and more accuracy in religious classification than the denomination-based scheme in China. This article ends with some suggestions for improving the measurement of Chinese religion in future survey research studies.
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This paper examines a female Yiguandao (一貫道) leader’s lifelong history of practising the faith: Huang Shih-Yen (黃世妍, 1940–), the Elder (qianren 前人) of the subdivision Baoguang Chongzheng (寶光崇正). The ...journey begins with her conversion to Yiguandao and devotion to its religious practices, followed by her assuming leadership of a subdivision and expanding overseas proselytising missions. Female leaders are not uncommon in modern and contemporary Yiguandao; however, Huang presents a different image from that of conventional female leadership in popular Chinese religions. First, unlike most female leaders who refuse marriage, Huang is a wife and mother; she has shouldered both sacred and secular duties. Second, when she gained leadership, her husband, who was also an Elder of Baoguang Chongzheng, followed and assisted her in managing the temple affairs. Third, she was personally and actively involved in missionary outreach rather than being a spiritual mentor. The materials used to investigate Huang’s life history were predominantly oral history and my own participant observations. This paper illustrates that women’s contributions to religious practices may be on par with their male counterparts, but their stories have been overlooked.
Risk preference theory states that religiosity positively correlates with risk aversion. Based on data from the 2018 wave of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study tested risk preference ...theory in the Chinese mainland. A binary logistic regression model was used to empirically test the relationship between risk preference and religious belief. At the same time, a robustness test was carried out using the propensity score-matching method and other datasets, and multinomial logistic regression was conducted to explore the heterogeneity of the relationship between risk preference and religious belief. The results showed that risk-seeking people are more likely to have religious beliefs. The importance of the study lies in the extension of risk preference theory to consideration of religious regulations.
Investigating the factors that influence individual decisions to participate in social health insurance is an essential component of constructing a multi-tiered, comprehensive social health insurance ...system, and religious beliefs may constitute an important potential factor. Utilising data from the China General Social Survey (CGSS), this study has developed a comprehensive explanatory framework encompassing both macro- and micro-level analyses to ascertain the impact of religious beliefs on individual decisions to participate in social health insurance through quantitative methods. The findings indicate that religious beliefs significantly diminish the likelihood of individuals participating in social health insurance, and the influence varies among different types of religions; endogeneity and robustness tests offer robust support for these conclusions. With respect to heterogeneity, the influence of religious beliefs on the decision to participate in social health insurance exhibits differentiation across dimensions such as educational attainment, social trust levels, income levels, and self-rated health statuses. Furthermore, the social interaction effect and the employment opportunity effect are identified as potential mechanisms driving this influence.
This article examines aspects of the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and religion, challenging Western Christian perspectives that warn against playing God and ascribing human and ...God-like characteristics to AI. Instead of a theistic emphasis, East Asian religious perspectives emphasize concern for the potential implications of AI on communities and relationships. This article argues for the inclusion of perspectives from Chinese and Korean traditions in the growing discourse on AI and religion to adequately address the potential social impacts of AI technologies. First, we describe some of the questions and concerns being posed regarding AI and consider how certain normative interpretations of Western Christianity may influence some of these issues. Second, we discuss the contributions of Asian philosophies and religious traditions, which emphasize relationality and fluidity, to provide alternative approaches to AI. Third, we outline the discussion of AI from Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist traditions, which see the cosmos as an interwoven whole and both humans and the cosmos as evolving. Lastly, we introduce the example of digital resurrection (e.g., deadbots) and consider how the philosophical and theological Korean concept of Jeong might refocus our understanding of the potential impacts of this AI technology.
The present study poses a question of whether or not in Chinese history there was an orthodox religion accepted by all strata of society that would last for several thousand years, and gives an ...affirmative answer to this question, arguing that this was Chinese traditional patriarchal religion (Zhongguo zongfaxing chuantong zongjiao 中國宗法性傳統宗教). The core of Chinese traditional patriarchal religion was the worship of heavenly deities and ancestors, followed by the worship of Deities of Land and Grain, the Sun and the Moon, spirits of mountains and rivers and other natural objects and complemented by the worship of other supernatural beings. Chinese traditional patriarchal religion developed a rather stable system of sacrificial practices that included sacrifices to Deities of Heaven and Land, ancestors and other spirits and deities. These sacrificial ceremonies became an important part of traditional customs and rituals of Chinese patriarchal society. They constituted a spiritual force that maintained social and family order and were a source of spiritual comfort for Chinese people. Without gaining a good understanding of Chinese traditional patriarchal religion, it would be difficult to grasp the distinguishing cultural features of the Chinese nation as a whole and to understand the Chinese spirit of many foreign religions that came into and transformed in China.
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