The Spread Of Religion And Of The New Paradigm Of The World

Establishing universities in society by religionists is a very important form of propagating religious ideals.It stands for development of religious belief in society and the religious systematization after the religious belief turns out to be intellectual. It carries on educational functions of propagating religious belief and transforming people and social morale.In the history of world civilization,Christians have long established universities,while Buddhists started to establish universities at the turn of the last century.Be it a religious university or a secular university founded by religionists,Buddhist universities basically are the products established after the Buddhist cultural community was influenced by the modern western civilization.It also shows the modern revolution amidst the crisis of religious belief resulted from the impact of the modern civilization on the traditional Buddhist education in the temple.Modernization is unavoidable to all important religions,including Chinese Buddhism.Buddhism is a universal religion.In addition to succeeding and propagating the traditional belief,it requires adaptation to the modern world,catering to the needs of people,and connecting to the civilian perspective of value so as to be propagated for good.To rise from its stereotype and difficulties,Chinese Buddhism needs to strengthen its Sangha education,employ its resources to social education and to engage in social affairs by establishing universities,and try to establish a new model of systematized Buddhist universities in order to break through the difficulties facing Chinese Buddhism.Establishing Buddhist universities does not aim to upgrade or systematize the current Sangha education,but to cater to the modern needs and make up and create social education which has been long lacking.Since Buddhist universities are not limited to enhance Buddhist colleges,how should we establish Buddhist universities in mainland China in the future? Nowadays,the running and development of the worldwide postsecondary educational institutions which arise out of different Buddhist cultures can be a mirror for establishing Buddhist universities in mainland China.Transplanting the planning and experience of the five Buddhist universities which have been established in Taiwan since 1985 is very important since the culture in Taiwan is quite close to that of mainland China.Therefore,from different angles,this dissertation will focus on the chronological development of Buddhist education in different time periods and examination of the similarities of other Buddhist postsecondary educational institutions outside mainland China.In a broad sense,it covers how worldwide Buddhist postsecondary educational institutions develop,and how Christians have established universities to evangelize their ideals and how they have great impact on Chinese.I also analyze in detail how Buddhists establish secular universities in Taiwan.Then,I theoretically focus on the errors of the policies against religious education,and expound how the policies are out of historical value and meaning and against free from religious freedom advocated by the Institution when they deviate from original political and social backgrounds. Meanwhile,according to the policy to encourage people to establish postsecondary educational institutions,I analyze whether it is suitable for a Buddhist organization to be in charge of a public university,and explore how far can Chinese Buddhists establish universities under the principle of separation of education from religion. Finally,according to the objectives and law of the socialistic education in mainland China,I assess the practical direction of social development.Based on Buddhist moral education and engaged concern for the world,and the long-term development of religion,the focus of this dissertation is on the priority of establishing secular universities of humanities and social sciences in mainland China in accordance with Buddhist educational ideals,and the content of education should be oriented to social education.Establishing Buddhist universities leads to breakthrough of the current confined situation of Buddhism,enables Buddhists to be engaged in social life, enhances social visibility of Buddhism,establishes good Buddhist image,and creates an opportunity for Buddhist development.Based on universities,the rich resources can be employed.By means of helping train teachers and sharing curricula,the universities can help Buddhist colleges to cultivate modern Dharma propagators. Besides,based on universities,the Buddhist social educational Internet focuses on installing peripheral equipments for the purpose of social charity and environmental protection.In addition to providing talent with opportunities to work,it attracts more people to receive Buddhist social education,and the educational functions can be multifarious.In all,it is creative to establish Buddhist universities in mainland China after Buddhism has spread to the east for over two thousand years.It is also a great project for Chinese Mahayana Buddhism,and will be a new model for the Dharma propagation and transforming the world.This dissertation aims to do theoretical research and help establish Buddhist universities in mainland China.