The Study Of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s Engaged Buddhism And Its International Buddhist Exchange

Zen Master Thích Nh?t H?nh,the founder of Plum Village Monastery in France,has coined the term “Engaged Buddhism” and spent most of his life seeking ways to apply the thoughts of engaged Buddhism into discussion and situations which religions,academia,and thinkers pay attention to.Zen Master Thích Nh?t H?nh entered monastery during Vietnam wartime,and vowed to dedicate his whole life to Buddhism.Zen Master Thích Nh?t H?nh who has gone through various trials and hardships understands that Buddha’s life is to care the beings.Ever since,the wisdom and compassion of Buddha has established Zen Master Thích Nh?t H?nh’s faith in Buddhism,which further lights up the ambition of spreading the thoughts of engaged Buddhism to the world.Engaged Buddhism is a way of connecting the authentic Buddhist practice with social action.Taking four Establishments of mindfulness,noble eightfold paths,principal and subsidiary causes as the core idea,following by meditation and mindfulness practice,Thi?n S? Nh?t H?nh has outlined fourteen precepts of engaged Buddhism.The aim of the fourteen precepts is to provide an opportunity for individuals to introspect themselves and make improvement.Zen Master Thích Nh?t H?nh has spent decades giving talks and organizing meditation as well as mindfulness activities.As Zen Master Thích Nh?t H?nh and his fellow monks frequently get in touch and exchange views with the global Buddhist community,especially with Chinese Buddhism,the bonding and cooperation within them were enhanced.Compared to Humanistic Buddhism,which is well known as propagated by Master Hsing Yun,less research has done on Engaged Buddhism although both Humanistic Buddhism and Engaged Buddhism have the same aspiration to spread the wisdom and compassion of Buddha to everyone.Thus,this study will mainly focus on Engaged Buddhism thoughts and its international communication and influence.As the core idea of Zen Master Thích Nh?t H?nh’s engaged Buddhism is based on Lin Ji school’s thoughts,further attention and discussion should be given to the transformation of Zen Master Thích Nh?t H?nh from LinJi school’s thoughts to Engaged Buddhism.In this study,Humanistic Buddhism which is well known as propagated by Master Hsing Yun was used to compare and contrast with Engaged Buddhism.This study also cited problems Engaged Buddhism encountered when exchanging views internationally as well as correspondent solutions,thereby showing the global impact of Zen Master Thích Nh?t H?nh’s Engaged Buddhism with its traits and ways of transmission,which will then give a better understanding of the development of Buddhism in this century.