Humanistic Buddhism

Humanistic Buddhism (Chinese: 人間佛教; pinyin: rénjiān fójiào) is a modern philosophy practiced by Buddhist groups originating from Chinese Buddhism which places an emphasis on integrating Buddhist practices into everyday life and shifting the focus of ritual from the dead to the living.

[1] Humanistic Buddhism integrates Buddhist practices into everyday life based on the nature of Sakyamuni Buddha achieving Buddhahood while bound in an earthly form.

Humanistic Buddhism is based on six core concepts, namely humanism, altruism, spiritual practices as part of daily life, joyfulness, timeliness and the universality of saving all beings.

From these principles, the aim of humanistic Buddhism is to reconnect Buddhist practice with the ordinary and places emphasis on caring for the material world, not solely concerned with achieving delivery from it.

These four figures, collectively known as the Four Heavenly Kings of Taiwanese Buddhism, head the Four Great Mountains, or monasteries, of Taiwanese Buddhism and Buddhist new religious movements, namely Fo Guang Shan, Dharma Drum Mountain, Chung Tai Shan and Tzu Chi.

Fo Guang Shan are known for their Recitation Teams, which they send to hospitals and hospice care facilities to assist the dying and their loved ones in performing humanistic Buddhist ritual practice.

[7] Hsing Yun (1927–2023) was widely considered a contemporary leader in the humanistic Buddhist movement in Taiwan and was the founder of Fo Guang Shan in the 1960s.

He wrote Rites for Funerals, a work outlining the Dharmic elements of these rituals and reforming them to place emphasis on the living participants and worshipers.

While Hsing Yun did not advocate for women being forced out of workplaces, he cautioned men about the problems that might arise in a household if a woman is not at home to keep things in order.