Public Religion in Contemporary Taiwan: The Case of Foguangshan and Its Implication towards a Sociological Understanding of Modern Religions

當代台灣的公共宗教：佛光山與現代宗教的社會科理解

陳放(Michael Chan)

《禪與人類文明研究》 1期 (2016/12) Pp. 37-54

摘要

This paper attempts to understand the religious resurgent phenomenon of contemporary Taiwan by examining the modern monastery of Foguangshan under Jose Casanova’s model of public religion. In placing Foguangshan in this model this paper tries to argue that the conclusion made by Casanova from his case studies－that only public religions at the civic level of modern societies are compatible with modern universalistic principles and modern differentiated structures－is also a valid exposition of the way Foguangshan deprivatizes and infiltrates into the Taiwanese public society; but local contingency factors also play significant role in diverting Foguangshan to arrive at this same conclusion along different paths. The similarities and discrepancies of Casanova's model highlighted by Foguangshan's case study provide a glance of the applicability of his model in a different cultural setting, and a viable way for a better understanding of the process of secularization and religious adaptation towards modernization in a Chinese context.

關鍵字

public religion ； secularization ； religious change ； modernization ； Foguangshan

並列摘要

本文試圖從社會及文化角度，對當代佛教組織佛光山及其社會參與現象，作概念化及理論化的分析。本文使用Jose Casanova對公共宗教（public religion）的理論，研究佛光山的社會參與，並嘗試延伸到有關於宗教當代社會學中更廣闊的課題，特別是宗教與世俗之間的界線，以及現代化當下之社會變遷的探討。從對台灣佛光山的個案研究入手，這些課題落實於當代中國脈絡中，作全面性的思考，從而給現有對世俗化和公共宗教的既有理解，展開一回有效性和普遍性的跨文化檢驗。因此，本文的結果不但提供一個對佛光山不同公共層面的社會及文化的深入理解，也進一步加深我們認識及了解台灣特殊的社會及文化歷史、中國文化根源、中國佛教的宗教性，以及關於如何促成中國宗教對現代化過程所作出的獨特的適應與協調。

並列關鍵字

公共宗教 ； 世俗化 ； 宗教變遷 ； 現代化 ； 佛光山