This study takes the transformation of Chiefsun Bodhi Temple in Tainan as the example to, firstly, explore how a chrisma Buddhist leader guides the whole Sangha to transform and develop in accordance to the change of politics, economics, culture in the society; and how the changing Sangha influences Buddhist education, humanist concern, and modern life. Secondly, the study also explains how the swift development of the technology furthers the spread and prevalence of Buddhist education. Thirdly, the study tries to illustrate how the development of the Sangha and the essence of its Buddhist education are closely related to the demand of the society. Lastly, the study tries to exhibit how the Buddhist traditional education passes down with Buddhist modernization.
The study aims to achieve the following four purposes: (1) To understand the history and heritage of Chiefsun Bodhi Temple. (2) To understand how a leader’s viewpoints of culture and education influence the Sangha . (3) To understand how the Sangha practices Buddhism in everyday life in Chiefsun Bodhi Temple. (4) To understand the transformation and development of Chiefsun Bodhi Temple.
Finally, the study concludes the followings three points: (1) The leaders’ different heritages influence how the Sangha develops. (2) To understand the internal and external factors that influence the Sangha to promote humanist concern, including cultural and educational activities, broadcast, compassion relief. Besides, the relationship between the development of the Sangha in different phases and the change of economics, politics, and culture is shown. (3) In terms of how the Sangha interprets the relationship between Zen, Vajrayana vehicles and life as well as what people in modern society want while they believe in Buddhism, the study confirms how the heritage and innovation of Buddhist traditional culture education influence the social education and development of the Buddhism Sangha.
