The Ksitigarbha-Pranidhana Temple by Dong Nien is a work highly valued in the contemporary Taiwan Buddhist literature. The author describes the Buddhist’s mechanism of enlightenment through the life experience of the protagonist. He proposed his opinion of Bodhisattva belief and criticized the secularized phenomenon of Taiwan Buddhists in primitive Buddhist viewpoint. This paper investigates the novel from Buddhist viewpoint. It roughly analyzes the narration and protagonists of the novel, and then discusses the following topics: First, how does the author clarify the meaning and goal of a pious life through the protagonist’s life experience; and how do the intellectuals’ morality and self-rigid can obstruct the studying of Buddhism. Second, the author denies magical power and advocates practicing the pious life self-reliantly; He thought that the most important thing of a pious life is to engage in self-examination, not to rely on magical salvation, thus giving a new interpretation of the Bodhisattva. Third, without interrupting the plot, is it any meaning or function for the writing skill of applying Buddhist scriptures into a novel? Dong Nien criticized the secularized phenomenon of contemporary Taiwan Buddhist and worried about the utilitarian followers who do not try to understand Buddhist doctrine thoroughly. This is the fourth key point which this paper discusses.
