Those who were born and grew up in Taiwan should understand the history of the land.This is already the consensus of most people living in Taiwan. From this, the author thinks that as a Taiwanese Buddhist she has the need to understand the history of Buddhism in Taiwan. Based on this recognition, the author tries to write "The History of Buddhism in Taiwan." First, the author chooses the Buddhism in Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties as the field of research.This is an investigation of the Buddhism in Taiwan from longitudinal side, i.e. the process of time. The other field of research is the Buddhism in the area south to Yantze River and Fuchien. This is a look on the Buddhism in Taiwan on the horizontal side, i.e. the area. In this way one may understand the Buddhism in Taiwan which has a history of 400 years.This paper first intruduces the classification of the period of history by scholars. Secondly, it discusses the introduction of Buddhism into Taiwan and its origin. As regards the introduction of Buddhism into Taiwan, the justification is based on the time of the building of Chu-hsi-szu Monastery and Mito'u-szu Monastery, two of the four large and old monasteries in Taiwan, as well as the story of monk Cha'n Tz'e who came from Fuchien to Taiwan to take charge of the T'chi-shan Lung-hu-yen Monastery and to construct the Bi-yun-szu Monastery and the Ta-shien-szu Monastery. As regards its origin, the material is based on the writings of the japanese and the religio census report by the General Administration during the period of Japanese occupation, thus resulting in the sectarian belongingness and the content of faith of the Ku-shan Yuon-Chuan-szu Monastery and the Huang-po-shan Wan-fu-szu Monastery. Next, the author examines the history and the monk's activities of Kaiyuan-szu Monastery, Fa-hua-szu Monastery and Huang-po-szu Monastery in Ch'ing Dynasty. All these three monasteries were built in Ch'ing Dynasty. However, due to the limit of space, the Huang-po-szu Monastery and the monk's activities are left to be discussed in next paper.
