This article discusses Taiwan Buddhist beliefs before 1895 and it quotes sources from Sasaki Sinryo’s field studies and reports of Japanese Buddhist monks (priests) affiliated to the pure land school. Those reports are Chong Jun Shi Li Meng You Tan, Taiwan Jiao Bao, Tsao-tung school Zong Bao and Jing Tu Jiao Bao. It also includes supporting documentaries such as Msutaro Tarou’s Nan Dao Shih Miao Tan Fang Ji and Li Tian Chun’s Taiwan Fo Jiao de Te Jhih and Taiwan Zong Jiao Bao Jao Shu. In addition, I will discuss the phenomena of Buddhist temples that operated without monks as well as the education levels and religious lives of monks during the Chin Dynasty era. The discussion of those phenomena aims to understand the true condition and culture of Taiwan Buddhism, which was confined within Fujian province before 1895. Regressions in the development of Buddhism in this area resulted in the most Taiwanese Buddhist monks being illiterate. As a result, many Buddhist believers practiced their faith without receiving practical or academic instruction in the study of Buddhism. This condition attracted lots of Japanese monks to Taiwan. First those who arrived with the Japanese military and later other sects of Buddhist monks as word of the deteriorating condition of Buddhism in this area spread. At that time temples affiliated to the Taiwan Buddhist society were always short of monks but they were still havens for Taiwanese monks during Japanese colonial times and remain so today, especially Kai Yung temple. It can be said that Kai Yuan Temple is the “cradle of Taiwanese Buddhism”. Chao Fong and Chou Chi Temples, whether in Japanese colonial times or today, have trained many incredible monks who became the pillars of Taiwan Buddhism. They certainly deserve our attention.
