南傳佛教=Theravada Buddhism; 人間佛教=Humanistic Buddhism; 清淨道論=Visuddhi Magga (The Path of Purification); 四念處=The Four Arousings of Mindfulness; 直入大乘=following the Mahayana teachings directly; 隨方毘尼=rules adapted to special circumstances
This paper is a qualitative research based on the personal interview of Ven. Chuan-dao, exploring his observation and evaluation on Theravada Buddhism in Taiwan. He evaluates its advantages and disadvantages from a viewpoint of "Buddhism in a whole" and makes value judgments based on Humanistic Buddhism, a thought proposed by Master Yin-shun. There are four key points in his interview: First, Buddhist schools, including Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, and Japanese Buddhism are diverse and flourishing in contemporary Taiwan. Ven. Chuan-dao holds a positive attitude towards this diversity. Whenever he makes an evaluation on persons or on events, or presents his opinions, he speaks with fair and his remarks are pertinent to the matters. Out of affectionate devotion toward Buddhism and therefore with more demand, he rather makes more critical comments on the performance of Mahayana Buddhism no matter it is about the "inward" self-cultivation or the "outward" behaviour. Second, as for Theravada Buddhist meditation, he applies the discourses of Visuddhi Magga (The Path of Purification) as the basics to compare theory with practice; on the other hand, he puts much emphasis on observing what is going on around him. Third, Ven. Chuan-dao mentions two advantages of Theravada Buddhism spread to Taiwan. One is that it inspires more diverse thought in Buddhism in Taiwan. The other advantage is that the order of practice, beginning from the arousing of mindfulness, is complete and also beneficial to the beginners; but the premise is that the practitioners have to equip themselves first with the right thinking. Both advantages are what Ven. Chuan-dao thinks the most positive and affirmative, among which the thought of Master Yin-shun is reflected: Fourth, as for the disadvantages of Theravada Buddhism, Ven. Chuan-dao stresses that “having a renouncing vow is not necessarily required,” according to understanding of “Humanistic Buddhism” (following the Mahayana teachings directly and vinaya/rules more important than fundamentality). He praises the altruism, which also means following the Mahayana teachings directly, and according to the spirit of rules adapted to special circumstances, he criticizes the formalism and the tradition of kappiya (lay attendant) in Theravada Buddhism.
