The Buddhist Clubs of Universities and colleges are the frontlines that introduce Buddhism to university and college youth and promote Buddhism youthfulness. Zhou Xuan-De is a person with the greatest foresight and is the most important promoter contributing to the success of the “College youth Buddhism learning movement”. In 1960, Zhou Xuan-De led the university students in Taiwan to independently set up Taiwan’s first “Buddhist club” (NTU Sunrise Club) and promoted the setup in other universities and colleges. Later, with Taiwan’s economic growth and gradual opening up of the society in the 1980s and 1990s, many Buddhist monasteries began to set foot in universities and colleges, funding and establishing the “Manda Buddhist Club”. During this period, whether the various activities organized by Buddhist clubs or manda clubs or the Buddhist publications, all of them have a major influence on Taiwan’s Buddhism development. The main discussion in this paper does not involve Buddhist universities or secular universities but targets the five stages of “opportunities” arising from the prosperity and downturn of “Buddhist clubs” set up in colleges and universities in Taiwan that are recognized by the Ministry of Education. From development background, operation mode, to continuing existence function, and other aspects, the correlations and differences between “student Buddhist clubs” and “manda Buddhist clubs” were compared. Through field interviews, the value of the function and continuing existence of “Buddhist clubs” under the changing circumstances of the pluralistic society and network culture prosperity were explored.
