This article argues that the influence of Buddhism in colleges and universities in Taiwan before the Post-Martial Law can be attributed to the following two sides. On one hand, Buddhism gradually went in colleges and universities as a part of traditional Chinese or Eastern culture with the promotion of traditional Chinese culture, among which Chinese Culture Institute founded by Zhang Qiyun deserved special attention. In the 1960s, Chinese Culture Institute hired Buddhist venerable masters such as Yin Shun to teach in the institute, which became more and more popular later. Then Chinese Culture Institute established Chinese Academic Institute, under which there were many research institutes. Buddhist venerable masters such as Xiao Yun and Sheng Yan have all served as leaders in the research and teaching institutions under Chinese Academic Institute, such as the Research Institute of Buddhist Culture and the Research Institute of Buddhist Studies. It was because these institutions were not acknowledged by the Ministry of Education so that they could exist and keep developing in colleges and universities before the Post-Martial Law of Taiwan in an “informal” way without too much limitations from the government. In this way of “taking actions first, explaining later”, Buddhist tertiary education has explored a new road for development. On the other hand, Buddhist study groups composed of the young and middle-aged in Taiwan's colleges and universities also combined Buddhism in Taiwan with higher education. During the period of Taiwan’s Martial Law, the strict prohibition against doing missionary work in colleges and universities objectively made contributions to an objective and neutral scientific position of the academic research on Buddhism and played a positive role in the accepting process of Buddhist research by higher education. At the same time, it has laid a foundation for the colleges and universities established by the Buddhist circle after the Martial Law, which focus on secular education and recruit students without strict requirements of Buddhist belief.
