台灣高等教育下「佛教教育」的挑戰與展望 ── 以法鼓佛教學系為例=Challenges and Opportunities of Buddhist Higher Education in Taiwan: A Case Study of Department of Buddhist Studies, Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts
台灣現代佛教教育=Taiwan’s modern Buddhist Education; 佛教學=Buddhis Studies; 佛教學系=Department of Buddhist Studies; 法鼓文理學院=Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts; 漢傳佛教= Chinese Buddhism
The topic of this paper is an analysis of “Buddhist education” or “Buddhist Studies” in the context of Taiwan’s Higher Education setting discussing its institutional nature, educational objectives, challenges and potentials. “Buddhist Studies” as an academic field of study was evolved in the West during the 19th century. Since then, it helped to create Buddhist Studies in the East in which the religion largely weaves into the fabric of the belief system of the people. In particular, the 19th-century European Buddhist Studies embedded the Enlightenment’s scientific outlook, was characterized by positivist philology. Henceforth, the issues to be addressed in this paper concern with the impact, changes, and challenges by the Western academic scholarship on the Buddhist education in Taiwan, and, on the other hand, the advantages and potentials the latter could be expected to develop in the context of global Buddhist education. In order to carry out more focused and concrete discussions the analysis will mainly base on the case study of Buddhist Study Department of the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts
