Zeng Jing-lai, the indicative figure in the religious field from the Japanese ruling period to the post-war period of Taiwan, is worth more discussion in terms of the contemporary and modern history of Taiwanese Buddhist reform. In his youth, Zeng became the apprentice of Lin De-ling at Lingquan Temple, Yuemei Mountain, Keeling and was cultivated to study in Buddhist High School Lin and in Japan, where he followed Kaiten Nukariya in learning. In 1928, he graduated from Komazawa University, Japan, returned to Taiwan, and devoted himself to the Buddhist career. He was honorably called the “Taiwanese Buddhist scholar with the college degree” and the “Buddhist scholar and famous Buddhist in the mid twentieth century.” Zeng used to be the core member of Nan Ying Buddhist Association, proposing a series of Buddhist reform in the Japanese ruling period. His reform on Taiwanese Buddhist deals mainly with two perspectives: First is to criticize the status quo of Taiwanese Buddhism at that time. Second is to promote the reform of the Taiwanese religious organizations. As for his research on Taiwanese Buddhism and folk believes, he wrote the book, Superstition and Corrupt Practices in Taiwan, in which he reviews the superstition and corrupt practices of Taiwanese religion from the angle of social education and constructs the critical system for the Taiwanese traditional folk religion. Zeng indeed devotes a lot of energy and hard work to the reform and research of Taiwanese Buddhism; therefore, he has his contribution and place in the research of the Taiwanese Buddhism and the development of Taiwanese Buddhist culture in the twentieth century.
