Research on the history of Buddhism in Taiwan can be approached from different angles. For example, it can be studied from Buddhist figures, Buddhist temples, or in conjunction with figures and temples; it can also be started from the ways of practicing and spreading the Dharma of different practitioners. Of course, women in Taiwanese Buddhism can also be viewed from the perspective of gender, and the basic structure of Taiwanese Buddhism can be viewed from the structure of Buddhist groups. This article attempts to examine Taiwanese Buddhism after the war through the interaction between figures in the Buddhist world initiated by “human relationships”. Because “people” are the driving force behind the development of history, the basic trend of Buddhism in Taiwan is also promoted by people in Buddhism, and it is the axis that affects how Buddhism works. The basic assumption of this article is that there is a hidden clue in the development of Taiwan’s Buddhist history after the war, which is both internal and the most fundamental; and this clue is the intricate interpersonal relationship between Taiwanese Buddhism. The author preliminarily concludes that the interpersonal relationships (types of friendship) of Buddhist figures in Taiwan after the war can be summarized as follows: looking at the relationship between Buddhist figures in Taiwan after the war from the perspective of “friendship with fellow villagers”, the relationship between master and apprentice from the “shaven”, from the ordination (the same “Friendship of Precepts”), observation of Taiwanese Buddhism from the perspective of “teacher-student friendship”, and Taiwanese Buddhism from the perspective of “faculty transmission”. I hope that through the analysis of this article, it can provide us with some understanding of the development of Taiwanese Buddhism after the war.
