This case study of female believers of the Buddhist Tzuchi MeritAssociation examines how Buddhist teachings and group practices influenceconcepts about and usage of the body, how the body works to embody beliefs, andhow actions serve to reconstruct life views and interpersonal relations. On theone hand, this paper presents narratives of the body by the leader of Tzuchi,Master Cheng Yen, and her followers. On the other hand, this paper deciphersbodily actions as a language that express individual and collectiveconsciousness in such a powerful way as to be beyond words, potentially change awoman's life history, and her gender consciousness. In particular, this paperfinds that Tzuchi female commissioners enter the religious domain by expandingupon already familiar domestic role experiences. In traditional families, their'social body' is used to raise children where labor is prominent and powerrelations are 'males are superior, females inferior.' Nevertheless, Tzuchivolunteer groups do not duplicate the engendered powe relations in domesticlife. This is partly because Buddhist doctrine adheres to a 'deconstructive'view of the body as flimsy and unstable, and partly because hospital volunteerpraxis adhere to the Buddhist ideal of 'all beings are equal.' Thus, Tzuchivolunteer groups tend to degenderize human relations and to contest genderdifferences. When the body is engaged for moral cultivation and bodily actionsserve to highlight ethical learning, the female body is converted into a sacredsite for 'leading a Bodhisatta's way.' This body can be managed by self-will andneed not be defined by secular social roles. By virtue of ritual beliefs andpractices that build up 'sacred solidarity' between members of volunteer groups,this body elicits meanings beyond gender. The coexistence of 'the religiousbody' and 'the social body' demonstrates a subtle body politics thatreconstructs gender ideas and images.
