Fo Guang Shan; translocative flows; Australia; New Zealand; global Buddhism; innovation; Buddha's birthday
摘要
Fo Guang Shan (Fóguāng shān佛光山FGS), a Buddhist movement in the Chinese Mahāyāna tradition,has grown rapidly in the last fifty years to become a global network with nearly 180 branch temples. For almost thirty years, FGS Australia and New Zealand has invested heavily in the annual Buddha’s Birthday Festival (BBF) in the form of weekend-long festivals in public spaces across the region. FGS Australia and New Zealand has served as an incubator, exporter, and importer of innovations to make Buddhism accessible to the public through these festivals. This article maps the flows of such innovations acrossthe Pacific among the headquarters in Taiwan, the branches in Australia and New Zealand, and other regional headquarters. We argue that far from being a passive receiver, Buddhism in FGS Australia and New Zealand is an active participant in such flows. Low-risk, incremental innovations percolate through the branches and are further developed or adapted as skilful means to popularise the Buddha’s teachings according to local contexts. This article also examines some organisational and individual factors involved in balancing tradition and innovation in navigating the plural religious landscape of the region.
