[6] The Buddhist Youth Association for example was steered by Ōishi Kendō, the chief of the Taiwan branch of the Sōtō School.

[7] Jones (1999), 36.

[8] The four most famous were: Shanhui (1881-1945), Benyuan (1883-1946), Jueli (1881-1993), and Yongding (1877- 1939).

[9] There are said to have been 789 monks 1919, and more than 2000 in 1950 (Günzel (1998), 20).

[10] The most famous and influential of them was of course Yinshun (1906*). On him and Taixu see the final part of this paper.

[11] Diary records of Ven. Daoan as cited in Yang (1991), 35.

[12] There are no reliable statistics as to the number of temples. Lan Jifu (Lan (1991), 23) mentions 850 temples in 1960 compared to 4020 in 1990. Wang Shunmin (Wang (1995), 322) has counted 1264 temples for the year 1977 and 2060 for 1993.

[13] Christian missionaries of all sects had started proselytising in Taiwan right after the retrocession and are extremely active until today. The role of the Christian “other” in the development of 20th Buddhism is often understated. The trend towards a socially engaged Buddhism, usually attributed to Buddhist thinkers like Taixu or Yinshun (s.b.), is also in part, an adoption of Christian missionary methods.

[14] There are clear parallels between the situation in Taiwan and Korea. The Korean Sangha too successfully restored its former Vinaya practices after the Japanese capitulation (though, it seems with more difficulty than in Taiwan).

[15] For the first see Günzel (1998), Ch.3, for the latter Ch.4 and here below.

[16] Ven. Dongchu as cited in Yang (1991,5).

[17] I follow Welch’s translation (1967), 261-281. Cf. Günzel (1998), 38-45. It is called “hereditary” because temple assets are in fact inherited and controlled by a strictly defined group. This differed from the large so-called conglin-temples that belonged to the Sangha as a whole. In the conglin system ideally the abbots were elected. One could not enter the order by way of a tidu-ordination to prevent the development of relationships, as they existed in a hereditary temple.

[18] It seems no one has done this so far. The printed version of the Annual Statistical Yearbook of the Interior does not give a figure at all. While from time to time one hears figures of up to 30000, the upper limit of 17000 for 1999 based on the ordination figures is actually the only hard number we have.

[19] To calculate the number of nuns and monks more accurately one would have to account for the following unknowns: monastics who died before 1999, monastics who returned to lay-life, and the few monastics who were ordained outside Taiwan. In the early fifties before the BAROC ordinations there were an estimated 2000 monks and nuns on Taiwan (not including the Zhaijiao nuns). The population of Taiwan is c.22 Mill.

[20] There have been several studies in English of the topic. Chern (2000) and Li (2000) are the most recent.

[21] Until 1986 c. 9000 nuns and monks were ordained, compared to c. 17000 in 1999.

[22] Lee, by now (Dec 2001), of course has left this party and founded his own group.

[23] This is not peculiar to Foguang Shan, but common practice in many Buddhist temples in Eastern Buddhism.

[24] Chern (2000), 118.

[25] This and the next figure see Günzel (1998), 119 n.

[26] According to their own website (http//blia.org). This is up from 63 centres in 1996 (Günzel (1998), 119n). The headquarters of Buddha’s Light International are in the large Hsi-lai temple near San Francisco.

[27] There is a recent dissertation (Chandler (2000)) on Foguang Shan’s attempt to globalisation.

[28] Presently (2002) their website (http//www.ctworld.org.tw) has no English page, and, though nicely designed, is not very informative.

[29] In English there is Huang (2001) and Ting (1997).

[30] As of 1994 Ciji had 3,5 Million members (Jones (1999), 208).

[31] See http//www/izuchi.org (Dec.2001) for more information.

[32] Chern (2000), 119.

[33] The ambitious plan is outlined on the their Chinese website (http://www.ddm.org.tw).

[34] The first symposium on Tibetan Buddhism in