Ethical Life in Humanistic Buddhism

Professor James Laidlaw

This is a collaborative project with my colleague, Jonathan Mair. We are conducting research on the Taiwan-based global Buddhist movement, the Fo Guang Shan (Buddha's Light Mountain, 佛光⼭), which is one of a number of reforming and 'modernist' Buddhist movements that are changing the face off Buddhism across the world. We are interested in the distinctive organisational form of Fo Guang Shan, its remarkable liturgical style, its on-going concern with how to adapt its message and practices cross-culturally and to conditions of globalised modernity, and its elaborate and highly reflective focus on ethical cultivation.