Published twelve years after Handing Down the Light, Fu Zhiying looks back at the impact of Venerable Master Hsing Yun on the development of Buddhism in Bright Star, Luminous Cloud. Filled with bright stories and warm reminiscences, Bright Star, Luminous Cloud forms the narrative of the development of Humanistic Buddhism through the life and times of this innovative figure.

Studies on Humanistic Buddhism III: Glocalization of Buddhism contains articles on the glocalization of Buddhism. Glocalization here refers to the spread of Buddhism globally as it situates itself locally. Buddhism has spread across the world. Concomitant with Buddhism’s globalization is its localization. As Buddhists settle into new environments, there is an acculturation process. Those who bring Buddhist teachings to a new area must adapt to the local society in order to come up with skillful means to impart Buddhist teachings in a manner that is appropriate to the dominant culture, and that empowers locals to carry on the teachings themselves.

This book explores what mindfulness could mean for teachers and educational researchers. Moving beyond popular platitudes about mindfulness, the author provides a conceptual map for understanding the different ways in which mindfulness can be recommended to teachers. Covering the key features of Buddhist, psychological and socially engaged forms of mindfulness, this book critically examines the different ways mindfulness is defined, what problems it is meant to address, and the ways that claims about mindfulness are made. It argues that each approach to mindfulness implies an ideal of what a ‘good teacher’ should be. It will be of interest and value to teacher educators, educational researchers and scholars of mindfulness within education.

Buddhist-Based Universities in the United States: Searching for a New Model in Higher Education investigates in depth four American Buddhist universities, namely, the Dharma Realm Buddhist University, the University of the West, the Soka University of America, and the Naropa University, all of which offer degrees in liberal arts and professional fields, and at the same time educate their students in the philosophy and practices of Buddhism. Buddhist universities in the United States are unique because there are no comparable universities based on the philosophy and practices of other Asian religions also popular in the United States, such as Hinduism, Confucianism, or Sikhism. Even the Jewish community has created only two universities in which professional skills and liberal arts are taught from the position of the moral-philosophical principles of Judaism. This book presents the institutional history and academic programs of four Buddhist universities in America and analyzes Buddhist-based pedagogical principles, as well as teaching and learning techniques, which can be very useful for other colleges and universities in the United States.

This volume focuses on the intersection of religion and media in China, bringing interdisciplinary approaches to bear on the role of religion in the lives of individuals and greater shifts within Chinese society in an increasingly media-saturated environment. With case studies focusing on Mainland China (including Tibet), Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as diasporic Chinese communities outside Asia, contributors consider topics including the historical and ideological roots of media representations of religion, expressions of religious faith online and in social media, state intervention (through both censorship and propaganda), religious institutions’ and communities’ use of various forms of media, and the role of the media in relations between online/offline and local/diaspora communities. Chapters engage with the major religious traditions practiced in contemporary China, namely Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam, and new religious movements. Religion and the Media in China serves as a critical survey of case studies and suggests theoretical and methodological tools for a thorough and systematic study of religion in modern China. Contributors to the volume include historians of religion, sinologists, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, and media and communication scholars. The critical theories that contributors develop around key concepts in religion—such as authority, community, church, ethics, pilgrimage, ritual, text, and practice—contribute to advancing the emerging field of religion and media studies.

This book presents a multi-sited ethnographic study of the global development of the Taiwanese Buddhist order Fo Guang Shan. It explores the order’s modern Buddhist social engagements by examining three globally dispersed field sites: Los Angeles in the United States of America, Bronkhorstspruit in South Africa, and Yixing in the People’s Republic of China. The data collected at these field sites is embedded within the context of broader theoretical discussions on Buddhism, modernity, globalization, and the nation-state. By examining how one particular modern Buddhist religiosity that developed in a specific place moves into a global context, the book provides a fresh view of what constitutes both modern and contemporary Buddhism while also exploring the social, cultural, and religious fabrics that underlie the spatial configurations of globalization.