Shi Zheng Yan's Dazai jiaoyu 大哉教育 "The Great Lesson of our Times": Eat Vegetarian and Save the World

Abstract

English-language studies of the global humanitarian Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, founded in 1966 by Taiwanese bhikkhunī Shih Cheng Yen, tend to focus on its structure and functions as a non-governmental organization rather than examine the sūtras, ceremonies, and rituals integral to it as well. Tzu Chi’s “Buddhist” identity is thus usually discussed in terms of renjian fojiao, “Humanistic Buddhism.” But to confine study of Tzu Chi within the boundaries of “Humanistic Buddhism” does not provide deeper insights into what kind of “Buddhism” Tzu Chi promotes and practices. To break this impasse, this article explores the “Buddhism” of Tzu Chi through a study of Cheng Yen’s teachings called “The Great Lesson of our Times,” which she presented in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In these lectures, she explains why vegetarianism is the heart of the teaching, inter-related with centuries-old traditions of jiesha, fangsheng (prohibit killing, release life) and husheng, protection of life, and eschatological concerns about mofa,“Age of the Final Dharma,” and collective karma, gongye. In sum, this study responds to Natalie Quli’s call to uncover the limitations and biases of the “Buddhist modernism paradigm” and its tendency to privilege the “new and improved.”