This research project aims at inquiring one of the major features of modern and contemporary Chinese Buddhism, i.e. the vinaya revival (jielü fuxing 戒律復興). In the Chinese Buddhist tradition the term jielü 戒律 refers 1) to monastic discipline (vinaya) as defined in the Indian tripiṭaka; 2) to the so-called māhayāna vinaya (i.e. the Bodhisattvaprātimokṣa inspired by the Brahmājalasūtra); 3) to disciplinary codes and regulations composed in China such as Chan’s “pure regulations” (qinggui 淸規). All these meanings have been inherited to various degrees by modern and contemporary Buddhist monastics in China and Taiwan. The analysis of this so-far nearly unexplored aspect will offer a new perspective on the so-called “Buddhist revivals” of the first and second half of the twentieth century and, thus, on Buddhist modernism.
This three-four year long project will involve an international research team composed by renowned specialists in the field. The team will meet three times(once in Europe and twice in Taiwan) for roundtable discussions and the final public conference (to be held in Taiwan, second half of 2017). The final outcome will be a thematic volume on “Vinaya Revival in TwentiethCentury China and Taiwan”, to be published either as a peer-reviewed book.