The religious varieties of ethnic presence: a comparison between a Taiwanese immigrant Buddhist temple and an evangelical Christian church

Sociology of Religion, Summer, 2002 by Carolyn Chen

Logically they limit their evangelism to those who can fit into their community -- those who are ethnic-linguistically similar. When asked whether the church should open itself up to those of different ethnic groups, the respondents uniformly replied that while this might be possible with the English-speaking second-generation congregation, this would certainly be impossible and even unnecessary with the immigrant congregation. They reasoned that it was not a matter of active exclusion, but that since they had defined themselves as a Taiwanese and Mandarin speaking community it was impossible to accommodate to other linguistic groups. A typical response is as follows:

It doesn't matter what race you are. If you understand Taiwanese or Mandarin you're welcome. It's not like we can say, 'oh you're from Hong Kong, we have to speak Cantonese for you, or you're Mexican and we have to speak Spanish.' We can't accommodate to all of them. So it's not that we don't welcome them, it's just if they can understand our language they are welcome to come.

To conduct outreach only to a Taiwanese and Mandarin-speaking population does not contradict the universal injunction of Jesus Christ to evangelize to the world. In fact they are being most faithful to this call by strategically evangelizing those with whom, they can most effectively share the Gospel. Ironically, the combination of evangelical mission and linguistically-specific outreach strategies make Grace highly active in the ethnic community. However, these same factors limit it from extending its religious mission to mainstream America.

DHARMA LIGHT TEMPLE: CHARITABLE ENGAGEMENT

Theological Orientation: A Mission of Charity

Despite Weber's categorization of Buddhism as "other-worldly" and withdrawn from the affairs of the world, Dharma Light practices a particular brand of "inner-worldly" Buddhism that it calls "Involved Buddhism," a Buddhism that is highly involved in the human world. Involved Buddhism is the outgrowth of a larger reform movement in Chinese Mahayana Buddhism that was started in China fifty years ago by the monk Venerable Taixu. Where Buddhism in Taiwan was traditionally perceived by the public as superstitious and primarily a medium for praying for the dead, Involved Buddhism is oriented towards individual practice through daily living. Instead of "escaping the world" as Weber claims (1946a: 291), Involved Buddhism teaches that one truly practices Buddhism by living fully in this world. (18) This is evidenced in a saying from Venerable Taixu, "When you become fully human, you will become a Buddha. That is the living meaning of truth." (19)

Underlying the Buddhist practice of charity is a radically different understanding of "salvation" than evangelical Christianity. Buddhists believe that beings operate in a continual cycle of rebirth whereby one's karma, the culmination of one's actions and deeds, determines the form of one's future life. Salvation for the Buddhist is attaining nirvana, or freedom from the karmic cycle of rebirth altogether. In the state of nirvana one is finally liberated from the illusions of the self and its attachments to this world, which are the ultimate causes of suffering. One works towards attaining nirvana by re-orienting one's thoughts and actions. Through practices of meditation and chanting one learns to empty the mind of illusory thoughts. Through acts of self-giving or charity, one loses the illusion of the separateness of the self.