Abstract
The main goal of this thesis is to discuss the historical development of one of Taiwan’s most renowned vegetarian halls (chai-t’ang 齋堂), the Fu-lin T’ang 福林堂 (Hall of the Blessed Grove), which is located in the city of Hsin-chu 新竹. My research centers on the following two problems: 1) The system of succession (chi-ch’eng chih-tu 繼承制度) among the Hall’s leadership; 2) The Hall’s gradual transformation into a Buddhist sacred site (k’ung-men hua 空門化) during the postwar era. The first part of the thesis describes the history of the Fu-lin T’ang. This sacred site was founded during the eighteenth century, and its original purpose was to serve as a shrine used by Hsin-chu’s Li 李 family for the performance of vegetarian and Buddhist rites. During the first decades of the nineteenth century, the Hall gradually came under control of a vegetarian sect known as the Way of the Former Heaven (Hsien-t’ien Tao 先天道). By the end of that century, most of the vegetarians living at this sacred site were women who had joined the Way of the Former Heaven in order to devote their lives to religious self-cultivation, especially widows and young women who had chosen not to marry. The Fu-lin T’ang thrived during the early stages of Japanese rule over Taiwan, in large part due the efforts of Way of Former Heaven leaders like Huang Yu-chieh 黃玉階 and Huang Chien 黃監, only to suffer a decline in status during the waning years of the colonial era. Under the leadership of Huang Yu-chieh’s disciple Tseng Mu 曾目, the Hall’s fortunes took a turn for the better in the beginning of the postwar era. However, the increasing influence of Buddhism in Taiwan combined with a schism among the Hall’s members eventually led to a bitter succession struggle that came to a head in 2004, and which coincided with the Hall’s transformation into a largely Buddhist sacred site. Subsequent chapters of the thesis focus on different aspects of the Fu-lin T’ang’s historical development. For example, I have been able to collect a great deal of data about the Hall’s economic life, which shows that its income derived largely from donations made by people who chose the reside there, payments for ritual services by members of the local community, and money earned by Hall members who worked making handicrafts. There is also a discussion of succession patterns and their links to adoption practices among the Hall’s members, most of whom had practiced celibacy and had no children of their own. Finally, I consider how Buddhist organizations and the state influenced the Hall’s succession struggles and transformation into a Buddhist sacred site during the postwar era, particularly the roles of the Buddhist Association of the Republic of China (BAROC; Chung-hua min-kuo Fo-chiao hui 中華民國佛教會) and the Hsin-chu Buddhist Association (Hsin-chu Fo-chiao hui 新竹佛教會). The main contribution of this thesis has been to provide a detailed case study of a leading Taiwanese vegetarian hall, with the data collected shedding new light on the social, economic, and religious lives of the men and women who resided in these sacred sites.