Buddhism and Its Trust Networks between Taiwan, Malaysia, and the United States

Through the notion of “spiritual capital,” this article attempts to shed

light on the dynamic processes through which religion creates, bolsters, and

replaces trust in the kaleidoscope of social networks. Spiritual capital here

refers to assets in religion-facilitated social networks. By facilitation, I mean

both symbolic systems (e.g., doctrine, concepts) for meaning-making and

pragmatic goods (e.g., a meeting place, a membership directory) for maintenance.

Spiritual capital can be material and calculable goods as emphasized

by the rational-choice school of social capital theorists: for example,

“investment in social relations with expected returns” such as upward social

mobility. Spiritual capital can also be symbolic goods as emphasized by the

Bourdieuian social capital theorists: for example, knowledge and credentials

derived from education or the position of social strata. While a relatively

large scope on “religious goods” has been shared between the “religious

capital” approach and foe pioneer of Bourdieuian spiritual capital theory¨؛fi

I shall limit my purview to one form of spiritual capital: trust networks. 

I will first give a brief introduction to Tzu Chi’s transnational network. Second, I will briefly analyze early development of its New York division in light of its being facilitated by and embedded in the existing local Buddhist networks. The case of its New York branch is a prelude to the main focus of the paper, the development of the Malacca branch, wherein my ethnography shows a set of intricate and nuanced relationships between Tzu Chi and the local Buddhist networks. Focusing on the role of Buddhism in the relations within a trust network and the actual reciprocity arising from it, 1 will show how spiritual capital can be exchanged with other forms of capital and stand in competition with them. I argue that religion fosters trust networks locally while at foe same time bolstering “thin trust” translocally. In other words, religion bonds at an intra-group level and creates bridges transnationally.