Vol.63 , No.3(2015)199釋 覺〓「宗教的祝祭に関する国家的認知 ： 北魏時代の仏誕祭パレードと現代台湾における仏誕記念式典との比較考察」

(54)

.lournal

ofindian

andBucidhist Studieslk)1.

63,

No.

3,

March

2015

National

Recognition

of

a

Religious

Festival:

Comparing

Buddha's

Birthday

Celebration

Organized

in

[laipei

to

the

Northern

Wei

Buddha's

Binhday

Parade

SHi

Juewei

Festivalsmake up a major

feature

of all religions i)and

human

societies.2) A festival

means tomost

_people

a "special _day

or

_period,

usually

in

memory of a religious event,

with itsown social activities,

food

and ceremonies," or an "organized setof special events,

such as musical _{performances."3)}A religious

festival

_presents

a unique opportunity to_gain

insight

inte

the confluence of religion, culture, and _politics.Among Buddhist

festivals,

Buddha's birthdaystands out as themost

_popular

and most

_public.

When

religious

celebra-tions _go outside thetemple _gates,itisan indicationofwide acceptance ofBuddhism

by

its

host

_populace.

Inthis

_paper,

Ishall compare two significant Buddha's

birthday

celebra-tions:one inantiquity and one

in

recent times.These two circumstances are significant be-cause theheads of state are conspicuously

_present

outside

their

symbols of _power and the

entire capital cityebserved the occasion. By comparing

large-scale

commemoration of

Buddha's

birthday

celebrations held

befbre

the Officeof the

President

in

contemporaxy

[[hipeiwith a city-wide _paradeheldinLuoyang duringtheNorthernWei

Dynasty

(386-534) , thispaper will identifythe factorscritical toindigenousChinesepeople accepting

major

festivals

ofa fbreignreligion.

Background

Buddha7s

birthday

festival

is

the

oldest

international

and extant celebration of the birth

of a

historical

figure.

This

celebration _grew out of necessity. When Buddhism moved out

of itsland of origin, one of the

first

thingsthatmissionaries needed to

do

was toestablish the identityof theirreligion's

fbunder.

Through a _processof social, cultural, and literary

"domestication,"

missionaries transmittedfbreigntextsand

_practices

toa

Chinese

audience after theturnof the

Common

Era.The most

_public

fbrm

of "teaching"

about the Buddha

would be theBuddha's

birthday

_parade.

dur-NationalRecognitionofa ReligiousFestival

(J.

SHi)

(55)

ing

the Northem Wei Dynasty.The

_people

ofLuoyang,

both

indigenous

Chinese

and their

fbreign

conquerors, heldcitywide _paradeson the eighth

day

of the fourthIunarmonth

in-volving theemperor of

Tuoba

IEva

Wei

descent.

According

to

the

Luqyang

_qielanj'i

zawa

th[1eeS'E

(A

record

ofBuddhist

monasteries inLo-yang),

_participants

and _{spectators, of}

both

indigenous

and

fbreign

ethnicities, _partook

in

_{chants, variety shows, and spectacular}

image _precessionsthat

had

evolved over at

least

three

hundred

_yearsinthenation.

The

em-peror

made

flower

offerings toover

1

,OOO Buddha images as theyparadedthrough

his

pal-ace.

This

megaevent took

_place

about 500

_years

afierwhat might

be

considered theoencial entry ofBuddhism

into

China

(when

Emperor

Ming

llllofthe

Han

Dynasty

commissioned

the

White

Horse

monastery,

China's

first

Buddhist

temple).

When

Chinese

monastics carried Buddhism to other _partsofAsia, theycontinued the

traditionoftheir

fbrefathers

by

"exporting"

festivities

totheirnew _placesof abode. rllaiwan

was one such recipient.

Daoism

was accepted

by

[Ibiwanresidents

befbre

Buddhism.

Al-though infbrrnationabout Buddhism

in

'faiwan became widely known

during

the

Qing

Dy-nasty

(1616-1911),

it

was only after many Buddhistmonks and nuns

from

the

Chinese

eastem seaboard entered the islandin

1945

4) that

Buddhism

in

'faiwan

took shape. One

such monk was Hsing YUn who

becarne

the

driving

fbrce

behind

national recognition of

Buddha's

birthday

as a

day

ofobservance and annual Buddha's

birthday

_celebrations held

befbre

the

Office

ofthe President,

just

about 500 _yearsafter Buddhism's entry

into

1faiwan.

The milestones were national observance of Buddha's birthday

declared

in

1999 and

cele-brationson theKetagalanBoulevard

involving

_over 100,OeOmembers ofthe _publicin

Tlai-pei

m 2008.

Supply

Side:

Buddhist

Organizational

and

Negotiation

Skills

rlb

identify

the

factors

leadingtoeffective

_public

staging ofa religion's major festival,I

proposetoanalyse

both

thesupply of appropriately-skilled

Buddhists

and

demand

of

gov-ernment _{and public.}

In

both

theNorthem Wei and Taiwanese

instances,

Buddhists

demon-strated theirability tostage megaevents safely in_publicspaces through

_years

of successfu1 experience. According tothePV2iishu

ptS

(Book

ofWei),

the

first

threeemperors

(386-451)

of the

Northern

Wei

Dynasty

"on _the

eighth

day

of the

fburth

month . . . used to

mount the

Buddha

images

on carriages and march them throughthewide streets. The

(56)

NationalRecogriitionofa ReligiousFestival

(J.

SHi)

thus _perform acts of veneration."S)

The

Buddhist

templesof the time

had

demonstrated

theirability to organize Buddha's

birthday

_paradesto the satisfaction of the emperors.

[[hese

rituals

took_place

in

the

fbrmer

capital of

Pingcheng

and continued

in

thenew

capi-talof

Luoyang

on a much _granderscale

by

Emperor

Xuanwu

EilSl

(r.

500-5]5) , a

testi-rnonial totheBuddhists'organizational skillsaccumulated over the_years.

While many Buddhist temples were involvedinthe citywide

_parades

jnthe Northern

Wei celebrations, the Taiwanese example was staged

by

twe affiIiated organizations, Fo

Guang

Shan

and Buddha's LightlnternationalAssociation.Their

founder,

Hsing

YUn,

was

no stranger totaking the

Buddha

into

public

spaces. He started hisDhama _prornotion

ac-tivities

in

Ilan

(in

north-eastern

Taiwan)

in

1954.

At

a timewhen such commemorative

events were mainly

held

within temple

_grounds,

Master

Hsing

Ylinstarted citywide

proces-sion of the

Buddha

image ifi1958.That_year,30,OOO

_people

in

thiscity that

had

a total

population

of50,OOO

_participated

ina Buddha's Birthday

parade

stretching 1O

kilometres.

Besidesengaging two-thirdsofthe city's _populationonly

four

_yearsafter hisanival, Hsing

Min

also

invited

students to _paradewith triangular

flags

while

families

transformed their

carts

into

decorated

fioatsincelebration. When _placedinthe context thatsuch

_public

dis-play and _panicipationoccurred under manial

law

(instituted

island-wide

between

1949

and 1987),this_parade was a

bold

statement

by

a _young Buddhist monk

(then

only 31

yearsofage) .

In

201O,PresidentMa Ying-Jeouopenly _praised

Buddhists

fbr

their seculari-sation,entrepreneurial spiritand volunteerism as well as theirorganizational skills,

produc-tivity and ability to engage

the

masses. 6)

Besides

having

atraditionof success, acculturation was also an importantconsideration.

For example,

in

medieval

China,

image

_procession

was a novelty _popularisedby

Bud-dhism.

Buddhists

rode on the

Chinese

custom of

imperial,

cultural and

funerary

proces-sions and the_{generalpublic's}

fascination

with variety shows. The Tuoba Wei peoplewere

also

familiar

with revelries

involving

music and

dance.

Hence, the

_popular

_parades

of

Luoyang were

based

on a

_paradigm

common to

both

the

indigenous

Chinese and their

7)

steppe conquerors.

By

thetimeof modern [faiwan,themode ofcelebration and the ideaef

_public

celebra-tion of birthdays were no

longer

a novelty. However,

public

recognition of thestatus of a religious festivalwas an

issue.

The

[[laiwanese

government only accepted Buddha's

+

NationalRecognitionofa ReligiousFestival

(J,

SHJ)

(57)

protestagainst the

_partial

treatmentof

Buddha's

birthday

compared to

Christmas

(which

was already declareda

_public

day

of observance) since

1957.

When a

_petition

bearing

146,OOOsignatures was _passed

by

207

legislators,8)

Buddha's

birthday

finally

joined

the

birthdaysof EarthGod, Guan Yin,God ofMedicine, Mazu, Guan Gong, Chen Huang, Sun

Ylaitsenas well asJesus

(Christmas)

9)to

become

a

day

ofnational observance.

Obtaining

national and

_public

recognition was an

important

measure of success. A

tradi-tionofmature ski11sat eoordinating similar _publicevents helpedassure theruler or govern-ment thatnational-level

display

of

devotional

fervour

could

be

conducted

in

a safe and

or-derly

manner. Besides

1arge-scale

festival

organizational expenise, Buddhistsalso required

ski1fu1 means tonegotiate various cultural and

_political

hurdles

toacculturate with existing models.'The

Northern

Wei

Buddhists

and their_predecessors

built

on existing _paradigms

while Hsing YUn and contemporary Buddhists_campaigned fbr_{equality of} religious

treat-ment.

Demand

_Side:

Religious

_Merit

and

Nation-wide

Display

of

Solidarity

The

heads

of nation were a visible

_part

of

the

religious event

in

both

instances

under

study.

The

Nonhern

Wei

Emperor

scattered

flowers

outside the

Ch'ang-ho

_palaceiO)while

President

Ma

Ying-Jeou

_prayed

for

national

_prosperity

in

front

of the OMce of the

Presi-dent.

i])Itwas noted that

during

thetimeof

the

_parade

in

the

NQrthem

Wei

Dynasty,

"the

nation

liked

to_pray

for

happiness."

i2)

In

2010,

President

Ma

urged thenation to_practise

the

Three

Acts

of

Goodness

(doing

_good

deeds,

speaking _good vvords and thinking _good

thoughts)and

Five

Harmonies

(being

kind

tooneselC sensitive toone's

family,

_generous

to

friends,

devoted

tosocial

harmony

and committed toworld

_peace).

IlaiwaneseVice

President

Vincent

Siew

supported

Master

Hsing

YUn's

_promotion of

these

values

by

urging

the

_public

to

_practise

these

values tomake theworld a

better

_place

during

the

Buddha's

birthday

celebration of 2011.i3)Not only the

head

of state,

but

also thecitizens made ofi

ferings

before

the

Buddha.

Religious

merit was an obvious reason

fbr

the

_public

_gathering.

At

a timewhen therewas

imminent

danger

of

_garrison

uprising

in

theNorthernWei,the

staging of a

_procession

of apparent

_power

and wealth

held

_political

significance. Over a

thousand Buddha

images

_paraded

towards theemperor toreceive flowerofferingsspoke of celestialendorsement and wamed offany rebellions. i4) HsingYlin'sorchestration ofannual

(58)

NationalRecognitionofa ReligiousFestival

(J.

SHT)

To relieve tense relationships

between

China and 'faiwan, a

Chinese

import

was

_peacefu11y

organized befbrethe TUiwanese _government'ssymbolic headquarters.Speeches

delivered

during

these annual occasions often highlightedthe need

for

social

harmony

and world

peace.

The

well-organized event was a national

display

of cohesion.

The presenceof Buddha

images,

traditionalrituals and chanting, entertaining

perfbr-mances as well as religious and

_political

representatives from around the world signified

how

a religious

festival

could _galvanisea nation and

bring

about social harmony through cultural activities.

The

Buddha's

birthday

celebrations

brought

togetheran

individual's

wish forreligious merit and a nation's displayof solidarity annually.

Conclusion

The study oftwo significant Buddha's

birthday

celebrations separated

by

1,500

_years

re-vealed some

important

considerations

fbr

a

foreign

religion to

become

suMciently accul-turated

fbr

national recognition. A measure of success was thepresenceof

head

of state

in

public

support ofa major religious

festival.

This

_paper

identified

fbur

important

factors

fbr

this

totake

_place.

Buddhistsneeded to

demonstrate

a traditionof success instaging

large-scale events

publicly.

Another

important

consideration was the skilfu1 means exercised

by

infiuentialBuddhiststohybridisetheelements of the commemoration activities or

justify

the _publicobservance of the

festival.

Also

vital was therequirement

fbr

such

1arge-scale

displays

in

capital cities.Hence,thethirdcontributing

factor

was the_{participants'}need

fbr

Buddhistmerit, especially

in

_populous

cities.Finallywere _politicalcircumstances, such as tense situations, that

led

totheneed tounite thenation as well as to

demonstrate

leadership

ability. Insummary, theleadershipof Buddhisttrailblazersand organizations, coupled with

political

and community needs, helped to raise the

_profile

of Buddhism and Buddhists

worldwide through impressiveBuddha's birthdaycelebrations in

_public

spaces.

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1980),108.

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EastAfricanPublishers,

1992),82.

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<Key

words> Buddha's birthday,acculturation, _publicspaces, _parade,national recognition, tradition

of success, skilfu1 means, religious merit