The Diversity of Malaysian Chinese Buddism 马来西亚华人佛教多元性之形成

Abstract

Whenever “Chinese Buddhism†is mentioned, people will certainly relate it to the “Buddhism from Chinaâ€. However, this is not the case among the Malaysian Chinese Buddhism. Thus, it indicates that the Buddhism embraced by Chinese is no longer merely traditional China Buddhism, but also a mixture of other elements. Since Britain colonial times, there was a tide of immigration of mainland Chinese migrated to Malaya. Together with them are their religions including Buddhism. At the early period, Chinese Buddhism that originated from their motherland was still retaining its own characteristics. Later, due to the change of environment during the long-term development, the expansion within Chinese Buddhism entails intercultural contact and acculturation with the other Buddhist traditions, resulting into the changes of Chinese Buddhism at that time. In addition, Malaysia has developed rapidly in different aspects after independence and further increase the diversity of Chinese Buddhism. Besides the external factors, the thought of Buddhism is also one of the critical causes which catalyze the diversity of Chinese Buddhism.

Keywords: Diversity, Chinese Buddhism, China Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism