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Tibetan Buddhism gains appeal in Taiwan

In a common room at a Taipei County hospital last week, dozens of parents lined up with their sick children, most of whom suffer from cancer, to receive a blessing from a young Tibetan monk.

The room at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (ªø©°¬ö©ÀÂå°|) in Linkou filled up as still more people gathered. Some gripped conspicuous red envelopes while waiting patiently in line.

Later, when the group of lamas decided to leave, havoc broke out as some distressed parents claimed their sick children had been overlooked in the blessing ceremony.

Parents of children who had not yet received a blessing began to chase the monks, with some following them all the way to Taipei's Grand Hyatt Hotel where the monks were staying.

The young monk in question was one of the two claimants to be the reincarnated Karmapa -- the religious leader of a Tibetan Buddhist sect named Karma Kagyu -- both of whom visited Taiwan last week.

During the past week, the two masters, who each claim the exclusive right to the title Karmapa and were invited by different Buddhist groups, conducted relief ceremonies for 921 earthquake victims which drew thousands.

"The event marks the speedy development of Tibetan Buddhism in Taiwan," said Chiang Tsan-teng (|¿ÀéÄË), a lecturer of religious studies at National Tsing-Hua University.

Yet some observers think that the rapidly spreading popularity of Tibetan Buddhism is not necessarily good for Taiwan's religious environment.

As a society steeped in the traditions of Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism -- the branch of Buddhism practiced by most Chinese followers, for most of Taiwan's history Tibetan Buddhism has had little social or religious impact.

According to Jigme Rinpoche who visited Taiwan last week, the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism can be traced back 30 years.

But the religion's following began to boom only 10 years ago. "The religion is growing because we have many good lamas," said 17-year-old Thaye Dorje, the Bhutan based claimant to be the Karmapa, on his visit here.

"Many local Buddhists and monks went to Tibet seeking further enlightenment, especially on the question of life and death," said Chen Yu-ting (3¯|t§Ê), director of the Huayu Foundation.

The excitement around Tibetan Buddhism began to heat up with the visit of the Dalai Lama in 1997.

Tibetan Buddhism has a distinct and complete lineage, which is difficult to find in Chinese Buddhism due to the many upheavals throughout history that made preserving documentation of its development impossible, Chen said.

Chen and his father Chen Li-an (3¯¼i|w), president of the foundation and former president of the Control Yuan, have been trying to popularize Tibetan Buddhism since 1996, the year Chen Li-an lost his independent bid in the presidential election.

Celebrities have helped popularize Tibetan Buddhism in Taiwan, Chiang said.

After the Dalai Lama visited Taiwan, Tibetan Buddhism has been extremely popular, Chiang said.

"The endorsement of politicians and powerful people gave Tibetan Buddhism a great boost. Among the celebrities are Chen Li-an and his family, Huang Chao-song (¶À»FªQ), president of the China Times and Ting Nai-chu (?B?DªÇ), a well-known actress.

Since the Dalai Lama's visit, many Taiwanese have converted from Mahayana Buddhism to the Tibetan variety, Chiang said.

According to Chiang, in Taipei alone, there are at least 200 Tibetan Buddhism centers in Taiwan.

The year after the Dalai Lama's visit, the China Times Group held a six-month exhibition on instruments and antiques of Tibetan Buddhism.

The exhibition attracted more than 200,000 viewers, including President Lee Teng-hui (§õµn½÷), James Soong (§º·¡·ì) and John Chang (31§µÄY).

Chiang said the media has played a key role in promoting the mystique and exoticism of Tibetan Buddhism in Taiwan.

According to statistics from the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, there are more than 500,000 Tibetan Buddhists in Taiwan.

Every year, over 1,000 Tibetan monks visit and preach in Taiwan. But there are not many local Tibetan Buddhism monasteries, nor local lamas.

According to Lopon Rinpoche, abbot of the Tainan Karma Kargyu Temple, there are less than five temples in Taiwan and fewer than 100 Lamas.

Joseph Chen (3¯µ^´I), a Tibetan Buddhism researcher and deputy chief editor of the China Times, said Taiwan has been a chaotic society where people actively seek spiritual guidance. Generally, Taiwanese are susceptible to many kinds of beliefs and people seem eager to accept Tibetan Buddhism, he said.

A saying that Taiwanese worship anything seems to explain the phenomena, Chen said.

"From one perspective, people's willingness to adopt Tibetan Buddhism suggests Taiwan is a liberal society in matters of religion, but on the other hand, it also suggests that the spiritual minds of Taiwanese are very fragile and immature," Chiang said.

Echoing Chiang, Chen said, Taiwanese followers tend to worship masters without verifying the authenticity of those masters.

Furthermore, Tibetan monks too often comply with their Taiwanese followers' wishes to conduct numerous blessing rituals, Chiang said.

As a result, blessing rituals are often emphasized over the basic two lessons of reading scriptures and meditation practices,Chen said.

Contributions to support temples or monasteries is part of the Buddhist tradition, but Taiwanese followers seem to overemphasize this part, Chen said.

People tend to believe donations will be rewarded with good fortune which allows some temples to amass considerable wealth.

"Some Lamas even charge for a blessing ritual. And there have been many cases of `fakes' deceiving innocent followers," he said.

Even the visiting Tibetan Lamas noticed the questionable credentials of some Lamas in Taiwan. "Here we found many monks claiming to be a Rinpoche, but we have never heard of them, nor have we formally recognized them," Tenam Lama, secretary of Tai Situpa Rinpoche, said during his visit.
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