Dr. Wei-Yi Cheng - Migration, Mahayana, and Buddhist Mobility: Vietnamese Buddhism in Taiwan

Modern and Contemporary Buddhist Encounters in the Southern Sinosphere

Institute for the Study of Humanistic Buddhism (ISHB), University of the West

Dr. Wei-Yi Cheng - Fo Guang University

This presentation will focus on the development and charasteristics of Vietnamese Buddhism in Taiwan. While most studies on migration and Buddhism focus on Asian migration to the the Western countries, Inner-Asian migration itself has been extremly vibrant. However, there is a shortcoming of research on the subject. Following the flows of Vietnamese migration, Vietnamese Buddhism too has developed transnationally and in the course was introduced to places that already host native forms of Buddhism. Although Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhism shares many charasteristics with the Chinese Mahayana Buddhism tradition in Taiwan, there are also many differences. In this presentation, she will introduce the recent development of Vietnamese migration and Buddhist transmission to Taiwan. Utilizing recent fieldwork data, she will consider the example of the Yu Lan festival to discuss different renderings and functions of the ritual within the Vietnamese Buddhist community in Taiwan.

Dr. Cheng obtained her Ph.D. degree from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She is currently the associate professor and the Chair of Department of Buddhist Studies, Fo Guang University. Her main research interest is on contemporary Buddhism and gender. In recent years, she has focused her studies on transnational Buddhism, focusing on Sri Lankan Theravada and Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhism in Taiwan.