Justin R. Ritzinger, PhD. Food, Family, and Philanthropy: Humanistic Buddhism in a Working-Class Taiwanese Community

Topic: 

Food, Family, and Philanthropy: Humanistic Buddhism in a Working-Class Taiwanese Community

Lecture Abstract:

Vegetarianism is one of the most central practices of contemporary Taiwanese Buddhism. It is almost inconceivable to many followers that one would practice the religion without maintaining a vegetarian diet or at least trying to. Yet Buddhism and food in Taiwan and the Chinese-speaking world are understudied. Most scholarship has focused on the abstention from meat and the ethical and karmic frameworks that support it. But foodways cannot be defined simply by what they exclude. This talk will focus on a case study of a small, working-class lay group, where food plays an especially central role, to look beyond mere abstention from meat to address larger themes in Taiwanese Buddhism as a lived religion.

Speaker Information: 

Justin R. Ritzinger 芮哲 is associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of Miami.