Date and time：May 9, 2023, 11am Paris (5pm Taiwan)
Organizer： INALCO
The number of mainland Chinese of traditional college age that are studying overseas in undergraduate programs has increased significantly over the last decade. Moreover, in spite of new restrictions from Trump administration policies and the COVID pandemic, the United States remains the favored destination for many of these students. Existing scholarship has explored how American-based Chinese Christian groups often attempt to convert these overseas students. However, my research suggests that they are also recruited by transnational Buddhist groups, mostly coming from Taiwan.
While Buddhists suffer less stigma in China than Christians, Buddhist teachings and practices are still largely invisible to many urban Chinese, who live in a highly secularized environment. As a result, overseas Chinese students may experience Chinese forms of Buddhism for the very first time in the United States. Buddhism becomes attractive to these students by offering culture-specific psychological support, a fellowship of Mandarin-speaking people their own age, and an opportunity to explore aspects of their own culture to which they were ignorant.
This paper explores these phenomena by focusing on three Chinese youth who joined meditation centers in Atlanta and Houston operated by the Taiwanese Buddhist organization Chung Tai Shan during their undergraduate years. It will examine how the organization transformed the students’ lives in the United States and influenced them to spread Chung Tai teachings back to mainland China following their graduation. The paper will conclude by exploring the potential for returning overseas students to diversify the Buddhist landscape in mainland China.
