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lay people. However, in the realm of spiritual practice, monastics In the late Ching dynasty, Buddhism gradually declined in
are not regarded as more superior than lay people. In the words of China. At this critical period, it was the initiative of some lay
Venerable Yin Shun, “monastics and lay laity differ only in form, Buddhists who brought about a revival of Buddhism. These lay
they are in essence the same.” Buddhists established centers to print and distribute Buddhist
scriptures, and created an awakening amongst intellectuals to learn
The above analysis shows that lay Buddhists are an integral the Buddha’s teachings. Amongst them was Yang Ren-San, who
part of Buddhism just like the monastics. They are regarded as the was proclaimed as the father of Buddhist Revival in China by
two wings of a bird. Both wings must flap together if the bird were Professor Howel of Harvard University. Yang established the Sutra
to fly high; both are equally important. Printing Centre in Nanjing and set up the Buddhist Study Group.
He established a college which produced some outstanding monks,
Importance of Lay Buddhism including Ven. Tai Xu (1890-1947). Thus, the contribution of lay
Buddhism towards the overall development of Buddhism cannot be
i. Uplift the quality of the Sañgha underestimated.
The term “lay Buddhism” would refer to the sum total of Besides, if lay Buddhism is well developed, it will encouraged
activities undertaken by lay Buddhists, including how they organise the Sañgha to improve itself. This is conducive to the overall
into groups, consolidate their strength, and spread the teachings. development of Buddhism.
Lay Buddhism is certainly not a challenge to the Sañgha. On
the contrary, lay Buddhism has an important role to support and ii. Increase human resources
strengthen the Sañgha, and to reaffirm its core position as one of
the Three Jewels. From the perspective of manpower, there is much fewer
monastics compared to the number of lay people. There are 500
Sañgha members, except for a minority who were sent to the million Buddhists in the world today, out of whom only about one
monasteries at birth, are mostly lay Buddhists when they were million are monastics. It would be an insurmountable task if the
young. Even in Theravāda Buddhist countries, where boys were role of developing Buddhism is left entirely to the monastics. For
sent to monasteries for ordination at the age of eight or so, they Buddhism to develop fully, it must mobilise the strength of 500
had lived a lay life under the guardianships of their parents before million people.
ordination. If lay Buddhism were well developed, every child
would understand Buddhism as a lay Buddhist, and would then be Malaysia is a good example. There are about a thousand
attracted to join monkhood later in life, thereby improving both monastics in Malaysia. Buddhism in Malaysia has grown over the
the quantity and quality of the Sañgha. Today, many outstanding years because it did not depend mainly on the monastics. With the
monks in Buddhist countries were previously active lay Buddhists. support and advice of the Sañgha, the lay Buddhist leaders organised
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