Sacred or Profane? The Compassion Relief Movement’s Transnationalism in Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, and the United States

Abstract

The Buddhist Compassion Relief Foundation (Tzu-Chi or Ciji) is primarily a lay Buddhist movement that focuses on relieving human suffering through secular action. Inspired and led by a Buddhist nun, Compassion Relief is at present the largest formal association in Taiwan, with increasing overseas expansion: in the last decade, Compassion Relief has persistently delivered relief goods to different contents, and overseas Chinese, especially emigrants from Taiwan, have formed branches in 35 countries. Overseas devotees carry out Compassion Relief missions by localising Compassion Relief ’s Buddhist charitable practice in their host societies and by forging and sustaining ties with the headquarters in Taiwan, especially through various forms of so-called ‘homecomings’. To what extent can Compassion Relief ’s overseas expansion be termed a manifestation of Buddhist universalism? To what extent can it be termed a religious-based Taiwan-centred Chinese transnationalism? Based on my field research in Taiwan and among Compassion Relief branches in the United States, Japan and Malaysia, this paper is a preliminary description of the structure of Compassion Relief transnationalism. It will show that this peculiar form of religious transnationalism is global in scope and cultural in form; it is sacred in motif and profane in terms if its practice.