Xingyun’s Buddhist Environmentalism in the Context of The Contemporary Discourse on Fangsheng 放生

This paper aims to explore Xingyun’s 星雲 (1927–2023)[1]perspective within the contemporary discourse of fangsheng放生 (literally ’life release’), a widely practiced Buddhist ritual in Taiwan. A primary focus of the study is to demonstrate Xingyun’s Buddhist environmental philosophy in context of the ritual, as well as his ideology of life protection (husheng護生) being superior to fangsheng in terms of Buddhist environmentalism. Fangsheng refers to the popular Buddhist ritual of buying captured animals and releasing them at a designated ritual site with the purpose of earning spiritual merit. While it is a common religious practice in Chinese-speaking Buddhist communities, and in other East Asian countries, in recent decades fangsheng has received criticism for the dangers it might impose on ecosystems by the release of potentially non-native, invasive species. In turn, this criticism has created a discourse around its ecological impact as well as its religious legitimacy in Taiwanese Buddhism. To provide a solid foundation for this discussion, this paper first briefly introduces the history and development of the fangsheng ritual. After establishing the historical background of fangsheng practice, the discussion continues by examining its contemporary discourse, paying particular attention to the reasons why the ritual has been criticised for its ecologically negative impact. As the dialogue surrounding fangsheng is contemporary, the primary sources utilised for demonstrating the discourses include modern media and news articles as well as comments and speeches recorded from contemporary Buddhist figures of Taiwan. Analysing how different modern Buddhist leaders in Taiwan respond to criticism contextualised by doctrinal legitimisations, this paper establishes a spectrum of conservative, centrist, and reform narrative responses in the context of fangsheng ritual. Finally, Xingyun’s own perspective is placed within this spectrum, highlighting his role as a reformist and his nuanced approach to the relationship between husheng and fangsheng.