A Study of Dharma Assemblies to Temple Operation, Development, and Functions

• Main Authors: Hsiao,Chao-Han, 蕭朝漢
• Other Authors: Tseng, Kuang-Jung
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/dap2d7

碩士 === 玄奘大學 === 企業管理學系碩士在職專班 === 107 === As a venue for Buddhists’ religious activities, the temple has developed into an independent and complete organizational form and economic system through far-reaching changes in history. In addition to accommodating the Buddhist monks and nuns to self-cultivation internally, it also has promotional and educational functions to public. As far as Buddhists from Chinese regions and overseas Chinese Buddhists are concerned, the main event held by a temple to lead believers is a dharma assembly. Based on changes in the social environment and temporal-space background, dharma assembly events in modern temples have sought reforms of dharma event planning and design, and innovative activities in order to adapt to the more diverse needs of believers. Through the implementation of dharma assemblies, whether the development of dharma assemblies is subject to impacts and influences was explored. In this study, three dimensions including the dharma assembly holding system, environment, and function, were adopted to design the questionnaire survey for statistic analysis and interview outline. The random sampling method was adopted for the questionnaires. 100 questionnaires were distributed targeting believers, of which 96 were effective and underwent statistical analysis. In addition, for the expert interview participants, the temple abbots and supervisors comprised the majority. The interview results were complemented by empirical analysis. The results show that through dharma assembly holding, the temples have not only achieved the dissemination of religious teachings and the implementation of doctrines, and at the same time, with the dharma assembly design planning and execution, the revenues have helped to maintain the temples’ long-term survival and development. The innovative activities and changes in dharma assemblies may serve as an important reference indicator for temples in terms of future temple affairs development and the planning and improvement of dharma assemblies .