分類: 宗教、倫理、社會

「儒家倫理」作為一種「經濟倫理」，作為一種經濟行為的動力因，這個問題的提問，是源於「韋伯命題」(Weber’s thesis)，即德國社會學家韋伯(Max Weber)的《新教倫理與資本主義精神》(The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism)一書中，對於喀爾文派的入世禁欲基督新教倫理，作為資本主義的資本積累精神的思考。因為，如果「新教倫理」可以是資本主義發展之初的精神基礎；那麼，為何「儒家倫理」不可以是現代中華資本主義的精神基礎？在經濟全球化的今日，「儒家倫理」面對的衝擊為何？「儒家倫理」是否能裨益中華經濟圈的資本積累呢？

我將從經濟社會學的向度討論三個部分：首先，釐清「韋伯命題」的意涵，即針對有利於資本累積的經濟倫理：「新教倫理」的溯源及其發展考察；進而，從比較研究的方法，論證「儒家倫理」作為中華資本主義的精神基礎的可能，以及解析經濟全球化與儒家倫理的資本積累效能關連，最後是結論。

經濟社會學是將重點「放在經濟與社會現象交會的研究」(Trigilia, 2002)。經濟社會學研究的對象可以是「基於綜合社會學的」、「作為邊緣領域或中間領域的」、「作為經濟史或實證研究的」、「作為純粹經濟理論的」、或「作為專門科學的社會學」的經濟社會現象(朱國宏編，1999)。基本上是從經濟學分化出來的一門學術專門。經濟學之父亞當斯密(Adam Smith)時代之後，主流傾向量化，經濟學流失了兩個傳統，一是制度，二是發展，而這兩者，恰好是社會學面對工業革命以來的社會巨變的思考主要重心，於是「經濟社會學」，就是在這樣的聚焦下展開。制度學派經濟學家熊彼德(Schumpeter)認為經濟社會學目的在解釋人們如何表現自己要的行為，而且界定該行為必須是和影響經濟行為相關的制度性力量，如國家、私有財產權或契約。因此經濟社會學的定義是：「在任何時候，人們所產生具備經濟效果的社會行為，其原因是什麼？」(Schumpeter, 1978：34)這個看法的不足之處在於未明示「原因」的面向為何？社會學家韋伯進一步提出，「社會—經濟科學」雖是研究經濟與社會現象的交會，但是過於經濟學的看法會導致著力點集中於探究現代交換經濟的市場，與價格形成的問題；經濟社會學則應該洞察「與經濟關連」，和「受到經濟限制」的社會現象(Weber, 1949)。韋伯所說的「與經濟關連」的社會現象，指的是宗教與政治等非經濟的制度力量；而「受到經濟限制」的社會現象，則超越熊彼德的制度性分析，指向日常社會生活，如美學的或宗教的面向，是如何影響著經濟行為，於是價值或倫理就成為考量人們日常生活的一個向度，這個向度，就是我們研究的對象：「經濟倫理」。

綜上所述，「資本累積」是經濟社會學的經濟效果，而該行為的原因，是不是「新教倫理」呢？ 進一步而言，把資本主義議題限定在「經濟倫理」中說明了這裡的主題，是想從資本的累積這個造成經濟全球化資本主義的根本經濟現象出發，去探究它的社會因果。

從韋伯的理論來看，「經濟倫理」可以是一種「扎根於各種宗教的心理與實際關連中的行動的實際動力」(Weber, 1995)，資本累積的社會因果，在傳統主義向資本主義過渡的時間裡，是和一種特殊的資本主義精神相關，這種精神，就是著名的「韋伯命題」所說的基督新教的入世禁欲經濟倫理。韋伯研究學者稱這種在資本主義精神內產生的較為狹窄路徑，是一種經濟生活的特殊理性過程。(Abrams, 1982：89)而就韋伯的畢生學術事業來說，它是包含在一個更大的理念型，亦即整個西方理性主義的趨勢架構之中。因此，當韋伯在《經濟與社會》(Economy and Society)這去世後才出版的巨著中，對於資本主義社會本身的經濟制度進行分析時，就十分重視合理計算利益或實用主義動機的市場行為取向，而市場更是像階級、地位、政黨等權力的競技場。這種市場權力的運作和個人的生活機會息息相關，其分配若不平均，則會造成社會的不平等 (Holton and Turner, 1989： 180-1) 。這種徹底朝向理性化的法理型社會，早年韋伯所研究的新教經濟倫理的作用已不復見，此時，資本累積的社會因果乃是建築在物質基礎（如市場）上的權力分析。這是韋伯的世界觀從「地位取向」的社會，向「市場取向」的社會讓渡的必然結果；同時也是韋伯在經濟社會學上的一貫態度：「物質雖是推動人類文明前進的火車動力，它直接指導著人們的行為，但是由『理念』所創造的『世界圖像』，就如同火車的轉轍手一樣，決定著被物質利益所推動的行為軌道之方向。」 (Weber, 1961：280)新教倫理在資本主義發展的過程，正有如那轉轍手一段，在歷史中，就在那裡作用於一時，卻是那麼關鍵而重要的，一時的作用。

事實上，韋伯在《新教倫理與資本主義精神》書中所展現的邏輯很容易令人誤解，而將他視為唯心論者，或者只考察部分國家就遽下結論的謬誤推論（如K.Samuelsson的看法，參Green, p.127）。但這些批評由於方法論，或觀點上的以偏概全，使得他們無法看清韋伯嘗試從歷史的諸多關連去尋找資本主義精神的文化淵源之本意。因為，韋伯深知，在經濟上的顯著性並不能保證在文化上的顯著性。所以即使統計上顯示猶太教徒在對資產的貢獻遠超過新教徒，這實證的數據的普效性，就韋伯而言不當是在統計或經濟史中尋求答案，而當從歷史的向度裡找到經濟顯著的根本解答。新教徒奇特的「入世禁欲」，這令人費解的倫理，就是韋伯對於「大量財富積聚了起來，這些財富並沒有用來貸款以賺取利息，而總是重新用於商業投資」的根據資本累積原理建立起來的資本主義解答。也就是，韋伯認為資本額的大小或其來源並不能是近代資本主義擴張的動力，新教倫理所促成的經營理念的改進（銷售方法、產品質量的調整、廉價多銷原則等理性化過程）所代表的新精神——資本主義精神，其發展演變才是真正的關鍵。亦即，先於資本主義的生產模式，已有資本主義精神的存在了，這是一種「商人群體的精神氣質之展現」。

現在，我們從經濟社會學的角度就要問：這種有助於資本累積的經濟倫理是怎麼產生的？它是如何作用的？這就涉及了對新教倫理的歷史考察及其發展追蹤。

韋伯從研究路德(Luther)的「職業」概念出發，這個概念宗教上意指「上帝所安排的任務」的意思，是基督新教的首創者馬丁‧路德對《聖經》翻譯或創造出來的產物。但路德職業概念的傳統主義色彩卻並非喀爾文派那種通過自我約束工作而獲得救贖的看法。這中間的變化轉折，我將從：新教倫理和新教之前的基督教倫理的異同，與路德的新教倫理和喀爾文的新教倫理的異同兩方面來加以說明。

雖然韋伯研究學者Schluchter (1987)曾經根據韋伯的「政治」型宗教及拒世的教贖型宗教，但是，事實上幾乎所有的宗教都是以脫離痛苦，獲得解脫的救贖為目的，差別只在於修行的法門不同而已。從Schluchter運用理念型所構築的「文化宗教的分類表」來看，新教和新教之前的基督教其相同處在於他們均屬拒世型的救贖宗教；其差別在於前者是入世禁欲，對世界的基本態度是支配現世觀，而後者是出世禁欲，對世界的基本態度是克服現世。這段論述，其實就已蘊含了兩者不同的職業觀。因為，就西方基督教傳統而言，世俗的勞動通常只是一種保羅(Paul)在《福音書》所說的通過神而達到永恆的救贖；在漫長的中世紀時代，聖潔／世俗的徹底二分，所有的知識是神學的附庸，肉體的勞動自然也是為神服務的事業，阿奎納(St. Thomas Aquinus)認為人類的社會是墮落的，其中的價值是短暫且充滿罪惡的，必須透過教會或團契的力量，根據社會的自然狀態去建造更高價值的獨特的基督教次序；這種特洛慈(Troeltsch)所謂的自然律和恩寵倫理之間的衝突，注定要把利潤的追求，投資，以及經營管理等現代勞動的特質壓抑在虔誠對神服務的信心底層。人是作為一種領受神恩的容器而活著。傳統基督教把恩寵視為自然的至善和自然的上層結構，這種絕對的聖潔之獲得是有可能的，那是透過出世禁欲的苦行或者在高度虔誠的團契靈修來克服現世。每個人都有義務認為自己是選民，每個人都能獲得救贖，只要能夠培養「純粹的內在精神，在痛苦和試鍊中信託上帝，以及願意犧牲自我，犧牲所有世俗權利，權力的使用和財產權等」(Troeltsch 1988：298)，這種友愛精神，即是典型的西方傳統基督教倫理。

新教倫理基本上承襲了這套思想而有所創新。承襲的色彩在路德派中較為濃郁，創新的部分在喀爾文派中則較為明顯；特別是從這整套神學的經濟倫理和基本累積相契合程度來看，其趨勢愈發鮮明。特洛慈的主張，認為西方傳統基督教和新教的差別，並非在於流行的見解──兩者是律法和恩寵的對抗，而強調新教的特點是早期路德對於「恩寵本身加以新的解說」。教會仍然是一個神恩重要的代理機構，只是在路德的詮釋之下，傳統教會之作為一個恩寵倫理的審查機構，它原來的律法權威，卻在路德強調以屬靈的方式去實現這個律法而瓦解。於是，我們看到一個新的恩寵觀念產生了！傳統的恩寵邏輯：〔相信〕→〔律法審查恩寵的倫理性判準 /善行/熱望聖潔〕→〔救贖〕其恩寵是「一種超自然的，聖禮上的恩寵，是一種較高超而神秘的奇異，經由聖品分發給人，並且是託付給教會；它有雙重作用，即赦罪和神秘地提高人性」，轉而成為一種訴諸個人主義式的救贖觀，它朝向今世，反對苦行；它以《聖經》作為律法權威的唯一來源，「注重聖禮的教會為那注重聖經和證道的教會所取代」；它反對神秘主義，強調由於信靠聖經、理智與良心，通過預定的神蹟，人定能獲救。這種以拯救的真實感為心理基礎的新教倫理，看到了神有一種客觀的創造力，給予懦弱的人類希望。但是新教倫理在路德派手裡仍然是不利於資本累積的，這點，我們必需把他拿來來喀爾文派相較才能看出路德一生思想的矛盾性及其影響。

馬丁‧路德是一個內心充滿焦慮，對救贖滿懷熱望，又天縱英才氣質的宗教領袖。這個被心理學家愛力克森(Erikson)稱為曾具有憂鬱症，在唱詩班中發狂的青年路德，其創造力展現在一種徘徊，即「徘徊在沮喪和興奮兩種極端的情緒之中，與指責自己或指責他人兩種極端的情況之中」(Erikson, 1989：43)，它表現在路德的新教倫理則為當然的二元倫理觀。即一方面，路德所代表的是挑戰傳統基督教的宗教改革，其倫理是一種「因信稱義」的倫理，它是個人的、屬靈的，是「義人必因信而得生」（羅馬書，17）的純粹的，激進的基督教倫理，它是積極的倫理；而另一方面，路德重視聖經並視之為真理唯一最高的根本，遂產生一種以上帝的話為最高權威的倫理，必須服從神所規定的世俗規範，它是一種教條的倫理，保守的倫理。所以A. R. Wentz 教授認為，這種根據「因信稱義，和以上帝的話為最高的權威，兩大原則就已注定了路德宗教傳統的積極而保守的性質」（參《路德選集》，1968：18），並且，晚年路德越來越傾向後者，而相信一個篤誠的慈父政府和對其效忠的重要，從而，這種保守倫理表現出來的經濟觀，是非常靠近中世紀那種自然經濟式的傳統主義的。這自然的經濟倫理視高利貸、擔保和貨幣信用制度為侵犯天命領域的行為，社會的自由競爭是不該的，人當以其所處的階級去勞動獲取合乎其身份地位的收入，追逐利潤是可恥的行為，職業的意義是在「其中順從和服務是愛鄰人最實在和最合適的方法」(Troeltsch, 1988：349)，這是不鼓勵資本累積的反動經濟倫理。

雖然喀爾文曾在一篇論文熱烈讚許路德，說在尋求教會的潔淨上，「我們都還在追求能與路德同一目標」（基督教要義：1970：72），也和路德一樣認為因信稱義的倫理是非常重要的；但是由於兩者對於上帝的觀念不同，其由此觀念衍生的不同的宗教倫理及社會責任，遂使我們看到了喀爾文派的接近現曙光的經濟倫理。在《基督教要義》(Institutes of the Christian Religion)這部書的第三卷第十四章第二十一節，喀爾文曾闡述他對救贖的看法：「至於我們得救的基本原因乃是聖父上帝的愛；具體的原因乃是聖子基督的服從；功能原因乃是聖靈的光照──就是信；而最後原因乃是上帝的無限良善的榮耀」這個救贖的最後原因，讓喀爾文發展出很特別的上帝觀念。他扭轉了路德式慈愛天父而代之而起的是隱藏的，威嚴的上帝形象；祂所擁有的權柄是絕對的，祂預選基督徒中的部分人能得救，這是上帝給予人類不同命運的「永恆的命令」。這時產生的恩寵觀於是就和路德派有很大的差別。路德派的新教倫理只是有恩寵的手段而已。他們專心於培養個人的情緒生活，以行善來穩固信和恩寵的存在，每個人都被預選，每個人都覺得自己是上帝的容器。而喀爾文派的恩寵是像韋伯所說的「喀爾文派的上帝要求祂的信徒的不是個別的善行，而是一輩子的善行，並且還要結合成一個完整的體系」。更激烈的說法像特洛慈認為那是「和善行完全無關的恩寵」，因為不管教會產生完整的體系或完全無關也好，它所指的是人所有的行為標準是來自一個律法，那就是上帝的榮耀！人是有限，卑微的存在，如何能在神面前要求什麼呢？「有限的不能包含無限」這是喀爾文派的原則。因為我們的心智不能領悟祂的存在，「如果我們進入於祂的偉大尊嚴之中，我們必站立不住。」這種Master morality造成的後果是「永生是預定給某些人，永刑給了另外的一些人。每一個被造的終局非此即彼，或生或死是預定了的。」

這個獨特的預選說在個人身上產生了深遠的影響，因為「基督徒的生活完全是為了朝向一個超驗的結局，即獲得救贖。也正因為這個原因他在現世的生活是徹底理性化，完全由增添上帝的榮耀這個目的所支配」(Weber, 1978：118)，在生活的行為上榮耀神正是信仰的最佳試鍊，因為揀選與否是上帝的事情，喀爾文教派相信恩寵是不會失掉的，他們解決心裡的焦慮，證明自己的被揀選的辦法是作為神的工具，把注意力集中在具體的目標上，「用來建立上帝之國的工作」(Troeltsch,1988：367)，這是本文想要追蹤的有利於資本累積的新教倫理的起源。因為喀爾文派的入世禁欲(韋伯)或苦行主義(特洛慈))它的倫理特質是，既用原罪等形上學概念來譴責今世，又對感官作極端理性的管束，精神上新教徒輕視現世的事物，但既然留在世界裡面，就要勝過這個世界，支配這個世界。韋伯說「那要強大的要求生活統一性的傾向在否定肉體崇拜的觀念上找到了其理想的基礎」，而這種傾向直至今天仍大大增強著資本主義對生產標準化的興趣。特洛慈說新教仍然主張一種苦行資本，它是「世界生活中的苦行資本」。

有利於資本累積的經濟倫理是喀爾文派的勞動是神的工具的倫理，比較喀爾文教派和路德教派在職業和經濟倫理上的特質可以得知，新教徒在這樣的職業倫理導引之下，「這種禁欲主義行為意味著人的一生必須與上帝意志保持理性的一致，而且這種禁欲主義不再是一種不堪承受的重擔，而是每一個確信拯救的人都能做到之事」(Weber, 1978：153)；和路德派一樣，喀爾文派也遠離修道院，在塵世的浮沉中以堅定的信念和認真的工作榮耀上帝的權柄，但它的非預期結果於是誕生了資本主義精神，而且是現代經濟大量資本累積的市場模型的先聲。質言之，「韋伯命題」的意涵，即針對有利於資本累積的經濟倫理進行思考，我們由以上的論述得知，「資本主義精神」包括兩個條件：(1)為免受天譴而力圖支配今世生活的特殊心理焦慮；(2) 一個特殊的理性化的經濟生活。

「儒家倫理」作為一種「經濟倫理」，成為華人圈的資本積累的動力因，1970年代的討論，大多集中在理論層次，欠缺實際的經驗觀察(蕭欣義，1989；楊君實，1989；張德勝1991)。直到全球化的時代來臨，1993年萊丁(G. Redding)寫了一本《中華資本主義精神》(The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism)，以經驗的考察提供理論的新反省，這本仿韋伯名著《新教倫理與資本主義精神》的書，提出了「儒家倫理」作為中華資本主義動力因的可能性。他直接以台灣、香港、和其他東南亞國家的華人在海外開設的公司為例，論證祭祀祖先等宗教觀念、家庭主義的倫常觀，均是形構華人經濟行為的重要原因。世界經合組織曾定義「經濟全球化」為「在貨物及勞務貿易、資本流動和技術轉移與擴散基礎上不同國家市場和生產之間的相互依賴程度不斷加深的動態過程」(李坤望主編，2000)，故解釋東亞經濟榮景的原因可以是經濟政策、全球經濟結構的變遷、理性化的經濟組織和社會文化因素等；但是萊丁以韋伯「新教倫理」為思考摹本，認為「經濟文化」和經濟活動的關連，創造了一個清楚且獨特的形象，同時為特殊的經濟特質與社會價值所認同(Redding, 1993)。這個被認同的「獨特的形象」，就華人經濟圈的經營而言，就是以「儒教」為核心，並揉合了道教與佛教某些共通的觀念所共同型構的基礎信仰與價值，我們稱之為「儒家倫理」。而「經濟全球化」對於「儒家倫理」的衝擊，可以從「儒家倫理」的價值觀的斷裂或延續來觀察。

「儒家倫理」的「操作性定義」，直接展現在華人的社會結構，如重家庭、重人際網絡、重族群觀等；同時也作用在關係法則上，如重孝順、重面子、重有層次的信任等。所有這些「儒家倫理」高度創造了華人經濟行為的特質：工作倫理、節儉的金錢觀與實用主義。同時具備宗教與信仰系統的「儒家倫理」是華人經濟行為的動力因。其中最為關鍵的論述在於華人進行資本累積的原因是為了「家」，為了養家活口。「為了家」是華人面對周遭環境的挑戰時的一種集體理性行為，「家」同時也是宗教祭祀觀念的空間媒介，這樣型構了華人的社會經濟行為。在上述的「儒家倫理」思考氛圍下，萊丁以海外華人中小型家族企業為研究對象，又進一步提出「家父長制」、「不信任感」、與「個體主義」作為論述的基礎。

就「家父長制」而言，指的是政治上的功能論觀點，強調儒教國家的封建角色、層級分明的階層關係，如孔子所言「君君、臣臣、父父、子子」，因為知道自己的地位與位置，只要保持忠貞與順從，就能取得應得利益與權威。但是，萊丁將「家父長制」從政治層面，過度推論至華人家族企業的經濟活動上實屬錯誤；因為那樣意味著服從「家父長制」的華人經濟圈是以和諧的方式經營企業。事實上，東亞國家中的企業勞資衝突從未間斷過；舉例而言，戒嚴法解除後的台灣，該年就有1600件勞資糾紛。因此，如果我們想要將古老的「儒家倫理」運用到現代華人家族企業，必須非常小心其中「倫理」內容的「斷裂」或「連續」的問題。可以得見，「家父長制」的過度美化的企業層級與控制，在當代中華資本主義精神中，很難獲得持續的政治運用。

而「不信任感」指的是「對於家族成員之外的人的不信任」(Redding, 1993)，同時，「儒家倫理」的「不信任感」也意指「重士輕商」的古典的反商情結，「不信任感」因此將家族與反商的社會關係糾結在一起。就這點而言，「儒家倫理」的「不信任感」在歷史辯證過程中出現了一個揚棄的「既斷裂又連續」的辯證過程：對家族的成員信任的保留，與否定掉封建時代的反商情結。因此，「不信任感」帶領著華人經濟圈創造務實的公司，一種小而緊密關連的家族企業。但中華資本主義精神和家族企業的「不信任感」的選擇性親和，還有更為豐富的意涵。「不信任感」是萊丁所說的「家庭主義」諸多面向的一個。「家庭主義」其實是華人經濟圈創造中華資本主義精神的核心，它源於一種對於「養家活口」的心理焦慮，其中「孝順」當然更是儒家倫理的重要元素。在華人社會中，「每個家庭的生存仰賴自己的資源，且每個家庭成員在生活中依賴自己的家庭甚劇，那不為家庭努力工作的人，定會遭受到嚴厲的社會壓力」(Redding, 1993)。這種「社會壓力」是徐復觀先生式的「社會通過了這種以愛為結合扭帶的家族組織，大家在家族生活中，使公與私、權利與義務、個體與全體，得到自然而然的融合諧和」(徐復觀，1974)，為了這個「家庭之愛」，形成一種類似韋伯「新教倫理」的「心理焦慮」，如果不能工作養家，會被輿論視為不孝，而無法在日常生活中立足。當代資本主義的社會，輿論的力量大大衰弱了，個人主義式的思考增強了，但是「家庭之愛」的焦慮仍然透過中華文化的傳輸力量，深深影響著華人經濟行為的動機，當輿論的制約不再是最重要，卻仍能夠為家庭奮鬥，這表示「儒家倫理」已由外而內，成為一種「內在的力量」，不思而得的文化深層動力。

「個體主義」是另一個萊丁思考「儒家倫理」與經濟行為的重點。當我們觀察華人家族企業的組織型態，會發現一種「非常重視個人關係的決策模式」，他稱這為「個體主義」。就韋伯所啟迪的理性的經濟行為而言，強調個人關係的決策其實是非理性的，因為其用人是基於是否「忠貞」，而非「技術能力」，這構成華人社會的「情、理、法」的有優位性的社會束縛，和西方社會的「法、理、情」有根本差別。在華人社會，「對於商人而言，法律從來不是一個必須遵守的實踐資源，而這，正顯示所有的關係保持在個體之上」(Redding, 1994)。余英時先生進一步清楚指出，「儒家倫理」的「個人」不是西方天賦人權的具備私有財產意識的個人，而是「關係中的個人，相互依賴關係中的個人」以及「五倫即是以個人為中心而發展出來的人際關係」(余英時，1984)。這種人己親疏的關係，通常是由家庭輻射出去，有等差的愛。在企業經營上的表現，雖然也有它的好處，如能夠在雇主與勞工之間，形成比較長期和穩定的兩造關係，從而降低了經濟交換時的交易成本，與企業控制時的成本效益考量；但是，在經濟全球化的跨界競爭時代，家族企業的問題在於和其他企業合作的有限性，欠缺價值中立的理性態度與專業化能力，和非理性機會升遷的危險。於是，這些問題，就可能造成企業交易的障礙。萊丁因此論證華人家族企業規模通常屬於中小型企業，無法形成大型跨國企業，並且企業之特質多為商業而非管理。「儒家倫理」的「個體主義」因此在經濟全球化的當代，成為一種華人經濟勢力擴張的障礙。「個體主義」創造家族成員之間特殊的信賴關係，形成一種非理性的「近親繁殖」，血緣穿透所有的經濟活動面向，甚至包括職務的分配。「儒家倫理」的「個體主義」作為中華資本主義的精神基礎，因此是處於「斷裂」的狀態，不利資本積累。

從上述討論中，我們發現，事實上，多數的「儒家倫理」(如家父長制、不信任感的反商面向與個體主義)都是不利於資本主義的資本積累。但是，其中弔詭的情況是，「儒家倫理」的環繞在「家庭」為中心的養家活口的「心理焦慮」，卻是萊丁發現華人現代企業能夠創造經濟奇蹟的動力因，這點十分類似韋伯的「新教倫理」。「家庭」在當代所持續保存下來的，和資本主義有選擇性親和的，是「儒家倫理」，是以「孝順」和「祖先祭祀」相關連的心理過程。就這點而言，石計生(2000)曾提出一個比較「新教倫理」與「儒家倫理」的概念模型，說明「儒家倫理」作為東方經濟倫理的可能。本文將從該圖進一步思考與發展「儒家倫理」作為一種「經濟倫理」的可能(見圖一)。

圖一 儒家倫理與新教倫理的動力因比較圖

我們的問題是：「儒家倫理」作為一種「經濟倫理」，面對當代資訊高度流動的經濟全球化社會，它可以怎樣扮演促進資本積累的角色呢？

從過去的文獻看來(蕭欣義，1989；楊君實，1989；張德勝，1991；林端，1994；石計生，2000)，大致上同意儒家思想的「內容」與「價值觀」，對於現代經濟發展有不同的影響。儒家思想的「內容」，如萊丁所說的「家父長制」、「不信任感」與「個體主義」，其成分斷裂者多；但是儒家思想的「價值觀」，如節儉、孝順、祖先祭祀等，直接延續到今日，而且對於華人圈的經濟行為，起了非常關鍵的動力位置。簡單地說，「儒家倫理」的再結構過程，是韋伯所判定的不利資本積累的「傳統主義」的否定，與有益經濟的「家庭主義」的新的肯定和發展。「儒家倫理」的封建色彩：如以「天命」為統治合法性的根源；以「孝」為德之本，服從祖先、家長與過去傳統的權威；與禮儀規範創造的「地位倫理」(顧忠華，1992)，均在強調跨界流動，與高度相互依賴的經濟全球化時代式微，取而代之的是和現代理性經濟組織相關連，調整後的「儒家倫理」。圖一所展示的，就是說明「儒家倫理」的推動資本積累的複雜過程。

相對於「新教倫理」的簡單模型，「儒家倫理」的運作顯然複雜的多，其中有三個關鍵性的差別：(1)作用單位，(2)神的類型，(3)反饋機制。「儒家倫理」的作用單位是家庭，「新教倫理」的作用單位是個人；「儒家倫理」的神的類型是諸神，「新教倫理」的神的類型是單一神；「儒家倫理」有反饋機制，「新教倫理」沒有反饋機制。

我們說過，「儒家倫理」跨越傳統農業社會到當代經濟全球化社會的東西就是「家庭主義」；其中，「孝順」是團結家庭的倫理核心，它不再扮演「三綱六紀」與「五倫」的首德的位置，而是傾向更為「人間的俗人倫理」(Weber, 1995)。儒家倫理強調家庭和家族的關係，如「父慈子孝」，錢穆先生(1985)提出，「中國傳統，教孝勝過教慈」，父親慈愛是先天的，子女孝順是後天的，是需要教化培養，也就是儒家倫理戮力千年的著力點，這形成華人社會的一個根本生命特質，「孝順」因此成為不思而得的倫理原理。由「孝順」延伸出來的「家庭主義」，不但是對於在世親人的關愛，也擴及亡故的祖先，所以，「祖先祭祀」也是儒家強調的重點，每逢佳節倍思親之外，家族團園時，也是檢視年來經濟成就的時機，這歸鄉的心理焦慮，正是「家庭主義」輻射出來的結果。經濟全球化的當代，「儒家倫理」創造的「心理焦慮」，再也和「天命」、過去權威、與「地位倫理」等「傳統主義」無關了，而是為了養家活口，創造未來而「入世禁欲」。「孝」作為一種元德，支撐的不再是為了中華帝國的鞏固，而是家庭或家族企業的單位綿延，這是「儒家倫理」的當代發展。「儒家倫理」吸收了資本主義理性的經濟組織型態，取代了「新教倫理」的個人化焦慮，創造一種集體的經濟能動性。這個「經濟倫理」與「經濟組織」的有機結合，如韋伯所說：「表面上相似的經濟組織形式，與一種極不相同的經濟倫理結合起來，就會按照各自的特點產生出極不相同的歷史作用」(Weber, 1995)。就華人而言，當資本主義的理性會計與經營管理的「經濟組織」不再是問題後，「儒家倫理」的「家庭主義」的企業結合運作，反而「產生出極不相同的歷史作用」，就是1970年代「亞洲四小龍」的經濟奇蹟，與二十世紀中葉的中國經濟成就。

「儒家倫理」的其相關元素，「祖先祭祀」的內涵，也並不是只有祭祀祖先這樣簡單而已，還包括對於家族宗教信仰的共同崇拜。華人家庭最為常見的，在家的西方方位設置神壇，所供奉的除了祖先牌位之外，還包括佛像、道像、媽祖或三太子等民間信仰神祇，它們同時存在於華人信仰的廟宮之中。同樣的，在和現代資本主義與經濟組織結合後，「祖先祭祀」的封建傳統意涵淡化，反而是產生一種極具「功能神」意義的作用，負擔著確保經濟行為的安全性的功能。所以圖一所看到的，是「家庭」的成員和「諸神和宗教的理念」，而非像「新教倫理」的個人和單一神祇，基督的關係。所以很清楚的是，「儒家倫理」的作用單位是家庭，而「新教倫理」是個人；「儒家倫理」的神是複數的神，「新教倫理」是單數的神。但不管神是單數還是複數，其所起的促進資本積累的心理焦慮是一樣的；作為資本主義的精神，就「新教倫理」而言，是入世禁欲，為了榮耀上帝；就「儒家倫理」而言，是節儉實用，為了養家活口，光宗耀祖。

儒家倫理的經濟行為的最佳承載就是「家族企業」，這也是萊丁書中的實證研究對象，在經濟全球化的當代，姑不論其實踐上的諸多缺點：如前述的中小規模企業、不信任外人與個體主義，其特點在於一種「新教倫理」欠缺的反饋機制。如圖一所示，不論賺錢或賠本，「求神問卜」成為華人經濟圈的行為後果的必然回饋動作。生意經營賠本，會動搖養家活口的倫理責任，因此心理焦慮加大，因此「問神」成為抒解命運的懷疑或焦慮的重要反饋途徑，以便重拾家庭的重擔的幸福；生意經營賺錢，部分來自努力，部分來自於好運道、好風水、好庇佑，因此「謝神」「還願」成為另一種圖一中的反饋機制。這個反饋機制，在新教倫理基本上看不見，因為喀爾文派理解的神意幽微不可知，其撿選是神秘的過程，人惶恐工作，為了找尋被揀選的徵兆都還來不及，枉論回頭詢問神的旨意。因此，儒家倫理所具備的反饋機制，就成為中華資本主義精神的一大特色。

我以比較的經濟社會學觀點，研究「新教倫理」與「儒家倫理」作為一種「經濟倫理」，在資本主義資本積累的過程所扮演的角色。韋伯嘗言「表面上相似的經濟組織形式，與一種極不相同的經濟倫理結合起來，就會按照各自的特點產生出極不相同的歷史作用」(Weber, 1995)。「新教倫理」與「儒家倫理」和資本主義經濟組織結合，產生怎樣不同的歷史作用呢？韋伯的「新教倫理」說明了和十九世紀資本主義精神的一個可能的選擇性親和；而二十世紀經濟全球化，「理性化的經濟生活」早已是一般的常態，「儒家倫理」雖源遠流長經歷千年，也造成了價值與內容上的斷裂，如家父長制等。但是本文指出，其核心的「家庭主義」及其衍生出來的價值觀：孝順、不信任感、祖先祭祀等，均型構了經濟全球化的當代華人節儉儲蓄、入世實用的經濟行為的倫理基礎。在吸收資本主義現代的管理經營形式後，「儒家倫理」的核心價值的當代再結構，產生獨特的歷史作用，華人因而能在二十一世紀的全球競爭時代屹立不搖的重要原因之一。

相對於「新教倫理」，「儒家倫理」也擁有必須累積資本的心理焦慮，但不是來自於對於神的旨意的猜測、「一輩子行善」的壓力或「預選」的恐懼，而是來自於養家活口的家庭維持壓力，「儒家倫理」的這個壓力，不同於「新教倫理」一樣壓抑在日常生活的內心，而有一種反饋的過程，經由「求神問卜」解讀諸神的宗教理念，藉以得到心靈的慰藉，以便再出發。瞬息調整的全球經濟時代，表面上看起來「面對面」的貿易成為過時，但事實上，如莎森(Sassen, 1991)所言，全球化會落實在真實的領土上。全球化的讓資本、資訊、人員、商品的跨越疆界的活動，是一種權力的新地理，經濟全球化展現的是經濟活動是「空間上的離散和全球的整合」。離散在全球各地的是分公司與工廠；整合的是座落在「全球城市」的總部指揮系統。「全球城市」的思考，除了電子空間高速傳輸經濟活動的運用外，也重拾「面對面」與「地方」的需求。以「家庭」為單位的「儒家倫理」，以「集體」的力量，展現城市之中的經濟活動，相對於「個人」，是相當有利的倫理基礎。

當然，誠如韋伯所言，「經濟倫理不是經濟組織形式的簡單的『因變量』，同樣，經濟倫理也不是反過來從自己的一方去塑造經濟組織形式」，徒有「儒家倫理」不足以開創全球資本主義的市場，面對「跨界流動與高度相互依賴的資本、貿易與技術」的新世界，我們除了學習資本主義的法治與效率管理之外，如何建立全球經濟網絡，進一步善用網際網路與資訊社會的虛擬與真實介面的操作，將「儒家倫理」式家族企業提升至跨國企業的規模，這些都是我們建議未來值得思考與具體實踐時的關鍵。

Many Are Called but Few Are Chosen: Two Chinese Buddhist Temples in Chicago Metropolitan Area

“The Asian one never die.” –Indochina

” Wisdom springs from Purity of Mind.”– Venerable Master Chin Kung

1. Introduction

Most of the large Chinese Buddhist temples in America are located at the immigrant “receiving states” of the West Coast, especially California. For example, Hsi Lai ssu (“coming to the West” temple) is located in Los Angeles, and The City of Ten Thousand Buddha near San Francisco. Both temples are famous in terms of their sizes, population, pure-land tradition, and effort of modernizing Buddhism.
In the Midwest of America, however, we can hardly find large Chinese Buddhist temples. In 1990, there were 21,563 Chinese in Chicago metropolitan area. At the same time, the members of The City of Ten Thousand Buddha s were more than the number. Until 1998, there were only three Chinese Buddhist temples in Chicago area, Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple–Chicago chapter (LSCTT), Buddhist Friendship Association (BFA), and Tzu Chi World–Chicago chapter . For comparison, I choose LSCTT and BFA ones as my research objects. LSCTT is a chapter of a World-based Chinese Buddhist organization. This temple is located at Chicago’s south side: Bridgeport and Armor Square, the so-called “larger Chinatown area.” BFA is a small Vietnamese-based Chinese Buddhist temple, which is located at Chicago’s Uptown, the Argyle area, a place where most Vietnamese immigrants lived. The Chinatown area aggregates over fifty percent of Chicago’s Chinese population. Although it is only about eight percent of Chicago’s Chinese population, most of the Southeast Asian ethnic Chinese aggregates at the Argyle area . In the beginning, the two temples face similar hostile attitude from the host societies although the temples intend to be located in enclaves (i.e., China Town and Vietnamese-Chinese Town).

2. Comparative Theologies: the Proper Dharma and its Alienation

Today’s Buddhists always discuss the age is “the Dharma-ending Age”. They think modern age is the Dharma-ending Age because of the decline of the Proper Dharma. But what does it mean that the Proper Dharma dwells in the World? One master interprets the ancient Buddha’s teaching in this way: “If you cultivate honestly, without craving fame, profit, or offerings, then the Proper Dharma is dwelling in the world. If every Sangha member upholds the precept of not touching money, sits in Chan meditation, eats one meal a day at noon, wears the precept sash at all times, and upholds the precepts strictly, then the Proper Dharma is dwelling in the world. ” All Sutrayana Buddhist Shangha practices the Dharma everyday in the city of Ten Thousand Buddha.
Today’s Buddhist draws criticism over finance-trouble whenever modern Buddhism grows. The good example is “the controversy surrounding Taiwanese Buddhist groups that had contributed to Bill Clinton’s legal defense and the Democratic party reveals the new power of Buddhism and the marriage of money and religion in Taiwan. ” Those Taiwanese Buddhist groups include one of the largest Buddhist temples in America: Hsi Lai ssu. The defense, interesting enough, by the founder of Hsi Lai ssu, Hsing Yun, is that there is no “vow of poverty” for Buddhist monastic. “Although monastic follow a simple life, with few personal possessions, those who have received gifts or inheritances from their families are free to spend such funds in any way they consider beneficial to Buddhism and society. ”
The master Hsing Yun’s new interpretation of Dharma creates what I call “the alienation of the Proper Dharma,” although it is based on his ideas of “humanization,” “modernization,” and “internationalization” of Buddhism. According to Hsing Yun’s thinking, traditional Buddhist ways are changed by “coming out of the forest and entering into society,” and serving the community through “involvement in families, nations, and the world.” Past “distorted” images of Buddhism are transformed from “passivity to activity,” from “pessimism to optimism,” from “aversion to the world to engagement in the society and love of existence,” and from the practice of asceticism to practice in a quiet, wealthy and comfortable environment (Lin, 1996:119).” The alienation of the Proper Dharma, thus, refers to some reinterpretation of basic but old values of the Buddhist Dharma by new perspective. The radical change of a religion is a dialectical response to the changing society .
Furthermore, I suggest two sub-types of alienation of the Proper Dharma. The first sub-type I name it “the moderate alienation of the proper Dharma,” which means the changes of the basic values are surrounded within the Buddhist Dharma. The second sub-type is “the radical alienation of the proper Dharma,” which means the changes of the fundamental values based on a mixture of the Buddhist Dharma and other religious Dharmas. Thus the Hsi Lai temple belongs to “the moderate alienation” category. The Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple–Chicago chapter, one of our foci in this paper, belonged to “the radical alienation” of the Proper Dharma. Living Buddha Lian-Sheng , claims his “True Buddha Sect”(TBS) is a mixture of Tantric Buddhism, Sutrayana Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk belief. According to the “True Buddha Group Practice Text (written by Living Buddha Lian-Sheng),”we find they worship four different sources of gods: Sutrayana Buddha (Namo Shakyamuni Buddha, Namo Tathagata Vairocana, Namo Amitabha Buddha of the Western Paradise, Namo Medicine Buddha, Namo Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and Namo Maha Cundi Bodhisattva), Tantric Buddha (Namo Jambhala, Namo Padmasambhava, Namo Padmakumara, Namo Vajrasattva, and Namo the Golden Mother of the Primordial Pond), Taoist gods (The Golden Great King, The Pure and True elder, and the Supreme Heaven god), folk gods (The Reserved Temple Guardian, Skanda-the Reserved Dharma Protector) and the Living Buddha Lian-Sheng himself. Living Buddha Lian-Sheng defines his True Buddha Sect as a this-worldly Buddhism.
Taiwan’s Orthodox Buddhist Association denies TBS with the following reasons: (1) The nature of its sect, liturgies and methods of cultivation are alienated from the Buddhist tradition; (2) the leadership of the Living Buddha is not from election, incarnation, or congregation but from his students’ voting; (3) The “acharya” (super-master) is empowered. All those acharya are directly empowered by the Living Buddha himself. The criterion is questionable, since the legitimacy of Living Buddha’s leadership is questionable too; (4) The sect does not advocate vegetarianism. Most of the critics challenge the legitimacy of these Buddhist organizations. But what really makes this sect approach to “the radical alienation of the Proper Dharma” is the decline of the basic precepts (see Table 1). For example, Sangha is not only allowed to touch money, but also teaches people how to make money through Tantric Buddhist methods (see footnote 7). Although the Living Buddha himself confessed “the decline of the Proper Dharma” is a real problem in the TBS, he could not do anything except enhancing members’ solidarity through intimate worship by heart (True Buddha News, 1994: Jan-14). On the other hand, the Buddhist Friendship Association (BFA) follows the Proper Dharma of traditional Buddhism. Layman (1976) highlighted the role of laity that he/she is essential to the success of a monastic community. The dependency relationship between monk and laity is about merit and support. “The Buddhist layman is one of the most important ways to gain merit is by supporting the Sangha. This may take the form of giving food and clothing to the monks, or it may take the form of providing financial support for the monastery and/or temple (Layman, 1976:17).” The key Buddhist layman in this small temple is Mr. Chun Shen-Chung, the president of BFA. He is a Vietnamese ethnic Chinese. A layman contributes most of his time to develop this temple. His job is on commercial advertising. He met Master Hsing Chun in Chicago in 1985. In 1995, Mr. Chun, a pious Buddhism, invited Master Sik Hsing Chun to be the Sangha of this temple. Due to Master Hsing Chun’s orthodox Pure-Land background, we can identify this temple’s theology is based on the Proper Dharma tradition. Sutrayana Buddha (Namo Shakyamuni Buddha, Namo Tathagata Vairocana, Namo Amitabha Buddha of the Western Paradise, Namo Medicine Buddha, Namo Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and Namo Maha Cundi Bodhisattva) are all worshiped by members in this temple. “Since 13 years old,” Master Hsing Chun said, “ I have received the Bodhisattva Precepts in the Brahma Net Sutra, and the two hundred and fifty Bhikshu precepts, and then received full ordination, which all established my cultivation foundation. ” Thus, the basic precepts, the Proper Dharma, not fighting, not being greedy, not seeking, not being selfish, not pursuing advantage, and not telling lies, become the fundamental teachings for the members in BFA. As a key manager of BFA, Mr. Chun, however, has different developing strategy to Master Hsing Chun’s. The conflict between the master and the laity is not for Dharma but for temple-control. There is no doubt that this temple followed the Proper Dharma taught by Master Hsing Chun. But the fact that the temple is not a non-private property (actually, it is controlled by Mr. Chun and others) really discomforts Master Hsing Chun. That is the reason he often lives at Philadelphia and only goes back to BFA for Buddhist festivals. Mr. Chun always mentions to me that he wants to build a great temple in Chicago, just like Hsi Lai ssu or the City of Ten Thousand Buddha. His enthusiasm, like an entrepreneur to develop this temple, “the initiative is taken by an individual, who proclaim his vocation to people (Warner, 1993),” but has no license, ordination, or credential to do so. He develops BFA with a strong community support. The location of BFA, the Argyle area, is a community for the Vietnamese immigrants. It is a “communal religious organization, a group of persons gathers by way of their own self-recognition as a category, typically through a migration process (Warner, 1993).” The strong community-based reality pushes Mr. Chen, this Buddhist layman, to control the temple development by local interest. Table 1 summarizes the Proper Dharma and its alienation in terms of religious organizations.

Table 1: Comparative Theologies by Basic Precepts of Chinese Buddhist Organizations

3. Comparative Religious Organizations:

World-based vs. Community-based temples

After discussing the differences of theology between the two Chinese Buddhist temples in Chicago land, we compare their religious organizations in terms of history, size, ethnic identity, financial resources, sub-organization, and its relationship to host societies.
Footnote 1 highlights that these two temples are post-1990 temples.
Table 2 summarizes the general information. In 1997, the member of LSCTT was six times larger than BFA’s. However, I emphasize the importance of regular membership because the “Chinese culture does not view religious traditions and groups as mutually exclusive. A person can belong to different religious organizations simultaneously and appeal to one or another or even many (Lin, 1996:107).” According to the regular membership, we conclude LSCTT is a temple of ten-time larger population than BFA.
Considering ethnicity of those members, we discover the following points. First, both temples’ members are come from a “Cultural-China” geographical boundary, which includes China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and most of the Southeast Asian countries. This Cultural-China aura follows the old concept of ethnicity based on the assumption of “bio-cultural-territorial isolate frame of reference (Kallen, 1982).” Both temples are kind of isolated from their community or neighbor communities, in spite of some “world connection” of the south side temple. I have not seen the “new ethnicity,” an “affective/symbolic and behavioral strategy frame of reference (Kallen, 1982),” functions in these two Buddhist temples yet.

Table 2: General Information of the Two Chinese Buddhist Temples in Chicago land, 1997

Second, both temples’ members have not developed any American identity. For example, no celebrations for Thanksgiving, and Christmas (as Hsi Lai ssu does in California) are found in these two temples. The English class is for helping the American converts. Chinese identity is reinforced through their daily chanting, meditation class, and Buddhist festivals. Third, both temples express some kind of “racism” to Africa American. The ‘racism’ is the result of hostile attitude of host societies.

3-1. Story One: the Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple–Chicago chapter (LSCTT)

In 1994, three small factions of True Buddha Sect at Chicago area established The Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple–Chicago chapter. The diversity of language in LSCTT is a serious problem to develop the temple. Before 1994, there were three factions of LSCTT in Chicago land: (1) Lotus Fan Society (2) Chicago True Buddha Society (3) Chicago North Buddhist Society. The first faction was located at Chinatown, the second at suburb, and the third at uptown. I interview the former president of “Committee of Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple–Chicago chapter”(CLSTCC), Mrs. Lee Shaohwai. After graduating from Department of commerce, National Taiwan University, She migrated to Chicago in 1968. Before taking refuge in True Buddha Sect in 1992, she never had any religious belief. Most of the Taiwanese members are highly educated. They are doctors, professionals, intelligentsia, or computer engineers. Before this temple was established, there were three factions of TBS in Chicago land in terms of ethnicity.

1. The Taiwanese group

It was divided into two groups.
First, the Chicago True Buddha Society: Mrs. Peng Ging-Long was the leader. He is the current president of CLSTCC. He moved the organization to Chicago’s suburb for establishing a Mandarin-based TBS. He wants to distinguish the faction from the Lotus Fan Society, a faction with Cantonese language.
This Taiwanese group does not accept Cantonese. They think Cantonese is a dialect. It is quite common that there is a Cultural-China concept in the mind of immigrant Chinese. To do research on a Chinese Protestant church in Washington D.C., Yang (1997) asked why the church was established as a Mandarin church. The answer is: Mandarin was chosen, because it was the “national language” that every well-educated Chinese should be able to speak, a language that “signifies the unity of the Chinese and the importance of Chinese culture (Yang, 1997:15).” All those Taiwanese immigrants in LSCTT, well educated by the Kuomingtang regime, have a very strong Cultural China identity. Mandarin, in fact, was also the official and only language can be spoken in public before the martial law was lifted in 1986.
The second Taiwanese-controlled sub-group is the Chicago North Buddhist Society. Some well-educated Taiwanese immigrants, such as Warren H. Tai (He was graduated from Department of Medicine, National Taiwan University), Mao-Yui (She was graduated from Department of Commerce, National Taiwan University) led the society. Warren H. Tai is the key developer of this group. He was graduated from University of Illinois-Medical School (Now it belongs to University of Illinois at Chicago-west campus) in 1970s. He is currently the vice president of International Bank of Chicago. The Buddhist society was located in the second floor of the bank. Most of Taiwanese leaders identified themselves as middle class and they all have influential power in LSTCC. After LSCTT was established (1995), the two factions merged into one. This Chicago North Buddhist Society still existed even the temple has already established. Warren H. Tai said they get together every Monday night and discuss Buddhist scriptures and other religious stuffs. The members now included two Northwest professors and one professor from University of Chicago. In LSCTT, there are fifty core members who come from Taiwan.

2. The Cantonese group:

Lotus Fan Society was established in 1986. It is a Cantonese-based society. It used to locate at Chinatown. Most of the members in this society are Cantonese who mainly come from Hong Kong and Mainland China. They have been the first generation immigrants who migrate to Chicago since 1960. Most of them are poorer than Taiwanese. Before this society was merged into the temple, it was the largest faction of the three societies. It had more than one hundred members during the 1980s. It also merged into this temple after the temple established. In LSCTT, there are ten core members come from Cantonese.

3. The Chinese group

After 1996, Chinese from Mainland China began to become members in this temple. It takes years for them to take refuge in TBS because of the communist atheism. Most of the Chinese are very poor. In the beginning, They went to this temple just for eating lunch and making friends. Now there are thirty Chinese members, but none of them are representative in the management committee.

Groups Conflict and Solution

The conflict between groups is due to language and class problems. For example, the Cantonese members think Taiwanese members are rich, knowledgeable, and have good job. Cantonese have strong ‘in-group’ consciousness and do not like to talk to people whose native language is not Cantonese. It is quiet true this problem existed when I interviewed Mrs. Ma Gang-Ping (March 8, 1997). She is in charge of membership affairs in LSCTT. The day, for participant observation, I decided to become a member in this temple. The first question Mrs. Ma asked me was: “Can you speak Cantonese?” “No,” I said, and introduced myself to her in Mandarin, “I am a researcher from University of Illinois.” Although answering my questions kindly, I can feel she expressed herself in a very defensive way. She only gave me formal information. The example shows Taiwanese and Cantonese do not trust each other largely because of their different social status. But the conflict between Taiwanese and Chinese is more serious. Not only social status makes the two groups have some distance, but also political ideology creates hostile attitude among members of them. For Taiwanese, to identify oneself to be a Chinese is not so difficult, but to admit Taiwan is politically part of China is not so easy. Thus, the conflict between Taiwanese members and Chinese members in LSCTT mostly comes from the contradiction of ‘Political-China’ and ‘Cultural-China.’ LSCTT’s leaders try to solve group conflicts by adjusting the power structure in CLSTCC, Committee of Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple–Chicago chapter. This management committee includes nine representatives and is selected by regular members every year. For example, there were 1,000 regular members in 1997. People became regular member only when he took refuge in the True Buddha School. A membership registration is required. You need to report the following information: date of registration, full name, Buddhist name given by acharya Len-Tze, gender, address, phone number, date of birth, nationality, date of taking refuge in the True Buddha School, occupation, expertise and interests, and intended participation in the temple’s activities. People became committee members only after election. In this organization, there are six divisions: religious affairs, propaganda, engineering and maintenance, library management, Buddhist chanting materials, and financial management. In 1994, the core members in CLSTCC were all from Taiwan. In 1997, half of the core members in that committee were from Hong Kong.
The power structure adjustment, in fact, has not reduced the tensions between groups. However, it changed the superstructure of this temple. Table 3 highlights the transition of political power in two comparative years. In 1997, the Cantonese spoken members began to participate in the chanting affair, temple maintaining, and library management. They identify themselves as part of the leaders of this temple. But the most important positions, chairman of finance and president of LSCTT, are still in the hand of Taiwanese. The well-educated Taiwanese members contribute a lot to communicate with the host societies (African American and White American neighbors). That is the reason we can find ten American members in this temple (see footnote 18). In a way, the ethnic power structure is improved by allowing Cantonese into the committee. But the conflict was never stopped. In 1998, the harmony of different ethnic groups melts into air. Some Chinese member set a fire in a midnight. LSCTT was burned down and all the donating money was stolen. The case study of LSCTT makes us develop the following two hypotheses: (1) Greater alienation of a temple from proper Dharma is associated with greater members in a temple; (2) Greater alienation of a temple from proper Dharma is associated with greater organization in a temple.

Table 3: The Comparing Ethnic Power Structures in CLSTCC (1994 vs. 1997)

Religious Organization: LSCTT and TBS

The story of this South side temple, LSCTT, must relate to its world-based mother organization: True Buddha Sect (TBS). As the foregoing paragraphs show, the theology of True Buddha Sect belongs to “the radical alienation of the Proper Dharma.” The decline of the Proper Dharma in TBS and the charisma of Living Buddha Lian-Sheng, on the one hand, draws critics from the orthodox Buddhist association, on the other hand, however, increases the members and chapters of this organization . The organic linkage between the theology and scale of organization is based on the following general “bottom-up” process:

A radical alienation of Dharmasome core disciples gather at certain places
(i.e., enclaves) propose propaganda via pamphlets, True Buddha News and invited
Acharya from Seattle to teach the Dharma recruit new membersestablish Lotus Tan
(local faction)  establish temple-chapter  join in the big family, True Buddha Sect.

The alienation of the Proper Dharma ironically becomes very powerful for recruiting people and developing organizations in this Sect. It is because the Living Buddha creates a new Dharma, a mixture of different religious Dharma (Sutrayana, Tantric, and Taoist Dharma). For example, in the Sutryana tradition, it is quite unusual to practice mantras and use mantras during chanting or festival. The Tantric Buddhist tradition, however, use mantras and mantras a lot. We find they practice different kinds of mantras and mantras in their group practice text. Some of the mantras are for making money. Furthermore, mystical experiences are emphasized in a pamphlet (Amitabha series: 11). Countless “miracles” (i.e., empowerment, job seeking, sickness, initiation, prize winning, headache, back pain, vision of light, and healing of a sprain etc.) happened when people practice the new Dharma or even just name the Living Buddha’s name. The core members in certain places use these pamphlets, True Buddha News (if available) and practice text to recruit new members. After members more than a certain amounts, the core members organize a local faction, then a temple-chapter (it is always named by the Living Buddha himself), then it join the big family, True Buddha Sect. Take, LSCTT, the South side temple in Chicago as an example, In 1992-1994, before the temple was established, Leaders of Lotus Fan Society and Chicago True Buddha Society invited Acharyas (super-masters) from Vancouver, and Seattle to teach the Dharma in Chicago. In 1995, this temple was established and had their first Acharya. The current Acharya (super-master) Len-Tze (Purple Lotus) is a Taiwanese. He became a disciple of Living Buddha in 1984 and became a monk in 1993. He was empowered as an acharya and went to San Francisco in 1995. In 1996, he was invited by CLCSTT—the committee in Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple, Chicago chapter— to be the acharya in the temple. The chanting he leads is very professional but is very weird to me . The most popular Dharma he offered to public is not spiritual cultivation but the “expedient” practices for sentient Beings, especially the so-called “money tree method” (see footnote 7). The fundamental principles written by the Living Buddha and held by this temple are “honor the Guru, treasure the Dharma, and practice diligently,” which do not include social services.
Although World Lotus Light Charity Association (WLLCA)-Chicago chapter established in 1997, currently there is only one kind of social services: they donate food and rice to youth camp (for abandoned children). The Youth camp is located near Des Plain. The new Dharma really attracts many people to this temple, including young people.
There are twenty teenagers in this temple. I interview one of them (April 20, 1997): Menyan Liang, a thirteen years old junior high student who wears glasses.

Q. Where did you come from?
A. My parents come from China, Beijing.
Q. Where do you live now?
A. I live at the corner of 32nd street and Halsted street.
Q. Why do you come to this temple? Do you have fun here?
A. Well, my Mom wants me to be here and I don’t care. Have fun? I don’t know. My mom wants me here and I do as she asked.
Q. Can you play with other teenagers?
A. Ya, sometimes. We make friends when the temple has festival.
Q. Do you know whom Buddha is? What is the relationship between you and Buddha?
A. Mmmm (He thought about this question for 10 seconds)…Buddha is a Supreme Being, I think. She takes well care of my family and me. She protects us.
Q. Thank you, in fact, I’m a UIC graduated student and doing religious research. Do you mind I take a picture for you?
A. UIC? Ya, I know. I go to the Chinese language school of UIC every Saturday. Sure, I don’t mind.

As shown, the interview indicates LSCTT’s members not only go to the temple themselves, but also their family.

Finance Resources — “Donation as you like”

In this temple the financial resource is not come from any form of monthly donations but some charged services. Those services included (1) the setting of your “escorting gods”: The escorted gods is a Taoism concept. For escaping from evil spirit, it is necessary to write down individual names to settle inside the temple and let master chant for peace. (2) the setting of “bright light”: It is a Buddhist ritual. Light represents brightness and wisdom. It is useful to get rid of “black” (bad) karma via settling a bright light in temple. (3) the setting of ancestor’s soul: It is a folk god’s belief. It is very common this concept merged into Buddhist ritual. In this temple, the Ti-shen Buddha, a Buddha spent all of his/her time in hell for helping dead people. He/She is also famous as a controlled-ghost Buddha. ) room is functionally designed for this purpose. Again, the chanting group lead by master will take care of the setting. (4) to publish scriptures: It is a Buddhism concept. Buddhism believes that all the bad karma can be eliminated by donate money to publish scriptures. It also can help your dead family go to pure land. (5) general service: chanting teachings, enforced Buddha statue’s power, take refuge in Buddhism, and Dharma teachings.
It included mainly Buddhist scriptures mixed with Living Buddha’s own teachings. All the services are paid by people’s own will. How much does it pay for each service generally? For example, to donate money for publishing one thousand copies of Ti-shen Buddha scripture cost one thousand and five hundred U.S. dollars in 1996. Six people, Mao Ho-Gang, Mao Fong Kim-Yuo, Warren H. Tai, Yue-Shuo Tai, Tsei Yu-Tsuen Tai, and Mao Yu donated the money. In January 1997, there were twenty-three individual members and four family members donated totally six hundred and eighty-seven U.S. dollars to publish the same scripture. The smallest amount of donation was five dollars and the largest, two hundred dollars.

World Wide Webside of TBS : the Plausibility Superstructure
(1) True Buddha News: http//www.cosmo21.com/lotuslight/ (Vancouver)
(2) True Buddha School Net http//www.tbsn.org (UCLA)

The worldwide web side for this temple is www.tbsn.org. It was originally established by some of Living Buddha Lian-Sheng’s disciples, Master Allen Hou, David Wang, Alice Yong, and Tony Young, who are all computer science majored students in UCLA. In 1995, these members created English version home page for Wuei-Kang Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple (one chapter of TBS in Los Angels). They created electronic books, True Buddha news, and database to recruit new members. In 1996, Kevin Wang, an electronic engineering majored disciple, who graduated from University of Illinois at Chicago, with the help of other people decided to add monthly news of Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple-Chicago chapter to this web side. At the same time, he also created Chinese version for all Chinese to read the True Buddha Sect’s information in network. We can see they are improving this web side to all three hundred chapters in the whole world. Currently only chapters in North America are available.
The function of this home page is to enforce the mutual communication of True Buddha Sect. “Why can TBS create cross-cultural, cross-national influences?” Kevin Wang’s answer is that the simplicity of Living Buddha Lian-Sheng’s teaching. There are only three sentences: Honor your Guru (the living Buddha), Treasure his Dharma, Cultivate diligently (for both your spiritual cultivation and secular practice everyday).
In short, we can conclude that this Chicago South side temple is a world-based temple in terms of religious activities and beliefs. It is a community-based temple in terms of finance resources and social services. Theoretically speaking, due to the radical change of their theology, this temple and its mother organization: True Buddha Sect, are very difficult to be recognized as a Buddhist temple/organization. I cannot agree that the change is a “religious response to undergoing changed society,” as Layman (1976:17) suggested. The better explanation is that the Living Buddha, as an entrepreneur, “proclaims his vocation to people and has some sort of license, ordination, or credential (see Warner, 1993)” from his epiphany or imagined gods to do so. The organizational level is that the Living Buddha also creates a “plausibility superstructure (Lin, 1996:116)” as Master Hsing Yun did at Hsi Lai ssu in California. The difference is, True Buddha Sect’s plausible superstructure, existed not in a single temple but in different temples. For example, The Chicago South side temple is part of the cooperation of the World Wide Web sides originally created at TBS’s temple in Los Angles. True Buddha News was published at TBS’s temple in Singapore. Temples delivered the newspaper to worldwide all over the world every half-month. We can read this newspaper in Chicago’s temple too. Chinese True Buddha Tantric Association was established at TBS’s temple in Taiwan. It provides the knowledge of mantra and mantra to other temples. World Lotus Light Charity Association was established at Vancouver, Canada. It’s the Chicago chapter copies the social services paradigm. All these differential functions of temples form the “plausibility superstructure,” which contributes to the formation of the Chicago temple and its connection to worldwide.

Table 4: Example for “Donation as you like”: For Publishing Ti-Shen Buddha scripture

3-2. Story Two:.the Buddhist Friendship Association (BFA)

The short history of this Chicago North side temple is no less interesting than the South side one. From 1992 to 1995, the temple was called Kuan-Yin Temple. It was a Vietnamese Buddhist Pure-land temple. In 1995, this temple was moved to 5445 N. Broadway for expansion. In May 10, 1995, the key laity, Mr. Chun, and other pious Buddhist disciples, Mrs. Tzeng Chun In-Hai and Mr.Tzeng Zeng-tzai, rents the current place and renames the temple into the “Buddhist Friendship Association (BFA).” They wish to move this temple to a larger place in Argyle in the future. Mrs. Tzeng Chun In-Hai, is the wife of the boss of “Vietnamese-Chinese supermarket.” She is also the main financial donator of this temple. Mr.Tzeng Zeng-tzai is the brother of Mrs. Tzeng. He contributes most of his time to take care of miscellaneous affairs (i.e., as a doorman, to copy things, and to be a cameraman) in this temple. All these three key developers are Southeast ethnics Chinese. They are all “Sojourners”: people who are born in Mainland China and fled to Vietnam before coming to the U.S. (Yang, 1997). Mr. Chun and Mr. Tzeng can speak Mandarin very well. Mrs.Tzeng cannot speak fluid Mandarin but she belonged to the Mandarin-chanting group. The group is the soul of BFA.
The chanting group members– the “Sojourners”
Table 5 highlights background of the chanting group members, their ethnic identity, and other information. All these members are female Sojourners. All of them were born in Mainland China, seven of them fled to Vietnam, and one of them fled to Hong Kong before migrating to Chicago. The “Cultural China” ideology is still very strong with regard to linguistic preference and some Confucian values. Most of their dominant language is Mandarin, though they all speak fluid Vietnamese. Only Mrs. Tseng Chun In-Hai prefers to speak Vietnamese. The immigrant stories of these aged members are the same. For example, Mrs.Tzo Tzong-Fu’s father was a Kuomingtang soldier, who combated with Japanese army at Vietnam in World War II. Her father stayed at Saigon after the war. Mrs.Tzo Tzong-Fu was born in China and grew up at Saigon and emigrated to U.S. in 1975. This is a representative case for these “Sojourners.” The post-1965 Southeast Asian immigrants are reported include “first generation millionaires and topflight engineers and scientists; at the other extreme, they also include destitute refugees and undocumented workers (Le Espiritu and Light, in Numrich, 1997).
In 1975, most of these Sojourners were essentially destitute refugees and undocumented workers. They followed their husbands fled to Chicago and settled down at Argyle area. They created a very strong sense of ‘Gemeinshaft,’a symbolic meaning of BFA, makes the temple a community-based solidarity of these Sojourners. Almost all of the chanting group members lived in the Argyle area, except Yei Yen-Shen, who lived at suburb. Mrs. Yei is also the exception of these poor Sojourners. She is a well-paid Chinese medicine doctor and a pious Buddhism too. These entire Sojourners’ chanting histories are very long. Only Mrs. Mo Hei Sha chants less than ten years. The information indicates that BFA has a very experienced chanting group, although they get together chanting only two years (after this little temple was established). These strongly community-based chanting group members meet one another twice a week (Saturday and Sunday, from 9:00 am to 3:00 PM) and chant together for the morning and evening practices as any Sangha does. Because of lacking a regular Sangha staying at BFA, the experienced chanting group, thus, becomes the soul of this temple.

Table 5: The Chanting Group Members, Ethnic Identity, and Other Information

I join their chanting sometimes on Saturday or Sunday. Confucian gender value (“Man and woman cannot stay in a room alone”) was observed in March 23, 1997. After chanting with the group, I ask Mrs. Han to take me to the famous Vietnamese temple near BFA. She said O.K. But two minutes later she decided to postpone the date because she suddenly found the leading Sangha, the young female nun, Seang-tzang bhikshunis (see footnote 8), was alone with five male disciples. She said it is not good for a young female master to stay alone with all males in a temple. She insisted to stay in temple and waited for all other males to leave. She also said she was assigned to stay overnight with this young nun that night.
The Proper Dharma and Moral Solidarity: Financial Sources— “Eyes on the Wall”
Other than Confucian gender value, the basic precepts of Buddhist Proper Dharma also reinforce the temple’s solidarity, though they might express in a peculiar way. The financial sources of BFA are a good example. As discussed before, the basic Dharma for Pure-land Buddhists are not fighting, not being greedy, not seeking, not being selfish, not pursuing advantage, and not telling lies. The application of these rules to this temple, however, becomes the pressure of donation. There are “eyes on the wall.” Table 6 summarizes number of individuals and non-individual units and types of donation in this temple. There are two kinds of donations: monthly donation and founding donation. Monthly donation is donated by regular members and is used to pay for regular expense monthly, such as food, phone bill, house rent, gas, water, and power. Mainly general member, regular member, and visitors donate founding donation by chance. It is used to pay for Sangha’s expense, maintain of temple’s structure, and temple’s future development. All these information is posted on the wall.

Monthly donation, according to Table 6, is mainly from individuals. There are seventeen Vietnamese (at least their names are in Vietnamese out of the ninety-two individuals. All others are Southeast Asian ethnics Chinese. They sojourn from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Hmong, and Hong Kong. They donate monthly to this temple with different amount of money (most of them are less than fifteen dollars a week). “It really doesn’t matter how much money you donate, the important thing is a donation of consistency. It is a shame if you find you are the only one who has not yet donated for this month. Eyes are on the Wall! I was one of them last month and became ‘laughingstock’ I know,” Mrs. Han Lan-Yin said. We know that she was not laughed in public (Chinese “face” problem) but she feels a great pressure from this collect religious society. It is a psychological expression of “not pursuing advantage,” one of the fundamental precepts. These precepts become a foundation of moral solidarity of this Chicago North side temple. The same logic existed in the non-individual units of the founding donation too. Founding donation is also mainly come from individuals (384 out of 397). My calculation is based on the total random donation after this little temple was founded (1995-1997). An interesting finding is that all the units of non-individual donation, including retail shop, drugstore, gold shop, jewel shop, trade company, restaurant, supermarket, barber shop, watch shop, and gift shop, are located at the Argyle area. This result further supported the community base of this little temple. They are all business held by Vietnamese or Southeast Asian ethnic Chinese. They always show their respect to Sangha and invite Sangha to have lunch or dinner in their restaurants. ” I was very disappointed that one time Master Seang-Tzang went to another restaurant for lunch. I think maybe because I am too greedy. I went to Buddhist Friendship Association and donated more money,” Mr. Tseng said, he is the boss of Fu-Ling restaurant. “Every time Master Hsing Chen comes to our little temple,” Mr. Chun said, “he always stays at the small sleeping room we prepared for him. He likes gossip with disciples and disciples all love to sit around him. It is our honor to serve Master Hsing Chen with food, and even money, although I have different opinion with him in terms of developing this little temple. I respect his self-disciple always.”
Besides, note that the donations between these two sources are strongly correlated. Those eighty-six individuals who donate monthly have more than half of them also donate randomly, although most of them are poor. The main source of this little temple’s finance is come from the non-individual donation. Table 6 also addresses a highly correlation between the two kinds of donations in terms of non-individuals.

Table 6: Numbers and Types of Donation

Pure-Land Buddhist Temples without Boundary in Argyle
In fact, the members of this temple also visited other pure-land Buddhist temples in the Argyle area regardless of ethnicity. For example, Mrs. Han Lan-Yin, Vietnamese Chinese, comes to this temple one or half day every week for chanting. Before this temple was established, she visited Quang Minh Temple (Vietnamese pure-land Buddhist Temple, located in Lincoln Square) very often. I ask her: “Why you want to come to this Chinese temple in addition to the Vietnamese one?” She reply: (1) she identifies herself to be Chinese. She was told not to forget herself is a Chinese from childhood. She likes to go to a typical and accessible Chinese temple if there has one. (2) She also confesses some friends (i.e., the key developers, Mr. Chun Shen-chung and Mrs.Tzeng Chun In-Hai) want her to come to this new temple and help this temple for joining the chanting group. She said she still go to the Vietnamese temple one time every two weeks and chants there too. She said we should go to every temple as many as possible because this is a true Buddhist spirit! But Mrs. Han refused to communicate with Mexico-American or African American. “We always locked the door of our temple during weekday because they got used to harass our members,” Mrs. Han said, “You know, it is very tough to build a Chinese Buddhist temple even in Argyle. Our Mexico-American and African American neighborhood are hostile to us.” In the beginning, BFA and LSCTT face similar hostile attitude from the host societies although the temples intend to be located in enclaves (i.e., China Town and Vietnamese-Chinese Town). Regarding to the conflict with immigrant societies, LSCTT, because of its member’s well-educated background, enjoys better communication than BFA. Due to the case study, we develop the hypothesis: Greater alienation of a temple from proper Dharma is associated with a temple’s greater harmony to the challenge from immigrant societies.
In sum, I conclude that BFA is a strongly community-based religious organization in terms of religious activities, beliefs, and finance resources. It is a very young temple, struggling to survive in a comparative poor geographic location in Chicago. At the theological level, as I mention before, this temple belongs to the Proper Dharma category. Master Hsing Chen, and his student Seang-Tzang, although come to this temple occasionally, is all self-disciplined Sangha. They take those basic precepts seriously and teach all laity to follow those rules too. Comparing to LSCTT, the function of entrepreneur, is a key for BFA’s development. The difference is that the “entrepreneur” in BFA is not the Master (i.e., the Living Buddha in LSCTT) but the laity, Mr. Chun. There is no “plausibility superstructure” in this little temple, but a strong community-based structure. This community-based structure includes the intimate relationship among the Sangha, the entrepreneur, members of the chanting group, the individuals of donation and units of non-individuals of donation. The formation of this intimate relationship is all happened at the Argyle area, a Vietnamese and Southeast Asian ethnic Chinese community. They migrate from China, Vietnam, and other Southeast Asian countries to Chicago. Comparing to LSCTT’s distinguishable ethnic groups, most of regular member in BFA is Sojourner. BFA’s type of religious organization, obviously different from LSCTT’s, belongs to the “communal” one: “a group of persons gathers by way of their own self-recognition as a category, typically through a migration process (Warner, 1993).” In 1999, BFA moved to a larger, and better neighborhood in Argyle area. We can expect an expansion of BFA in the future.
4. Conclusion
Is there any general pattern of transition of these religious organizations? The Hsi Lai ssu and the Chicago South side temple, LSCTT, are good examples. The City of Ten Thousand Buddha’s theology is still followed the Proper Dharma and its organization is also very large. What will happen to the City of Ten Thousand Buddha? How will BFA develop in the future? Will this little temple transit into a larger temple without changing its theology? Will BFA devlop greater harmony with immigrant society after expansion? According to the paper, three general hypotheses are developed: (1) Greater alienation of a temple from proper Dharma is associated with greater members in a temple﹔(2) Greater alienation of a temple from proper Dharma is associated with greater organization in a temple﹔(3) Greater alienation of a temple from proper Dharma is associated with a temple’s greater harmony to the challenge from immigrant societies. These hypotheses are worthy to be explored by Scholars.

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