In the Name of “Science”

The intellectual journey of Buddhist studies in modern China serves as a critical lens through which to examine a traditional culture in its encounter with modernity. This study explores how science, initially a methodology, progressively gained the status of an “axiom,” profoundly reshaping the standards of legitimacy of traditional Buddhist thought. An analysis of key figures like Master Taixu and Ouyang Jingwu and significant events such as the debate between Hu Shih and D. T. Suzuki about Zen reveals the profound existential anxiety experienced by traditional values in the age of scientism. The mechanical transplantation of natural science methods into the humanities often leads to a flattening of rich life experiences, culminating in paradigm conflicts. As science transitions from a method to a pervasive ideology, restoring a humanistic stance to traditional cultures is essential for meaningful cross-civilizational dialogue and preventing the absorption of those cultures by modern rationality

Buddhism · China · Existentialism · Humanism · Legitimacy · Natural (archaeology) · Scientism · Sketch · Westernization · Chinese history and philosophy · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond · Indian and Buddhist Studies