| Summary: | To explore how Chinese Buddhists acted as trailblazers of Engaged Buddhism, I shall analyze a late nineteenth-century thinker, Tan Sitong 譚嗣同 (1865–1898). The focus of my analysis is his masterpiece, <em>Renxue</em> 仁學. From his position of Buddhist eclecticism, Tan discoursed at length on non-differentiation as the truth of the universe to reflect on the creative disposition of human agency. He described in <em>Renxue</em> how this disposition would contribute to the agendas defining Chinese modernity. In addition, discussing the meanings of non-differentiation, Tan also generalized about the nature of the human agency he attempted to advocate: while he perceived the human agency blessed with a non-differentiating mindset as an omnipotent history-making force, he also argued that it did not confer upon its owner the status of world savior. In fact, in his view, the efficacy of a non-differentiating mind was determined by the world it aimed to help. Tan's signature piece, I argue, provides a lens through which we can observe modern Chinese Buddhism's role as an important part of the global formation of Engaged Buddhism.
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