The museum is like a temple: the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum in Taiwan1

Abstract

This article describes how a museum built by the Taiwanese Fo Guang Shan (FGS), one of the largest Buddhist groups on the island, triggers emotions and spirituality in its visitors. We explore how the conceptualization of materiality by the founder of FGS, Hsing Yun, is presented to visitors at the FGS Buddha Museum (FGS-BM) and how Humanistic Buddhism is materially expressed at the museum. By analysing the museum space and investigating visitors’ responses to the FGS-BM through ethnographic research, we describe how the FGS uses material artefacts, museum space and embodied activities to communicate Buddhist ideology to the laity, triggering some visitors’ emotions and leading some to describe the museum as being similar to a temple.

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