During The Period Of The Republic Of China, Foye Was In Prison For Teaching Research

Not only did western prisons have a long tradition in religious edification,but prisons of ancient China had such records of Buddhist edification.However,in the Republic of China,it was because of the prison reformation movement,and the dilemma of the secular society that the preaching of Buddhism and Christianity in prison could have legality and necessary,namely as a part of reformatory education——religious prison moralization.Therefore,Buddhism and Christianity could not preach to prisoners nationwide without the acquiescence or support of the central or local government.On the whole,Buddhism received more support from the government than Christianity.In nature,are inmates the same as the outsider?Can prisoners reform themselves through religious edification?The affirmative answer of the secular and religious made prison preaching effective in theory.Buddhism and Christianity had two similar motives in prison preaching,namely,saving the soul/curing the mind and saving the body/curing the body.And the former is more fundamental than the latter.Preachers could not only preach Buddhism/Christianity by words,but by behaviours.In practice,the latter was more important than the former sometimes.Not all prison preachers could achieve satisfactory results.The effectiveness of prison preaching was often influenced by preachers,prison officers and co-prisoners.In essence,whether converted to Buddhism/Christianity was determined by prisoners themselves,and the above three could only be the extrinsic reason.There were a common understanding between Buddhism and Christianity that the situation of being imprisoned made it easier for inmates to convert to Buddhism/Christianity than the outsider.Was the inmates’ conversion true or false?This issue was of concern not only to Buddhism/Christian but also to the secular society.Inmates’motivation for conversion to Buddhism/Christianity is plural and can be not only religious but secular.Even some inmates’ conversion was effective only during the period of imprisonment.Buddhism and Christianity had the legitimacy to enter prison for their function of moralization.From conscience reflection,compliance with prison rules,recidivism and social integration,it can be seen that Buddhism/Christianity had positive significance for inmates’ realization of secular renewal,but that was not a sufficient and necessary condition.In the period of the Republic of China,it was not uncommon for prisoners to participate in religious activities.Among reciting Namo Amitabha,participating baptism and sacrament/pastoralism could enhance the sense of belonging of converts to Buddhism/Christianity and give inmates the dual power of religion and the secular.In contrast to other prisoners,it was more urgent to save condemned prisoners,taking Buddhist and Christian care of condemned prisoners before the death penalty as a case in point,which can not only build a dialogue between preachers and the being preached but also between religion and secularism.Thus in the multi-interaction,to observe the prison preaching of Buddhism and Christianity.From the ideal state of view,preachers were not only preaching to prisoners,but also to themselves;while cultivating inmates’ faith,but also to cultivate their own faith;while cultivating criminals’ conscience,but also to cultivate their own conscience.Prison preaching provided not only the opportunity to practice faith for preachers but also the opportunity to understand their faith,to dialogue with faith and to improve themselves.