Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/True Buddha School


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep‎__EXPECTED_UNCONNECTED_PAGE__. I'm seeing a consensus here that there is encyclopedic information on this topic, but a merger was not discussed enough to preclude a future merge discussion. Vanamonde93 (talk) 22:44, 14 January 2024 (UTC)

True Buddha School

 * – ( View AfD View log | edits since nomination)

Not notable. No in-depth coverage by RS. Title should re-direct to article about its founder Lu Sheng-yen. HouseOfChange (talk) 17:46, 7 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Religion-related deletion discussions. HouseOfChange (talk) 17:46, 7 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Organizations, Buddhism, Taiwan,  and Washington.  Spiderone (Talk to Spider) 17:57, 7 January 2024 (UTC)

Keep per the significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources.  The book notes: "Contrast the English printed materials at this temple with those at one of our Buddhist project sites, Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple, Chicago. Here the visitor receives booklets and periodicals produced by the temple's parent organization, the True Buddha School (TBS), and prominently featuring its founder, Grand Master Sheng-yen Lu. These materials often include a list of more than two dozen TBS local chapters throughout North America, plus the home temple in Redmond, Washington, after which the Chicago temple is named. The content reflects the syncretic nature of the True Buddha School, which combines elements of Tantric Buddhism and indigenous Chinese religions and claims psychic and healing powers for Master Lu. Perusal of the True Buddha School's Web site reveals the strong sectarian identity of the group. ... This form of Buddhism is far different from the modernist Buddhism of the temple described above. In fact, a modernist Buddhist would denounce the type of empowerment promoted by the True Buddha School as nonrational, even superstitious. This group's sectarian expressions of Buddhism do not have the same appeal to non-Buddhist inquirers as modernist Buddhism. Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple has not moved very far in its civic engagement. The temple is not affiliated ..."  The book notes: "The True Buddha School teaches a form of Gelugpa Buddhism that begins for members in their taking refuge in the Three Gems of Buddhism—the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha (that is, Buddha, Truth, and Fellowship)—and additionally in the guru, their teacher. Members are taught a form of Buddhist practice that includes a daily cultivation through the recitation of Buddhist sutras, the calling upon the name of Amitabha Buddha (as in Pure Land Buddhism), and visualization of their receiving empowerment from the pantheon of Buddhist deities. This practice is believed to lead individuals to Buddhahood (enlightenment)." The book later notes: "The True Buddha School is one of a half dozen new Buddhist groups to emerge in Taiwan in the last generation, but is unique in adopting a Vajrayana perspective a fact that has set it in opposition to some of the Taiwanese-based Chan and Pure Land organizations. Some five million people have taken refuge in Grand Master Lu, though only a minority of those have gone on to become active members of the school and attendees at one of its centers."  The book notes: "The True Buddha School is a controversial group among the Chinese sangha due to Lu's innumerable claims in his writings and lectures to extraordinary religious experiences and spiritual attainments. Lu admits that in the course of his career he has received massive criticism particularly from the dominant Chinese Buddhist sangha. ... In spite of the worldwide presence of the True Buddha School which currently has 282 chapters (True Buddha School Net), Lu advocates group practice but not necessarily the building of temples. He believes that the collective mind present during group practice is optimum in securing one's goal. The earliest organizations of TBS had no formal structure and some were housed in an apartment or a house or commercial buildings. But the diamond masters (meaning the lineage holders) were handpicked by Master Lu based on a system of astrology and intuition. The masters can be married. Because they are deemed to be incarnated masters, their status is much higher than the monks and nuns in the order. ... True Buddha School Comes to Canada. The earliest temple of the TBS in Canada is the PTT Buddhist Society (formerly Pu Te Town) at 514 Keefer Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. With 6,000 square feet including the basement, it was converted from a Christian church and modelled after the Potala Palace in Lhasa. The second temple in Canada was the Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple (Jim Sim Branch) at 18 Trojan Gate, Unit A&B, Scarborough, Ontario inside a commercial building. The TBS currently has eleven chapters in Canada."  The book notes: "The True Buddha school emerged in the 1990s out of the life and experience of Master Lu Shen-Yen (1945). Master Lu had a deep religious experience in 1971 that led him from his Christian upbringing into a period of seeking, study, and learning. ... As of 2005, the students of the True Buddha School (TBS) had established more than 300 centers for TBS practice and worship. These temples operate independently of Master Lu and the school’s international leadership but receive a charter and basic guidelines from the school. Participation in a center is not required, but most students find the local centers and the senior disciples in residence helpful to their progress. Master Lu has appointed a number of teaching masters. It is from among the teaching masters that a central committee is selected to oversee the school internationally. It oversees, for example, publishing and outreach programs. These have somewhat gone hand in hand, and while the school is still based primarily in the Chinese diaspora, a concerted effort has begun to translate Master Lu's writings into different local languages from Malay and Indonesian to English, French, Spanish, and Russian."  The book notes: "the True Buddha School 真佛宗, which was founded in 1969 through the revelation of a spirit medium of a Cihuitang spirit-writing temple to a member of the Presbyterian Church, Lu Shengyan 盧勝彥 (b. 1945). In the revelation, Lu Sheng-yan was ordered to accept instructions from Taoist masters, with whom he studied for a few years; eventually he turned increasingly to Tibetan Buddhism. The True Buddha School, which established its headquarters in Seattle, Washington, USA, in the early 1990s, offered practitioners a combination of body cultivation and meditation with congregational participation in Tantric rituals, as well as a relatively easy progression through a spiritual hierarchy. Mail-order initiations could be conferred through visualizations, by sending an application card and check to the head office in Seattle. In this fashion, the number of "members" increased from 40,000 in 1984 to 4 million in 1996." <li> The book notes: "The True Buddha School, a relatively new esoteric Buddhist group based on Taichung, has built a large following from Korea to Japan and ..."</li> <li> The article notes: "The True Buddha School belongs to an esoteric form of Buddhism known as the Diamond Vehicle or Vajrayāna (mizong 密宗). Its members are mostly Chinese. It was started in 1973 in Taiwan but it also attracts members from Chinese communities all over the world. The school calculated the number of its members in 1984 as forty thousand, but in twelve years it had increased one hundred times and numbers over four million today. We were told that their membership count is based on the issuance of membership certificates. Anyone who wishes to "take refuge" in the founder of the school would do so either by going directly to the headquarters of the school, which is now in Seattle, or by sending a letter of request together with a sum of money in a red envelope. An initiation ritual called consecration or empowerment (guanding 灌頂) can be done in person or by remote initiation (yaoguan 遙灌) that involves a magic performance by the founder of the school (sending of deities to carry out the consecration) and a visualization of the consecration process by the would-be disciple. The convenience of having the form of remote initiation certainly helps the school to develop fast."</li> <li> The book notes: "A recent development in the teachings of the True Buddha School is an attempt to integrate the Chan School of thought with the Tantric teachings in the form of commentary on the Chan text Wudeng Huiyuan 五燈會元 (Lu 2005, Bk 182; 2006, Bk 184, 188; 2007 Bk 192, 195; 2008, Bk 199; 2009, Bk 207, 211). Emphasis is put on the potentiality for Buddhahood that existed embryonically within all sentient beings as the womb of the Tathāgata (tathāgatagarbha). This new development uses Chan concepts, such as the idea of a teaching that does not rely on the written word but instead points directly to the human mind. The analysis of this process of integration of Chan Buddhism with Tantric Buddhism in the True Buddha School, however, has to be addressed in a future publication."</li> </ol>There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow True Buddha School to pass Notability, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject". Cunard (talk) 00:28, 8 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for finding these good sources, which I failed to find. I searched News for mentions, but I failed to search books or scholarly research. The article needs real improvement from sources like these. HouseOfChange (talk) 03:10, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

</li></ul> Relisting comment: Relisting, I'd like to hear further review of newly found sources. Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Liz <sup style="font-family: Times New Roman; color: #006400;">Read! Talk! 22:41, 14 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Merge to Lu Sheng-yen: I don't think the above is SIGCOV, and this will fit well and improve the target article. Right now both the article have questionable notability, together along with the sources above they make one passable article. Ping me if there is a strong argument for reversing the merge order.  // Timothy :: talk  04:33, 14 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Keep per Cunard's sources above. The religious school appears to be notable. A source in a non-English language is not a problem, but the article needs improvement in terms of sources. We should not consider votes from auto-delete voters like above. 1.47.195.61 (talk) 14:37, 14 January 2024 (UTC)
 * <p class="xfd_relist" style="margin:0 0 0 -1em;border-top: 1px solid #AAA; border-bottom: 1px solid #AAA; padding: 0px 2em;"> Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. <b style="color:red">Please do not modify it.</b> Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.