ABSTRACT
I-Kuan Tao originated from China and spread to Taiwan in 1945. Since then, it has been developing continuously from the imposition and the lifting of martial law to the present day, propagated at the meantime from Taiwan to more than eighty countries. I-Kuan Tao’s smooth adaptation to societal changes, its divine transcendence as a religion and its cultivation of a holy and mundane life are the reasons why it is not perishing. While traditional views are dying out gradually due to the rapid rise of information across the internet, I-Kuan Tao’s pioneering power is magnified by its ability to advance with the times. Furthermore, the Chong-De Tao Society accounts for more than half of I-Kuan Tao’s global growth, making it a worthy research topic in the academic study of religion.
This study explores the development of the Chong-De Tao Society, along with its religious organizational structure, its faith group’s agency, and its adaptability to modern society. Chapter 1 presents the motivation, the literature review, the problem statement, purpose, and the analytical framework of this research. Chapter 2 investigates the historical origin of Fa-Yi Chong-De Tao Society, including the cultivation and propagation journey of its leader Senior Elder Chen, the origin of the name “Fa-Yi Chong-De” and Chong-De’s philosophy and practices. Chapter 3 narrates the process of Fa-Yi Chong-De’s organizational reconstruction, during which there were four critical events: the great setback and reconstruction of 1980; the Three Holy Assemblies held by Senior Elder Chen in 2011 in an effort to resolve many controversies within Chong-De; the Chong-De Committee-in-charge’s frictional adjustment period; the “Continuation of the Tao Lineage Event”, which revived Chong-De’s cohesiveness toward organizational leadership. Chapter 4 analyzes the management of both sacred and mundane affairs by the Tao Society’s company, the CDF Virtues enterprise (Chong-De Fa Business), and argues that the cultural division of this business needs to make strategic changes in order to adapt to future changes and remain dominant. Chapter 5 approaches the predicaments and prospects of Chong-De’s inheritance and development, aiming to find solutions to problems such as how to increase the younger generations’ involvement in the Tao society, how to train holy mediums, and how to preserve the Tao lineage. Chapter 6 is the conclusion. This paper proposes new directions for the developmental change of Chong-De. Chong-De’s collective leadership serves as a paradigm among Chinese religions. Only continuous succession and development would bring about the expansion of all I-Kuan Tao branches’ Tao propagation and the actualization of cooperation among different religions for the good of mankind. This is the goal of religious dissemination.