ABSTRACT
The relevance of religious institutions to democratization process in Taiwan represents a marginal area of study in Western scholarship, with the exception of the literature on the Presbyterian Church. This perhaps reflects that the research in Chinese has not paid attention to the role of religious movements in the transition toward democracy. One of the glaring gaps in people knowledge involves the most important religious traditions of Taiwan, Buddhism and no scholar has written on the organizations involvement belonging to that tradition in contemporary Taiwanese politics. Buddhist leaders have avoided opposing the government since the Nationalist Party established its control over Taiwan in 1945 and they have maintained that attitude toward the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government. The pace of democratization and the uncertainties it presents for the continuing growth of Buddhist organizations may explain the organization's attitude toward democracy, but do not say much about the political values they stand for if they decided to become involved in politics.
