Abstract:

Auntie Li represents many lay Buddhists as she wrestles with the question of how to do a good job as a Buddhist when that is sometimes in tension with her business and other aspects of Chinese society. This chapter explores four dimensions of this question as they play out in Auntie Li’s story. First, we look at her practices to see what she does when explicitly doing religious practice. Next, we examine her pathway into Buddhism. Her story of how she got involved not only represents a typical path, but also reveals some important anxieties and tensions around how to define and embody a “good Buddhist” in post-Socialist China. Finally, Auntie Li tells us how she negotiates the tensions between business and Buddhism: how to be a “good Buddhist” with the hectic pace and moral ambiguities of living a “normal” lay life – especially as a small entrepreneur?

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