摘要
Article 9 of the Regulations on Religious Affairs revised in 2017 stipulates that“national religious bodies and religious bodies of the provinces,autonomous regions,or municipalities directly under the Central Government may,based on the needs of their religions,select and send people for overseas religious study and accept foreigners for religious study in China.Other organizations or individuals shall not select and send people for overseas religious study and accept foreigners for religious study in China.”The Buddhist Association of China(BAC)began to send monastics abroad for further study in the early stage of China’s reform and opening up,initially to Japan and Sri Lanka,and later to countries such as Thailand,South Korea,and Singapore.The number of officially-sponsored personnel being sent abroad was rather small in the 1980s and 1990s,and the purpose was mainly to learn successful experience regarding management and educational systems from Japan,South Korea,as well as from Theravada Buddhism,in order to broaden the international perspective of Chinese Buddhism and to serve the rejuvenation of Chinese Buddhism.The officially-sponsored monastics being sent abroad for further study were mainly selected from the students or graduates of the Buddhist Academy of China,and they maintained close contact with the BAC.Since the 20th century,the number of officially-sponsored Buddhist monastics being sent abroad has increased dramatically,with the overseas studies at the Buddhist College of Singapore(BCS)being the largest in scale and the most systematic.The Buddhist Academy of China recruited students nationwide and organized unified examinations to screen and admit students who would go to the Buddhist College of Singapore.The monastics studying there mainly received undergraduate education,with an aim of academic construction and sustainable development of Han Buddhism(汉传佛教),as well as strengthening monastic management and overseas propagation.Since the reform and opening up,along with the develop
