YIXING, China — For most of her life, Shen Ying was disappointed by the world she saw around her. She watched China’s economic rise in this small city in the Yangtze River Valley, and she found a foothold in the new middle class, running a convenience store in a strip mall. Yet prosperity felt hollow. Continue reading

YIXING, China — During a visit last fall to the Temple of Great Awakening, the sprawling complex built by the Buddhist organisation Fo Guang Shan in Yixing, we were greeted by an unexpected host: the Venerable Master Hsing Yun, the group’s founder and one of modern China’s most prominent religious figures. Continue reading