Becoming Buddhists: The emergence of a prestigious temple

Abstract

AbstractHow does a novel organizational prototype come about and succeed to the point where it becomes recognized as an icon? To address this question, this article examines the organizational emergence of a prestigious temple. Drawing on interviews and content analysis of 6320 blog entries between 2006 and 2018, we identify how an organized way of practicing Buddhism emerged in China and trace its founding monks to students from two elite universities. We argue that organizational emergence—in this case the rise of a prestigious temple and what it stands for—was manifested by identity claims of “who we are” to audiences. Declaring “who we are not” prior to establishing this temple, the founding monks subsequently claimed their organizational identity in three distinct stages: who we are in this temple, who we are as a temple, and who we are as Buddhism. As these identity claims were recognized by the audiences, a novel Buddhist organization emerged. This article contributes to an organizational perspective of religious study and provides a focused case with sufficient temporary variations to explore how identity claims facilitate organizational emergence. It has important implications for understanding incremental yet fundamental institutional changes, as it provides a template of organized religion that nurtures social skills for self‐organizing. More broadly, these insights contribute toward developing a vibrant civil society.