當代學者雖然已有不少人從事研究和出版臺灣佛教史的相關著作，但彼等一直未能就解嚴後所謂佛教「在家教團」的歷史現象，做有系統的深入探討。特別關於當代臺灣兩個著名的「在家教團」：「佛教現代禪菩薩僧團」和「佛教維鬘傳道協會」，為何會出現快速崛起後又逐漸面臨轉型的困難呢？有必要探討。再者，由於解嚴後臺灣佛教的兩大「在家教團」組織，在法律上是完全合法的，並彼等在社會傳播時，雖出現有關於佛教思想詮釋的爭論或佛教倫理如何調整的問題，但其呈現的卻是具有豐富宗教文化內涵、深度思想意義和普遍受歡迎的歷史現象。所以，它們究竟是被「外在性」的社會因素所拒斥或淘汰？或是被教團本身的「內在性」因素所導致的「頓挫」所致？所以本文研究的切入點，是以「在家教團」為分析概念，就解嚴前後的佛教環境、「在家教團」的崛起、教團創始人的宗教背景和主張、教團成員的認同和影響，以及彼等可能遭遇的「外在性拒斥」或「內在性頓挫」（限於篇幅，本文主要是討論「內在性頓挫」原因）之過程和因素等，作一系統的相關研究史回顧和檢討。

The applicant, having been doing research and publishing works on
the history of Buddhism in Taiwan over the last fifteen years, is yet to
systematically explore the historical phenomenon of the “Group of Home
Buddhism” in depth since the lifting of marshal law. Especially inasmuch as the two famous groups, Mahayana bodhisattva sangha of Modern Zen and
The Weiman Preach Association, are concerned, why did they rapidly rise
and then increasingly face transformative diffi culties?This is highly researchable. Besides, since the lifting of marshal law, the two groups were totally lawful. While they were communicating socially,they were presenting a historical phenomenon with rich religious, cultural
internality, profound thinking meaning, and wide popularity, despite their
controversies over how to interpret the Buddhist thoughts or how to adjust
the Buddhist ethics.Therefore, they were ruled out by the sudden stoppage of their groups’own internal factor instead of external social factors. Hence, the project is to be conducted by fi rst treating the “Group of Home Buddhism” as an analytical concept in the perspective of the modernization and secularization of Taiwan’s Buddhism nearly over the last century. Then, it aims to systematically as well as deeply analyze the two groups in terms of the Buddhist environments before and after the lifting of marshal law, the religious backgrounds and doctrines of their founders, the identifi cation and effects of their group members, and the process and factors of the “internal stoppage.”