The Virtuous Cycle of Love" : Affects, debt and morality in Tzu Chi

摘要：
In Tzu Chi, the biggest Buddhist charity in Taiwan, the logic of volunteering is articulated through the idea of a "virtuous cycle of love" (愛的循環) : by helping selflessly, the volunteers will inspire recipients to, in turn, help others. Based on an ongoing ethnographic fieldwork in Taipei and Hualien since 2024, this paper examines the concrete mechanisms through which this cycle is produced, internalized, and sustained. Drawing on the anthropology of the gift, I examine how the practice of "testimony-sharing" (分享) functions as a device for converting affects - "being moved" (感動) - into a moral obligation to "give back" (回饋). By asking what this "cycle of love" enables and what does it foreclose, I will interrogate what kind of moral subjects and social bonds this process produces, and the ways it shapes how suffering is interpreted and responded to.

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聯絡人：林音秀  （02）2652-3484  world66@as.edu.tw