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Concept
Buddha-like mindset
Summary
Buddha-like (), or fo xi using its Chinese pronunciation, is a buzzword used in China to describe young people who reject the rat race of the contemporary workaholic Chinese society in favour of a tranquil, apathetic life. The term is a neologism combination of two Chinese characters: "fó" (), meaning "Buddha"; and "xì" (), meaning "series" or "school". Young people who uphold the Buddha-like mindset are referred to as Buddha-like youths () or Generation Zen.
The term originated in a 2014 issue of the Japanese women's fashion magazine Non-no to refer to Japanese men who had progressed from being herbivore men to being monk-like men who consider it too exhausting to even bother interacting with women and enjoy being by themselves. The term has also been applied to numerous areas, such as parenting, employment, online shopping, fandom, dating, and interpersonal relationships. Although the word is inspired by the Buddhist doctrine of becoming spiritually satisfied through giving up anything tied to avarice, it is not a Buddhist principle.
The "Buddha-like" label is primarily adopted by young Chinese men from the post-90s and post-00s generations referring to their less-than-optimistic life outlook, although some post-80s experiencing quarter-life crises also admit subscribing to the mindset. Stressed out by poor job prospects, decreased life satisfaction, increasingly stagnant social mobility, disappointing romantic life, familial complications of the one-child policy, and soaring housing prices, youths have adopted the term to maintain their fortitude and as a backlash against society's high expectations. For example, the adherents of Buddha-like parenting would say that "there are not that many kids who will really amount to much, so why give them an exhausting childhood?" Advertisers have also used the term to market their products. In the technology industry, the Buddha-like mindset is seen as promoting work–life balance and thus the polar opposite of the 996 working hour system.
Official source
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