Chinese folk religion played an important role in strengthening ties between families in village temple communities, but in so doing it created boundaries between one temple community and another. Moreover, with the mass migration to urban areas over the past fifty years, the great majority of the population no longer lives in local rural communities. This paper, based on survey and interview data in addition to secondary sources, wi l l argue that Taiwan's new Buddhist groups (Tzu Chi ??, Foguangshan ???, Fagushan ???, Lingjiushan ???, Fuzhi ??, and Zhongtai Chansi ????) not only have a positive effect on community formation by providing venues where like-minded people can get to know each other, the communities created are inclusive, vitiat ing ethnic/ political divisions in Taiwan.