In February 2025, our postdoctoral researcher Dr. Laurent Van Cutsem returned from an enriching six-month stay as a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Research on Ancient Books 古籍研究所 at Zhejiang University 浙江大學 in Hangzhou 杭州. His host was Prof. Feng Guodong 馮國棟, a leading expert on the Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄, a landmark Chan historiographical text originally compiled in 1004 by the monk Daoyuan 道源 (d.u.).
During his time in China, Dr. Van Cutsem presented papers at three international conferences. The first was International Conference “Canonical, Non-Canonical and Extra-Canonical: Interdisciplinary and Multi-media Studies of the Formation, Translation and Transmission of Buddhist Texts 佛教典籍的成立與傳譯視閾下的佛教中國化,” co-organized by The Wutai Shan Institute of Buddhism and Eastern Asian Culture 五臺山東方佛教文化研究院, the FROGBEAR project at the Univ. of British Columbia, and the Institute for Ethics and Religions Studies 道德與宗教研究院 at Tsinghua Univ. 清華大學 and held at Great Bamboo Grove Monastery 大聖竹林 on Mt. Wutai 五臺山 (August 11–15, 2024). Dr. Van Cutsem’s paper focused on focused on the role of Ānanda in Tang-Song Chan hagiography.
The second was International Conference “Cross-Regional and Cross-Cultural Interaction and Integration between Buddhism and Other Asian Religions 佛教與亞洲宗教跨地域與跨文化的互鑒與共融” (August 16–19, 2024), organized by the Center for Buddhist Culture Studies 佛教文化研究中心 at Zhejiang University 浙江大學, in collaboration with the Glorisun Global Network of Buddhist Studies, with administration support from the FROGBEAR project at the Univ. of British Columbia. Dr. Van Cutsem’s paper explored quotations from the influential Baolin zhuan 寶林傳 preserved in the little-studied 14th-century Keitoku dentō shōroku 景德傳燈鈔錄.
At the third conference—“Buddhist Civilization and Manuscript Culture along the Silk Road” 絲綢之路上的佛教文明與寫本文化 (Zhejiang University, November 15–18, 2024), organized by Prof. Hou Haoran 侯浩然—he presented research on the Shengzhou ji 聖冑集 and the Dunhuang manuscript Or.8210/S.4478. In addition to his presentation, he also served as a discussant for Prof. Kirill Solonin’s paper on Tangut-language Chan texts from the Western Xia 西夏 empire.
While at Zhejiang University, Dr. Van Cutsem attended select classes by Imre Galambos and Zhang Yongquan 張湧泉, both renowned specialists in Dunhuang studies and manuscript culture. He also did archival research and exchanged ideas about his ongoing projects with several professors, including Feng Guodong, Imre Galambos, Dou Huaiyong 竇懷永, and Chen Ruifeng 陳瑞峰.
He returned to Ghent with a rich collection of photographs documenting sites associated with the Zutang ji 祖堂集, another key Chan historiographical text compiled in Quanzhou 泉州 in the mid-10th century and the central focus of his Ph.D. dissertation, and from his visits of several museums and special exhibitions in Hangzhou.
