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On February 18, 2026, early career researchers of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies participated in a meeting with Aike Rots, Professor of East Asian Religions at the University of Oslo. The discussion was moderated by GCBS member Dr. Paride Stortini. Professor Rots introduced his current and upcoming externally funded projects, including the ERC Consolidator Grant project Maritime Goddesses: Transnational Connections, Blue Environments, and Ritual Care in East and Southeast Asia (MARGO; 2026–2031), and Coastal Lives in Flux: Environmental Crisis, Resistance, and Ritual Innovation Across Asia (CLiF; 2026–2030), funded by the Norwegian Research Council (FRIPRO). Earlier in his career, he was awarded an ERC Starting Grant for the project Whales of Power: Aquatic Mammals, Devotional Practices, and Environmental Change in Maritime East Asia (WhoP; 2019–2025), which is now resulting in a monograph. He is also the author of Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan: Making Sacred Forests (Bloomsbury, 2017).

Drawing on his extensive experience with competitive funding, Professor Rots shared practical advice on writing strong grant proposals, especially for applicants to the European Research Council grants and Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowships. He noted that one common pitfall is that proposals can become too heavy with theory or specialized jargon, making it difficult for reviewers to clearly grasp the core idea of the project. Clear and straightforward language helps reviewers quickly understand what the project is about and why it matters. He also encouraged applicants to make sure they are proposing a project they truly want to carry out and can realistically complete within the given timeframe.

Professor Rots further emphasized the importance of being concrete about how time and funding will be used. A strong proposal should clearly describe planned activities, such as research tasks, collaboration with PhD students or postdoctoral researchers, fieldwork, and publication strategies, including open-access dissemination where relevant. For individual fellowships in particular, it is crucial to demonstrate a good fit with the host institution and supervisors, and to explain how both sides will benefit from the collaboration. He also suggested reading successful proposals when possible and politely asking colleagues for advice, while respecting confidentiality.

The meeting concluded with an extended Q&A session, during which participants discussed their own project ideas and raised practical questions about application procedures. The exchange provided valuable insights and inspiration for researchers preparing future grant applications.

The first meeting of the Chinese Reading Group of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies this year featured a presentation by Yuchen Liou, a joint PhD candidate at National Chengchi University and Ghent University. Her research focuses on Chinese Buddhism, particularly Esoteric Buddhism of the Tang dynasty. Her dissertation, “Tang Society and the Formation of Chinese Buddhist Rituals: Contrasting Royal and Local Rituals,” examines rituals for “Protecting the Country and Preventing Calamities,” with special attention to the role of astrology in ritual practice.

In this and several upcoming sessions, the reading group is studying the esoteric ritual manual “Supreme Buddha Crown Buddha Cultivation Ritual Manual” 尊勝佛頂脩瑜伽法軌儀, translated by Śubhakarasiṃha (善無畏, 637–735). The meeting provided a forum for close reading of primary sources, focusing this time of the opening verses of the text, and stimulated discussion of methods for studying Chinese Esoteric Buddhist ritual texts, emphasizing the need to compare electronic versions available through CBETA with earlier witnesses preserved amid Dunhuang manuscripts.

We are pleased to welcome Arghyadip Mondal and Zhengyan Fan as new PhD researchers at the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS). They join Prof. Charles DiSimone’s ERC Starting Grant project, “Corpora in Greater Gandhāra: Tracing the development of Buddhist textuality and Gilgit/Bamiyan manuscript networks in the first millennium of the Common Era.”

Arghyadip Mondal‘s academic work lies at the intersection of Buddhist Studies, Sanskrit philosophy, manuscript cultures, and comparative literature. He holds a Master’s degree in Sanskrit from Jadavpur University, specializing in Advaita Vedānta, and he has graduated with top academic distinctions throughout his studies.

His research interests include Indian and Buddhist philosophy, manuscriptology and palaeography, gender and ecological thought in classical literature, and cross-cultural literary reception. He is trained in several classical and modern languages, including Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, German, English, Bengali, and Hindi, and he has teaching experience in Sanskrit, German, and English. Alongside his academic work, he is actively involved in social education initiatives and perform Bengali folk music and Rabindra Saṅgīt.

Zhengyan Fan received an M.A. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Hamburg (2025). His earlier research primarily focused on Yogācāra and Vajrayāna buddhism.

We are pleased to welcome Chentong Liu as a new doctoral member of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS). Chentong joined Ghent University in 2025 as a PhD student after an interdisciplinary academic trajectory that combines engineering, art theory, and Buddhist art history. She previously obtained a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Ocean University of China (2021) and a Master’s degree in Art Theory from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (2025).

Chentong’s PhD project focuses on Esoteric Buddhist stone carvings in Anyue (Sichuan) during the Tang and Song dynasties, with particular attention to their ritual, iconographic, and stylistic features. Her research combines traditional art-historical and iconographic analysis with digital methods, aiming to offer a systematic and spatially informed understanding of these important yet understudied monuments.

A key innovation of the project is the use of GIS-based digital analysis, especially ArcGIS, to map and visualize the spatial and temporal distribution of Esoteric Buddhist carvings in the Anyue region. By building a dedicated database that records location, subject matter, iconography, and stylistic traits, the project seeks to clarify patterns of development and regional interaction. Through this approach, Chentong’s research sheds new light on the growth of Esoteric Buddhism in Anyue and its broader connections with religious practices and artistic traditions in other regions of China.

We are welcoming a new member of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies: FWO junior postdoctoral fellow Dr. Xiaoming Hou. Her research focuses on scholastic practices in medieval Chinese Buddhism and the cross-cultural transmission of Buddhism, with particular interest in exegetical traditions. Her current FWO-funded project, Visualizing Doctrine: A Study of Exegetical Diagrams in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (8th–10th Centuries), examines exegetical diagrams (fenmen tu 分門圖 and kewen 科文) from Dunhuang and their role in the transmission of scholastic knowledge. It investigates how diagrammatic and material practices shaped scholastic reasoning and pedagogical methods in local Buddhist communities, reframing these diagrams as epistemological tools situated between text and image.

She received her Ph.D. in 2022 from EPHE/PSL (École Pratique des Hautes Études/Université Paris Sciences et Lettres) in Paris, Department of Religions and Systems of Thought. Her doctoral thesis, Pratiquer le bouddhisme en chinois: traduction et reconstruction des enseignements sur la méditation bouddhique du IIe au VIe siècles en Chine, explores the interdependent dynamics between meditation and exegesis in early medieval China.

The next phase of the Reading Group convened on October 23, 2025, marking the first of three sessions dedicated to the study of materials prepared by Wushi Lin, a joint PhD student of Professor Bart Dessein (Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies) and Professor Weijen Teng (Department of Buddhist Studies, Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts). The materials focus on the epistemological interpretation of the no-self doctrine by the influential late Ming dynasty Buddhist monk Zibo Zhenke (紫柏真可, 1543–1603), and are part of Wushi Lin’s PhD project, “Comprehending Everything as Oneself: The No-Self Doctrine of Zibo Zhenke in Ming Dynasty Buddhism.”

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Kikee Doma Bhutia, who, having won the FWO Junior Postdoctoral Fellowship, will be with the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies for the next three years. Her project, “Local Deities, Natural Disaster, and Ritual Waste in Vernacular Buddhist Practices in the Himalayas,” project examines the intersection of local religious practices, environmental policies, and waste management in Sikkim, with a particular emphasis on the influence of Buddhist rituals and beliefs on the community’s approach to sustainability.

Despite its relatively small geographic size, Sikkim has emerged as a leader in environmental initiatives, including the prohibition of plastic and the promotion of eco-friendly practices. However, traditional rituals, such as the tying of prayer flags and the use of synthetic materials in religious offerings, pose significant challenges to environmental conservation. This research investigates the roles of local deities, vernacular Buddhist practices, and monastic institutions in waste management, analyzing how religious concepts are integrated into environmental policies. Utilizing ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and archival research, this study will explore how communities navigate the complexities of modernization and tradition, thereby contributing to academic discussions on waste, religion, and sustainability in the Himalayas. The project aims to produce scholarly articles, presentations, and public outreach materials, thereby fostering both academic and social engagement.

Yurui Zhao is a joint PhD candidate at the Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University, and the School of Chinese Classics, Renmin University of China. Her research focuses on the social, religious, and cultural history of China during the 4th–6th centuries. Her doctoral dissertation, Taoism and Social Life in Southern China during the Jin, Song, Qi, and Liang Dynasties, adopts a cultural-historical approach to examine the interaction between Taoist beliefs and social practices in Southern China during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Her project aims to reconsider the realities of Chinese society in this period by tracing the development of Taoism. Her study will extensively use Taoist literature, connecting it to social life to provide insights into the relationship between Taoist rules and social behaviors. Additionally, it will analyze historical records, anecdotal literature, and literary works to explore people’s views on social, moral, and ritual behaviors. Finally, it will utilize archaeological materials, like tomb epitaphs and murals, to reveal how Taoist beliefs influenced daily life and social values.