Lecture “Bringing Buddha Down to Earth: Celebrating Śākyamuni’s Life in Mogao Cave 61 in Dunhuang”, by Christoph Anderl at Foguang Univesity, May 30, 2024 (5/31/2024) - Centre for Buddhist Studies of Fo Guang University welcomes a guest lecturer from Ghent University in Belgium, who gives a talk about his research on Śākyamuni’s Life in Mogao Cave 61 in Dunhuang. Professor Christoph Anderl is a linguist specializing… Read more
GCBS Research Forum meeting, May 27, 2024, presentations by Jiahang Yu and Massimiliano Portoghese (5/28/2024) - On March 27, 2024, two talks for the Research Forum were given by Ph.D. students Yu Jiahang于佳航 and Massimiliano Portoghese who presented parts of their ongoing research projects at the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies. Please find the relevant details below:… Read more
Publication highlights (Q2 2024): “Perfect Awakening: An Edition and Translation of the Prāsādika and Prasādanīya Sūtras”, by Charles DiSimone (5/24/2024) - The Long Discourses, or Dīrghāgama, is a collection of the Buddha’s most well-known sermons that has circulated widely in the Buddhist world. Parallel collections in Pali and Chinese have long been known to scholars and practitioners, but it was not… Read more
Guest lecture “Dreaming of Buddhahood—Measuring Bodhisattva Progress in Early Mahāyāna” by Yixiu Jiang, May 16, 2024 (5/6/2024) - A guest lecture by Yixiu JIANG of Leiden University will take place on May 16 at 14:30 in Meeting Room Camelot (3.30), Campus Boekentoren, Blandij. The lecture is ogranized by GCBS's Professor Charles DiSimone. Title: Dreaming of Buddhahood—Measuring Bodhisattva Progress… Read more
GCBS Research Forum meeting, April 29, 2024, presentation by Nguyễn Khuông Hồng Ngọc (4/30/2024) - The meeting of the GCBS's Research Forum took place on April 29, 2024. Our Ph.D. student Nguyễn Khuông Hồng Ngọc (a.k.a. Ruby) presented a draft paper of a research project submitted for consideration to the European Association for Chinese Studies… Read more
PhD opportunity at the Ghent Centre for Buddist Studies (4/29/2024) - We are hiring! A four year doctoral fellowship is available in the European Research Council funded Gandhāra Corpora project led by Professor Charles DiSimone. Please consider applying or sharing this with any recent MA graduates who are looking to continue… Read more
Fieldwork of GCBS researcher Wen Xueyu (4/2/2024) - GCBS researcher Wen Xueyu just returned from China where she surveyed the Yungang and Longmen grottoes in the framework of her project on the development of apsara (feitian 飛天) iconography. During the fieldwork she collected a large number of photographs,… Read more
Fieldwork concluding session (Cluster 3.4 of the FROGBEAR project), April 20, 2024 (3/13/2024) - In April, final meetings of the various Research Clusters of the FROGBEAR project hosts the final meetings of its various Research Clusters under the general title "From the Ground to the Cloud: Insights from Seven Years of Fieldwork, Training, and… Read more
Doctoral school “Chinese Buddhist Iconography and Manuscript Culture: Fieldwork Data and their Use in Pedagogical Contexts, with an Emphasis on Digital Resources”, June 17-21, 2024 (3/8/2024) - Abstract: Field work activities and the study of manuscripts are vital aspects of conducting research in East Asian Buddhist Studies, and both the fields of analysing iconography and deciphering and contextualizing manuscripts have undergone rapid changes during the last decade,… Read more
GCBS research group previews exhibition at the Royal Museum of Mariemont, March 5, 2024 (3/6/2024) - Members of our research group traveled to the Royal Museum of Mariemont, in order to preview the objects and design of an exhibition on Buddha's life which will open in the end of September 2024. GCBS is co-curating the exhibition, and… Read more
Long-term visiting scholar (April 1 – June 30, 2024): Prof. Yang Gang 杨刚 (Inst. of Dunhuang Studies, Lanzhou University) (3/5/2024) - Prof. Yang Gang 杨刚 received a joint PhD from Sichuan University and Ghent University and was a visiting scholar at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg. He is now an associate professor at the Institute of Dunhuang Studies of Lanzhou University (兰州大学敦煌学研究所).… Read more
Reading group meeting, presentation by Wenzhuo Shi, March 1, 2024 (3/3/2024) - On March 1, 2024, the GCBS reading group gathered to discuss the primary source that our PhD student Wenzhuo Shi is currently working on. This is an inscription from a stele, which was excavated in Turfan in 1902–1903 and then… Read more
Guest lecture “The Community Museum of the Itumbaha Buddhist Monastery, Kathmandu” by Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha, May 14, 2024 (2/29/2024) - On May 14, 2024, Dr. Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha will deliver a guest lecture titled “The Community Museum of the Itumbaha Buddhist Monastery, Kathmandu” within the framework of the bachelor-level course “Art and Archaeology of South Asia” organized by GCBS’s Daniela… Read more
Guest lecture “The Multiple Lives of Buddhist Objects: Enriching Art Historical Methodologies” by Halle O‘Neal, May 7, 2024 (2/28/2024) - On May 7, 2024, Prof. Dr. Halle O‘Neal will deliver a guest lecture titled “The Multiple Lives of Buddhist Objects: Enriching Art Historical Methodologies” within the framework of our master-level course “Culture in Perspective: South and East Asia”, organized by… Read more
Guest lecture “Tibetan and Himalayan Art” by Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha, March 19, 2024 (2/27/2024) - On March 19, 2024, Dr. Swosti Rajbhandari Kayastha will deliver a guest lecture titled “Tibetan and Himalayan Art” within the framework of the bachelor-level course “Art and Archaeology of South Asia” organized by GCBS’s Daniela De Simone. Dr. Swosti Rajbhandari… Read more
Our MA student Zhou Zhichen to pursue a PhD in Princeton (2/27/2024) - Zhou Zhichen, student of our program “Master of Arts in Oriental Languages and Cultures — Main Subject China”, has been admitted to the Princeton University’s PhD program. At Ghent, she was conducting research under the guidance of the GCBS’s Christoph… Read more
Meeting with Prof. Neil Schmid 史瀚文 from the Dunhuang Academy 敦煌研究院, February 23, 2024 (2/26/2024) - On Friday, February 23, 2024, the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies welcomed Professor Neil Schmid 史瀚文 from the Dunhuang Academy 敦煌研究院. In the beginning of the meeting with the GCBS researchers, Neil Schmid introduced the Dunhuang Academy, which is located… Read more
International conference “Diverse Lives: Narratives of Śākyamuni Buddha in Text and Image” (CfP), October 2024, Royal Museum of Mariemont (Ghent) (2/26/2024) - The Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies, in association with the Royal Museum of Mariemont, is happy to announce the call for papers for an upcoming conference on Buddha's life narratives. Wednesday the 16th until Friday the 19th of October 2024.… Read more
Publication highlights (Q1 2024): “The Awakening of the Hinterland: The Formation of Regional Vinaya Traditions in Tang China”, by Anna Sokolova (2/15/2024) - This volume explores the dissemination of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya tradition in Tang China (618–907) in the context of the dispersal of the state bureaucracy throughout the empire and the changing centre–periphery dynamics. The tradition’s development in China during the Tang… Read more
Long-term visiting scholar (September 2023 – August 2024): Dr. Yi Ding (DePaul University) (2/15/2024) - Dr. Yi Ding received his bachelor's degree from Fudan University (2008) and his PhD in Religious Studies from Stanford University (2020). He is currently Assistant Professor at DePaul University. As a scholar of Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, he has published… Read more
GCBS Research Forum meeting, January 18, 16:00-18:00, presentations by Elias Bouckaert and Paride Stortini (1/18/2024) - The meeting of the research forum of the GCBS will take place this afternoon at 4 pm. This time we have two presentations: Elias Bouckaert: "Medico-religious "Five Viscera" 五臓論 Manuscripts in Edo Period Japan" Paride Stortini: "Between Modern Pilgrimage and… Read more
Publication highlights (Q4 2023): “Diversifying Philosophy of Religion: Critiques, Methods and Case Studies”, edited by Nathan R. B. Loewen and Agnieszka Rostalska (10/3/2023) - Much philosophical thinking about religion in the Anglophone world has been hampered by the constraints of Eurocentrism, colonialism and orientalism. Addressing such limitations head-on, this exciting collection develops models for exploring global diversity in order to bring philosophical studies of… Read more
PhD defense of Laurent Van Cutsem, Ghent University, September 11, 2023 (9/23/2023) - We are very proud to announce that GCBS' Laurent Van Cutsem has successfully defended his PhD thesis on Monday, September 11, 2023! Title of the thesis: "The Zutang ji 祖堂集: Aspects of Textual History, Genealogy, and Intertextuality" Supervisors: Christoph Anderl… Read more
Publication highlights (Q2 2023): “Harigaon revisited: chronicle and outcomes of an excavation in Kathmandu” (9/15/2023) - Giovanni Verardi, Dániel Balogh, Daniela De Simone and Elio Paparatti. Harigaon revisited: chronicle and outcomes of an excavation in Kathmandu. Kathmandu: Vajra Publications, 2023 The idea of writng this book stemmed out from the need to rethink an excavation carried… Read more
Publication highlights (Q3 2023): “The life of Padma, volume 2”, ed. and trans. by Eva De Clercq (9/11/2023) - The first English translation of the oldest extant work in Apabhramsha, a literary language from medieval India, recounting the story of the Ramayana. The Life of Padma, or the Paümacariu, is a richly expressive Jain retelling in the Apabhramsha language of the famous… Read more
Professor Charles DiSimone awarded an ERC Starting Grant (9/6/2023) - GANDHĀRA CORPORA – Charles DiSimone In the last several years, fantastic manuscript finds have surfaced opening new windows into the scholarly study of the development of Buddhist literature. Gandhāra Corpora represents a multifaceted, holistic approach to the study of an… Read more
Doctoral School “Systems of Representation in Asian Religious and Philosophical Traditions”, October 9–13, 2023 (9/2/2023) - Abstract: Representation, a vital concept in accounting for how we perceive and engage with the world, has emerged as a significant subject across various fields, including anthropology, philosophy, religious studies, cultural studies, cognitive science, and visual culture. Focusing specifically on… Read more
International research workshop and fieldwork “Chinese Religious Spaces in Thailand”, May 24–June 2, 2023 (5/23/2023) - Within the framework of 2023 FROGBEAR Phase 2 Cluster Activities, the leaders of Cluster 3.4 Typologies of Text-Image Relations organized International Research Workshop and Fieldwork “Chinese Religious Spaces in Thailand”. Dates: May 24–June 2, 2023. Cluster leaders: Christoph Anderl, in collaboration with… Read more
Critical overview of the Database of Medieval Chinese Texts (3/31/2023) - Discover the Database of Medieval Chinese Texts (DMCT) with Laurent Van Cutsem's critical overview on the Digital Orientalist! The DMCT is a collaborative project of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS) at Ghent University and the Chung-Hwa Institute of… Read more
Doctoral School “Buddhism and Law in China”, June 19–23, 2023 (3/6/2023) - Abstract: This (on campus) course will focus on how Buddhists in China engage(d) with various aspects of the Buddhist monastic law (Vinaya). It will cover discussions on clerical immunity for ordained Buddhists in Buddhist legal texts; Chinese transformation of jurisdictional… Read more