Centre for Buddhist Studies

Research at the CBS

Our Research Foci

The Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS) continues a longstanding tradition of Buddhological research in Ghent. While the GCBS supports a wide range of projects, we focus in particular on the following fields:

The GCBS supports permanent staff, MA and PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and visiting scholars in conducting research on philosophical, doctrinal and socio-cultural aspects of Asia's Buddhist traditions. The GCBS is housed within Ghent University's Department of Languages and Cultures, which features a highly international research profile currently comprised of researchers from China (including those pursuing joint PhD projects with Nanjing and Renmin Universities), Taiwan, Germany, Russia, Thailand, the United States and elsewhere. 

Please see Funding Opportunities to learn more about how to join the GCBS as an international student, researcher or visiting professor.

International Collaborations

THe GCBS works together with many international institutions, for example the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies (http://www.chibs.edu.tw), Zentrum für Buddhismuskunde, Hamburg (https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/de.html) and the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (DILA), Taiwan (http://www.dila.edu.tw/en). The GCBS and the Department of Languages and Cultures recently joined a large multidisciplinary project on East Asian religions initiated and headed by Prof. Chen Jinhua at the University of British Columbia, Canada: From The Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions. And in 2017, the GCBS joined the Tianzhu academic network, a partnership that will lead to even more international collaboration. The Centre has additionally established bilateral agreements and Socrates programs with many institutions abroad. 

Wheel of Life (c)Christoph Anderl