We are delighted to welcome Lin Wushi to the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies as a joint PhD student under the supervision of Professor Bart Dessein (Ghent University) and Professor Weijen Teng (Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts). His research interests include the history of Buddhist thought, with a particular emphasis on Chinese Buddhism and Chan Buddhism.
In his doctoral project, titled “Comprehending Everything as Oneself: The No-Self Doctrine of Zibo Zhenke in Ming Dynasty Buddhism,” Wushi explores the significance, characteristics, and hermeneutics of the no-self doctrine (Skt. anātman; Ch. 無我) in late Ming Buddhism. Focusing on the influential monk Zibo Zhenke (紫柏真可, 1543–1604), his research reveals how the Chinese understanding of no-self diverges from the primarily ontological concerns of Indian Buddhism, taking instead an epistemological orientation. Zibo’s interpretation of no-self as a cognitive model of non-duality between subject and object is further examined as a response to contemporary intellectual trends such as Yangmingism (陽明學) and the dynamic interactions among Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism in the late Ming period.