DISSERTATION PROJECT

Engaging the Secular: Conceptions of the Future in Modern Chinese Buddhism

This project aims to contribute to the EAF program’s objectives by examining the Confucian-Buddhist debate and modem Chinese Buddhist thought in the context of the conceptions of the future in East Asia. Specifically, this study will explore how the Confucian-Buddhist debate has shaped modern Buddhist writing in China, influencing scholars’ thinking about self and society, the relationship between Buddhism and modern society, and the interpretation of Buddhist texts. Modern Buddhist writings from the 20th century often feature comparisons between Confucianism and Buddhism, as well as integrations of their respective ideologies. Through these efforts, Buddhists have sought to offer a path towards enlightenment that is applicable to a secular society. Hence, to understand how Buddhist scholars view the relationship between individuals and society in modern times, we must examine the ideological context of the Confucian-Buddhist controversy.

The views about and conceptualizations of the future at personal, national, and global levels will be analyzed through the lenses of language, religion, and ideology, and the carriers of future conceptions, including individuals, groups, and larger collectives. Through this research, I aim to contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of ideas of political participation, nationalism, and egalitarianism in East Asia over the twentieth century, and demonstrate how self-identity and social class influenced views of the future and informed the role of Buddhism in shaping the future.

ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

Presentations / Academic Talks

• Presentation on research topic, Proposal Workshop, Research Training Group GRK 2833 “East Asian Futures”, Duisburg, Germany, Jun 13–15, 2024. [Poster]
• “Envisioning Future: Modern Chinese Buddhist Intellectuals’ Understanding of Materialism and Emerging Civilization”. 4th ISEAP Conference “Science, Technology, and East Asian Philosophy”, International Society of East Asian Philosophy, Fukuoka University, Japan, Dec 14–15, 2024.
• “Future Through Buddhist Terminology: Modern Chinese Buddhist Discussion on Mundane and Supramundane Dharmas”. XXth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS), Leipzig University, Germany, Aug 10–15, 2025.
• “Buddhification as Future-Making: Buddhist New Youth Movement in 1920s–1930s Republican China”. XXIII IAHR World Congress, International Association for the History of Religions, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, Aug 24–30, 2025.
• Participant in “Roundtable: Decolonization and the Study of East Asian Religion”, chaired by Prof. Satoko FUJIWARA, PhD. XXIII IAHR World Congress, International Association for the History of Religions, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, Aug 26, 2025.
• “Contested Awakening: Buddhist Concepts in Modern China’s Reform Discourse”. Workshop “How Buddhist Studies Became an Academic Discipline in Modern East Asia?”, National Chengchi University, Taipei, online, Oct 29, 2025.
• “When Buddhism Encounters ‘the Future’: Between Religious and Secular Discourse in Japan and China at the Turn of the 20th Century”. Workshop “‘Dongya/weilai’ yanliu. Boshisheng xueshu jiaoliu luntan” 「東亞／未來」研究 博士生學術交流論壇 [Graduate Student Forum on East Asia and Futures Studies], National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, Nov 10, 2025.
• “Engaging the Secular: Conceptions of the Future in Modern Chinese Buddhism”. CERES Forschungskolloquium, Center for Religous Studies (CERES), Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, Feb 2, 2026.

Funded Excursions

• Workshop “History and the Secular” at LMU Munich, Chair for Religious Studies, Faculty 10, organized by Jonathan Sheehan, Lorenz Trein & Robert Yelle, Jun 22–23, 2024.
• Japanese-to-Chinese Translation Workshop for the “Yogācāra Buddhist Dictionary”, Fo Guang University, Yilan, Taiwan, Sep 2–7, 2024.
• Lecture “Journey in the Study of Buddhist History (走在研究佛教史的路上)” by Prof. HOU Kun-hung (侯坤宏), Department of History, National Taiwan Normal University, Oct 17, 2024.
• Conference “Modern East Asian Reform Movements and Historical Transitions (近代東亞社會改革思潮與歷史變遷)”, organised by the Hu Shih Research Group and the Chiang Kai-shek Research Group at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Oct 18, 2024.
• Presentation “Using the ‘Database of Neologisms in Modern Chinese’ as an Example to Explore Key Issues in the Study of East Asian Conceptual History (以「漢語新詞資料庫」為例，探索東亞概念史研究幾點問題)” by Dr. Christian SCHMIDT (National Taiwan University) at Archives of the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Nov 8, 2024.
• Conference “Spirit-Writing in Chinese Religion and Society from the Ming-Qing to the Republican Periods (スピリット・ライティング（spirit-writing）をめぐる中国の宗教と社会：明清期から民国期を中心に)”, Kokugakuin University, Tokyo, Japan, Dec 7, 2024.
• 6th Chung-Hwa International Conference on Buddhism, organised by the Chung-Hwa Institute for Buddhist Studies, GIS Convention Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Oct 30 – Nov 1, 2025.
• Visits to the National Diet Library (NDL) and the Religious Department at the University of Tokyo, Japan, Nov 2025.