Before the Jo nang: Exploring the Forerunners of “Emptiness of Other” (gzhan stong) in 11th’14th Century Tibet

Principle investigator (PI): Prof. Klaus-Dieter Mathes
Start date: 2025 January
Fund source: GRF Fund

Seed Fund for Basic Reseach for New Staff in 2024/25-Religious Mobilities, Spatial Dynamics, and Dharma Translation Practices in the Transnational Sinophone Tibetan Buddhist Sphere

Principle investigator (PI): Prof. Catherine Hardie
Start date: 2024 July
Fund source: URC Fund

The Tibetan Origins of the Great Perfection: A study of the works of the Indo-Chinese Buddhist master Śrī Siṃha

Principle investigator (PI): Dr Georgios T. Halkias
Start date: 2024 Jan
Fund source: GRF Fund

From the 8th century onwards various Buddhist traditions were introduced to Tibet that drew from a complex mosaic of thriving Mahāyāna cultures in neighbouring China, India, Nepal, and Central Asia. Among the many outstanding developments that emerged from Buddhism's transmission in Tibet is a heterogenous collection of spiritual precepts and practices known as the Great Perfection (Dzogchen). This Buddhist tradition, also known as Atiyoga (highest yoga), is the only non-dual contemplative system to develop exclusively in Tibet. Its adherents consider it to be the highest expression of Buddhist philosophical thought that reached its most elaborate articulation in the Seminal Heart literature of the 14th century. Despite a few critical and significant studies of the movement’s early history, there is no consensus among scholars as to its origins, chronology, and formative phases.This research project will significantly enrich our understanding of Śrī Siṃha’s role in the lineage-based transmission of the Great Perfection to Tibet and his relationship with other early Great Perfection figures and texts. Furthermore, it will yield an interpretive framework for critically evaluating the early development of the Great Perfection’s fundamental tenets, and for ascertaining their diachronic effect on the philosophical, literary, and visionary traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. 

Funeral Biographies of Buddhist Monks and Nuns

Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Guang Xing
Start date: 2022 Jun
Fund source: UGC fund (with the support of Mrs. Anita Hudson and Mr. Kenneth Hudson)

This research project is a study and annotations of the Funeral Biographies of Buddhist monks and Nuns in the Tang and Song dynasties. As funeral biographies always include details about personal conduct, family life, local conditions, and social and cultural practices, they can be tremendously helpful in giving the reader a sense of the ways of thinking of their period and the realities of daily life, especially among the elite class.

The neurophysiological effect of repetitive religious chanting on the connectivity between brain regions and heart

Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Hin Hung
Co-PI: Dr. Gao Junling, Dr. Bonnie W.Y. Wu
Start date: 2021 Apr
Fund source: UGC fund (with the support of Mrs. Lee Fung Kung Wah (Mrs. Simon K.Y. Lee))

Stress is a prevailing condition in the current society, especially during an unprecedented pandemic. Religious chanting has been practiced in both East and West, for instance, chanting the name of Amitabha or mantra is broadly practiced. It is assumed that this kind of religious chanting can help practitioners to improve spiritual and mental wellbeing. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of religious chanting on stress reduction and psychological wellbeing, from a behavioral and neuroimaging perspective.

Buddhist Art & Texts: Study of Avatamsaka sutra

Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Tsui Chung-hui
Start date: 2019 Sep
Fund source: UGC fund

The Avataṃsaka school or Huayan school is influential in Eastern Asia, in countries such as Korea and Japan. One of the reasons for this is because the doctrine of the Avataṃsaka sutra was adopted and assimilated into Chinese society through Confucius and Daoist thoughts. The theory that was created from the late Tang dynasty known as “three teachings harmoniously merged as one” (三教合一), which was the syncretism of Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, then strongly impacted the lifestyles in Eastern Asian cultures. This project will investigate how, who and what the reasons were that enhanced the transmission of this sūtra from southern to northern China. We will pay particular attention to the Buddhist monks from central Asia who went to China via the Silk Road.