Empowering the future
with wisdom and compassion
Completed Projects
Critical Translation of Pali Commentaries (PTS Edition) into English
Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Guang Xing
Co-PI: Dr. T. Endo
End date: 2022 Jul
Fund source: Sponsored by Mrs. Anita Hudson and Mr. Kenneth Hudson
Research Output:
Papañcasūdanī: Commentary to the Majjhimanikāya, translated by N.A. Jayawickrama, edited by Toshiichi Endo, published by Centre of Buddhist Studies of The University of Hong Kong, 2022. (ISBN: 978-988-16844-0-0 [hardcover]; ISBN: 978-988-16844-8-6 [e-book])
Abstract:
The translation of the commentaries (aṭṭhakathā) into English on the four major nikāyas, namely Dīgha, Majjhima, Saṃyutta, and Aṅguttara, has been a long desideratum. Many have wondered why such a situation was not rectified before though some portions have been translated by scholars like Bhikkhu Bodhi in his translations of the Brahmajālasutta, Sāmaññaphalasutta, etc. An exception is the translation of the Visuddhimagga by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli. The work may be considered outside the aṭṭhakathā literature since it is not a commentary in the proper sense of the term on any specific canonical text but a compendium of what its author Buddhaghosa thought as the true Buddhism. This present publication contains an introduction to Pāli Commentaries and a section dealing with the Papañcasūdanī in the form of a separate introduction specifically devoted to it.
Hellenistic Narratives and Buddhist Visual Programmes
Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Georgios T. Halkias
End date: 2021 Dec
Fund source: UGC fund
Research Output:
“Yavanayāna: Scepticism as Soteriology in Aristocle’s Passage.” In Buddhism and Skepticism: Historical, Philosophical, and Comparative Perspectives, ed. Oren Hanner. Hamburg Buddhist Studies Series 13, University of Hamburg, 83-108.
Link: https://www.academia.edu/44944145/Yavanayāna_Buddhist_Soteriology_in_the_Aristocles_Passage
Abstract:
A long-lasting effect of Alexander’s campaigns was the creation of a cosmopolitan milieu that brought together the achievements of classical Greece, Macedonia and the countries of the Near East, India and Central Asia. Most of the settlements implanted by Alexander the III and maintained by his Hellenistic successors served not only as trading posts and military garrisons but as vital cultural centers in the region. The co-habitation and intermarriages between Greeks with non-Greeks fostered unexpected fusions and stimulating adaptations of cultural phenomena and created new trends in art, religion, philosophy and other fields of knowledge. Traces of their close interactions can be discerned in the Hellenistic narratives in the Buddhist art of Gandhāra further enriched by Roman traders in the Kuṣāṇa empire, spreading with Buddhism across the Silk Routes to Dunhuang, and beyond.
Read MoreThe Study of Ksitigarbha-Pranidhana-Sutra
Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Guang Xing
End date: 2021 Dec
Fund source: UGC fund and sponsored by Macau Youth Buddhism Centre
Research Output:
“Buddhism and Ancient Chinese States”, published Critical Review for Buddhist Studies. No.31 (2022), 81-104. Geumgang University, South Korea.
Link: https://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/314664
Abstract:
This is a study of the inscriptions on various types of Buddhist images and stelae made by the common people during the Northern dynasties and Sui and Tang dynasties from the fourth to the ninth century. These inscriptions demonstrate that many common people dedicated their merits of making Buddhist images to emperors, ministers and the state apart from their present parents and parents of past seven generations. Hou Xudong thinks that this is a recognition of the state, the Northern Wei, by the common people. Satō Chisui thinks that it is the emperor worship amongst the common people as instructed by their society’s monastic teachers. But he is still not sure about the reasons why the Buddhist monks and nuns also had the mentality of emperor worship. Ishimatsu Hinako thinks that it is due to Emperor Taiwu’s persecution of Buddhism; Chinese Buddhists were afraid that such tragedy might happen again so that their faith in Buddhism became stronger and they wished that the emperor could protect Buddhism. I argue that it was the Buddhist way to pay their debt of gratitude to the Chinese emperors for their protection of Buddhism because Buddhism had faced many challenges and criticisms from Chinese people since its introduction to China in the Han dynasty and it even underwent severe persecutions. Emperor Tai Wudi of the Northern Wei, for instance, persecuted Buddhism so the monastics had a vivid memory of such events.
Note, Know, Choose: A psychospiritual treatment model based on early Buddhist teachings.
Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Kin Cheung (George) Lee
Co-PI: Dr. Jessica Tang, Dr. Adrian J. Davis, Dr. Ronald King To Chan, Mr. Jonathan Wai Ying Chau, Mr. Michael Kong Tao, and Venerable Anzhen (Zhang, Hui Mei)
End date: 2021 Sep
Fund source: Sponsored by Mrs. Lee Fung Kung Wah (Mrs. Simon K.Y. Lee)
Research Output:
Academic paper
Lee, K. C. (G.) (2021). Introduction to a Buddhist Counselling Technique Based on Early Buddhist Teachings: Mind Moment Analysis. Contemporary Buddhism. DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2021.1981062
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14639947.2021.1981062
Lee, K. C. (G.), & Tang, J. L. K. (2021). Note, know, choose: A psychospiritual treatment model based on early Buddhist teachings. Spirituality in Clinical Practice.Advance online publication.
https://doi.org/10.1037/scp0000220
Link: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-73527-001
Lee, K. C. & Ong, C. K. (2019). The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: An Application of Buddhist Mindfulness for Counsellors. Journal of Contemporary Buddhism, 19(2), 327-341.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2018.1576292
Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14639947.2018.1576292
Published books
Lee, K. C. (2023). The Guide to Buddhist Counseling. Abingdon: Routledge. (ISBN: 0367458055)
Link: https://www.routledge.com/The-Guide-to-Buddhist-Counseling/Lee/p/book/9780367458058#
Book Chapters
Lee, K. C. (in-press). Buddhist Crisis Care: A Buddhist Counseling Approach for Advanced Cancer. In N. J. Michon (ed.), Refuge in the Storm: Buddhist Voices in Crisis Care (pp. 129-138). Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Lee, K. C. & Ng, C. F. (2020). An Indigenous Perspective on Buddhism. Invited chapter in Sisemore, T. A. & Knabb, J. J. (ed.) The Psychology of World Religions and Spiritualities: An Indigenous Perspective (pp. 137-164). West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania: Templeton Press.
Abstract:
In its 2000 years of history, Buddhism has deep cultural roots for millions of individuals in the world, which makes it a highly culturally congruent form of indigenous psychology. The original form of Buddhism, known as Early Buddhism, is a comprehensive study of mind with epistemological assumptions on human nature, psychopathology, curative factors, and interventions. However, no treatment model has utilized Buddhism as a stand-alone theoretical orientation. This project aims to develop the Note, Know, Choose model as a three-phase psychospiritual treatment approach based on Buddhist teaching to train the skillfulness of the mind. In the Note phase, clients learn to develop clarity and stability of mind through various Buddhist mindfulness techniques such as mindful breathing, sustaining attention on different body parts, chanting, or reciting a mantra. Clients develop regular meditative practices throughout the treatment process. The Know phase helps clients to gain insight into how suffering, desire, and craving arise from the mind’s contact with external objects. Therefore, previously neglected choice points are discovered and intervened. The Choose phase focuses on applying the insights that result into daily encounters and fostering the skills needed to make alternative decisions. Techniques such as cultivating a compassionate view of self and others visualizing the non-self are adopted. The goal of the project is to introduce the Note, Know, Choose model as a non-faith based treatment approach for mental health professionals interested in Buddhist wisdom as well as a viable treatment of choice for thousands of individuals affiliated with Buddhist cultures.
Filial Piety in Chinese Buddhism
Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Guang Xing
End date: 2020 Dec
Fund source: UGC fund
Research Output:
Filial Piety in Chinese Buddhism, New York and London: Peter Lang, 2022.
Link: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1165557
Abstract:
The main objective of this book is to investigate how Buddhism gradually integrated itself into the Chinese culture by taking filial piety as a case study because it is an important moral teaching in Confucianism and it has shaped nearly every aspect of Chinese social life. The Chinese criticized Buddhism mainly on ethical grounds as Buddhist clergies left parents’ home and did not marry and were without offspring which were completely contrary to Confucian concept and practice of filial piety that emphasizes family life. Chinese Buddhists responded to these criticisms in six different ways while accepting good teachings from the Chinese philosophy, they also argued and even refuted some emotional charges such as rejecting everything non-Chinese. The elite responded in theoretical argumentation by (1) translations of and references to Buddhist scriptures that taught filial behavior, (2) writing scholarly refutations of the charges of unfilial practices, such as Qisong’s Xiaolun (Treatise of Filial Piety), and (3) interpreting Buddhist precepts as equal to the Confucian concept of filial piety, (4) teaching people to pay four kinds of compassions to four groups of people: parents, all sentient beings, kings, and Buddhism. In practice the ordinary Buddhists responded by (1) composing apocryphal scriptures, and (2) popularizing such stories and parables that teach filial piety such as the stories of Shanzi and Mulian by ways of public lectures, painted illustrations on walls and silk, and annual celebration of the ghost festival etc. Thus, Buddhism finally integrated into the Chinese culture and became a distinctive Chinese Buddhism.
Mahayana Buddhist Teaching-based Intervention: Awareness Training Program and Neuroscientific Research
Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Hin Hung
Co-PI: Dr. Bonnie W.Y. Wu, Dr. Gao Junling
End date: 2020 Feb
Fund source: Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation and UGC fund
Research Output:
Gao, J., Leung, H. K., Fan, J., Wu, B. W. Y., & Sik, H. H. (2022). The neurophysiology of the intervention strategies of Awareness Training Program on emotion regulation. Frontiers in Psychology, 13.
Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9355299/
Wu, B.W.Y., Gao, J., Leung, H.K., & Sik, H.H. (2019). A Randomized Controlled Trial of Awareness Training Program (ATP), a Group-Based Mahayana Buddhist Intervention. Mindfulness, 10(7), 1280-1293.
Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-018-1082-1
Abstract:
Our research work of the ATP can be divided into two parts: first the development of the new therapeutic intervention, the Awareness Training Program (ATP) and test is efficacy and effectiveness; then to conduct neuroscientific research on how best to measure the effectiveness of the intervention program using noninvasive brain mapping tools, such as high-definition Electroencephalography (EEG). Our works on the ATP that has been done were summarized as follows:
- The theoretical foundation and program content of the ATP were completed.
- Pilot training program of the ATP therapist was completed.
- Pilot study or feasibility study was completed.
- Randomized Controlled trial (RCT) had been carried out to assess the effectiveness of the ATP using both psychosocial and neuroscientific measures. The results of the study were very significant statistically.
- The ATP had been offered to the community.
A Study of Qisong’s Concept of Filial Piety
Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Guang Xing
End date: 2016 Dec
Fund source: UGC seed fund
Research Output:
“A Study of Qisong’s Xiaolun”, Studies in Humanistic Buddhism, (CUHK Press) Volume (2016) 11-78.
Link: https://www.academia.edu/30890651/契嵩_孝論_的研究_pdf
Abstract:
Qisong (1007-1072) is an eminent scholar monk lived in the early Song dynasty when Confucian scholars began to revive the Confucian tradition which was started with Han Yu in Tang dynasty. These Confucian scholars such as Ouyang Xiu and Li Gou, imitating Han Yu, criticized Buddhism from economical, cultural and ethical aspects. Under such circumstances, Qisong wrote the Xiaolun (Treatise on Filial Piety) in order to refute the Confucian scholars’ criticism from ethical point of view. The Xiaolun is an important work that synthesized the teaching of filial piety in Chinese Buddhism and further developed it. Qisong not only summarized the ideas of filial piety discussed in the previous scholarly works, but also developed his own theory with reference to both Buddhist and Confucian scriptures. Qisong asserted that the greatest filial piety is found in Buddhism. Qisong’s Xiaolun discusses the concept and practice of filial piety from the following five points. (1) Filial piety is the root source of human life and human nature. The greatest filial piety is in serving one’s parents with sincerity as parents give one’s life. (2) Filial piety is the beginning of Buddhist precepts and the five precepts are the components in the practice of filial piety. (3) The Buddhist concept of filial piety is greater than that of Confucianism because Buddhism advocates compassion to all sentient beings including animals with the first of the five precepts of non-killing as they could be our past parents. (4) Buddhism advocates the repaying the debts to parents by leading a virtuous life and teaching the same virtue to all people because supporting and serving parents alone as advocated by Confucianism cannot repay their debts. (5) Buddhist monks should also participate in parents’ funeral ceremonies and perform mourning rituals with an expression of deep remorse of loss in their hearts and minds. After its publication, Qisong’s Xiaolun won the admiration from and influenced not only Buddhists but also Confucian scholars.
Entangled Histories between East and West: Sources and Interpretations for the Development of Buddhism in Hellenistic Central Asia
Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Georgios T. Halkias
End date: 2016 Jul
Fund source: UGC fund
Research Output:
“The Self-immolation of Kalanos and other Luminous Encounters among Greeks and Indian Buddhists in the Hellenistic world.” Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, Vol. VIII, 163–186.
Link: https://www.academia.edu/12679460/The_Self_immolation_of_Kalanos_and_other_Luminous_Encounters_Among_Greeks_and_Indian_Buddhists_in_the_Hellenistic_World
Abstract:
There have been many cross-civilizational exchanges between East and West resulting in meaningful and innovative transfers of knowledge in the domains of science, medicine, religion, and culture. The research project will focus on unraveling an intricate and unprecedented series of historical cross-cultural encounters and fusions that took place in Hellenistic Central Asia from the 4th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. It concerns the meeting between agents and missionaries of Buddhist traditions and the peoples of Central Asian, Greek, Persian, and Indian stock. International trading centres and routes substantially enhanced the frequency and intensity of cultural exchanges between settlers and Buddhist travellers in the Hellenistic Far East creating a cosmopolitan climate that gave birth to the Greco-Buddhist tradition of art in Gandhara (Halkias 2014). The influence of such encounters can be discerned today in representations of the Buddha figure across the Silk Routes in Indian, Chinese and Japanese Buddhism.
In order to understand and interpret the intellectual and material exchanges that transpired during the formation and spread of Buddhism in Hellenistic Central Asia, the aim of this project is to sort through and assess a large body of available and disparate data. These data will be collected from distinct disciplines that take into account geography, trade, cultural compatibilities, and wider political developments in the region. The objectives of this project are both a) exploratory and b) interpretive and will focus on identifying, cataloguing and collating historical, philological and artistic data from across disciplines and languages (see Section VII). Material and textual sources will be examined during three historical periods: 1. The Alexandrian conquests; during and after the arrival of Alexander the III (356-323 B.C.E.) in Bactria in 330 BCE. 2. The Greco-Bactrian (250 B.C.E.-125 B.C.E.) and Indo-Greek (180 B.C.E.-10 C.E.) ruling phases; and 3. The Kuṣāṇa Empire (ca 30 C.E. – 230 C.E.). Although Hellenistic rule in western Central Asia is usually said to end with the last Indo-Greek King Strato II, the enduring prestige of Hellenistic culture is attested by the adoption of Greek currency, iconography and reproduction of elite symbols and structures by the Śakas, the Parthians and the Kuṣāṇas who succeeded as rulers of the Greeks in Central Asia and NW India.
Read More(LEDO) Project: The Development of a New Set of Teaching Materials for Buddhism Curriculum for Upper Primary and Lower Secondary
Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Hin Hung
Co-PI: Dr. Bonnie W.Y. Wu
End date: 2015 Jun
Fund source: Tung Lin Kok Yuen
Research Output:
- The “Orientation to Life Program” OLP was developed and disseminated to more than 200 teachers and students.
- Sik Hin Hung’s “Life Education Based on the Concept of Dependent Origination” (LEDO) concept has significantly contributed to the integration of Buddhism and moral and value education, and has led to “Buddhism Moral and Value Education” being adopted as a formal subject in at least 13 Buddhist secondary schools in Hong Kong.
Abstract:
Sik Hin Hung developed the life education programme for primary and secondary school students and teachers, “Orientation to Life Program” (OLP), based on his concept of the “Life Education Based on the Concept of Dependent Origination” (LEDO). LEDO is developed based on the law of Dependent Origination which is one of the core of Buddha’s teachings and the core aspects of LEDO include comprehending life, finding meanings in life, and managing life. “Orientation to Life Program” (OLP) was developed in response to a report published by the Hong Kong Government’s Education Commission in 2000 which advocated a whole-person approach to education, as well as the launching, in 2003, of the new Religious Studies (Buddhism) syllabus in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. The OLP is a contemplative education programme that infuses learning with the practice of meditation and contemplative activities to facilitate a deeper level of awareness, insight and compassion for oneself and others.
Traditional Chinese Ethics and Religious Studies Project
Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Hin Hung
End date: 2013 Jun
Fund source: Sik Sik Yuen
Dharma Therapy – a therapeutic intervention modeled after the Buddha’s path to awakening (previous project title “Effect of Practice of Buddhism on Emotion Functioning”)
Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Hin Hung
End date: 2012 Sep
Fund source: UGC fund
Research Output:
- The theoretical foundation and protocol of the Dharma Therapy were completed.
- Elementary training of the Dharma Therapy for the social workers of Tsz Shan Monastery Buddhist Spiritual Counselling Centre was completed.
- Dharma Therapy is being applied for the clients of Tsz Shan Monastery Buddhist Spiritual Counselling Centre.
Book chapters
Sik, H. H. (2010). Dharma therapy: An intervention program with mindfulness as one of its key components. New horizons in Buddhist psychology: Relational Buddhism for collaborative practitioners, 353-372
Link: https://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/128225
Sik, H. H., Yim, J. S. W. Dharma Therapy: A Buddhist Counselling Approach to Acknowledging and Enhancing Perspectives, Attitudes and Values. In Drozdstoy Stoyanov, Bill Fulford, Giovanni Stanghellini, Werdie Van Staden, Michael TH Wong (Eds.), International Perspectives in Values-Based Mental Health Practice: Case Studies and Commentaries, p. 305-311. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020
Link: https://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/314215.
Abstract:
Dharma therapy is a therapeutic intervention modeled after the Buddha’s path to awakening. Its theoretic foundation is built on the Buddhist dharma, the core Buddhist teachings, together with mindfulness as one of its key components.