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.

The 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.

The Mahā-aṭṭhakathā Quotations of the Samantapāsādikā Vinaya Commentary: A Critical Edition and Translation, and A Study on Theriya Vinaya Views

Principle investigator (PI): Dr. G.A. Somaratne
Start date: 2021 Jan
Fund source: UGC fund

The proposed research will undertake to edit, translate and analyse the quotations of the Mahā-aṭṭḥakathā (lit. ‘Great Commentary’), that appear in the Samantapāsādikā (=Sp), with the aim of contributing towards understanding the divergent views developed on Vinaya within the Mahāvihāra school of Theravāda Buddhism during the first half of the first millennium CE.

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.

Buddhism and Chinese Culture

Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Guang Xing
Start date: 2020 Jul
Fund source: UGC fund

This research project mainly studies the Buddhist interaction with and impact on Chinese culture on all levels, including philosophy, morality, religions, language, literature, art, and architecture. As a result, Buddhism has successfully integrated into the traditional Chinese culture, and become one of its three pillars. The other two are traditional Chinese philosophical systems of thought namely Confucianism and Daoism. Aimed to give an introduction of Buddhist influence and impact on Chinese culture, the discussion of this book is divided into two parts: the first half takes the theoretical approach to the philosophical and moral issues, and the second half focuses on the thematic issues.

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.

Buddhist Counseling: Multifaceted Development of Theories and Practices

Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Kin Cheung (George) Lee
Co-PI: Dr. Jessica Tang
Start date: 2020 Jan
Fund source: Sponsored by Mrs. Lee Fung Kung Wah (Mrs. Simon K.Y. Lee)

Buddhist counseling is an emerging field which adopts Buddhist teaching as a theoretical orientation to liberate suffering in clients using the framework of professional counseling in the contemporary society. As a scholar in Buddhist counseling, the general aim of my research is to develop a practical, systematic, and effective treatment model based on the Early Buddhist Teaching. I have developed a Buddhist counseling model, named as Note, Know, Choose. With this model as the basis, my research projects are divided into four components: (1) conceptual development of a complete theoretical orientation based on Early Buddhism; (2) clinical studies to validate the effectiveness of Note, Know, Choose; (3) application of Note, Know, Choose to different mental health problems and populations, and; (4) development of the field of Buddhist counseling including definition of the field, core competencies of Buddhist counselors, and Buddhist counseling skills and techniques.

Understanding Guangdong Buddhist Death Ritual in order to bring about a better understanding of the people of Hong Kong

Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Hin Hung
Co-PI: Dr. Fa Ren
Start date: 2019 Dec
Fund source: UGC fund

In Search of Positive Psychology in Early Buddhism

Principle investigator (PI): Dr. G.A. Somaratne
Start date: 2019 Nov
Fund source: UGC fund

The Buddha’s teaching, which provides guidance and direction for people for achieving well-being and happiness here and now, paves the way for considering it as a positive psychology. Moreover, the Buddha’s discussions on karma, the path and practice, and his analysis of mind and mental factors are all directed toward generating a positive mind that drives one do positive wholesome deeds mentally, verbally and physically, a type of deeds that breeds wholesome results. This research therefore aims at uncovering the Buddha’s conception of positive psychology by examining the discourses of the Pāli Canon, while comparing and contrasting it with the modern western positive psychology.

The History and Current Development of Amitabha Pure Land Nianfo Practice in Hong Kong

Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Hin Hung
Co-PI: Dr. Fa Ren
Start date: 2019 Jan
Fund source: Sponsored by Tung Lin Kok Yuen and UGC-Research Matching Grant Scheme

This project aims to document and investigate the historical development and different forms of Pure Land Nianfo practice in Hong Kong which has a rich history of well-established salient lineages and where various distinctive practices have been propagated. We hope to contribute to the preservation of the Amitabha Pure Land Nianfo Practice by inscribing the practice as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hong Kong.