Buddhism At The Borders Of Trade: Colonial And Post-Colonial Discourses On Trans-Himalayan Economic Networks And Connectivity

Principle investigator (PI): Prof. David Palmer
Co-PI: Dr. Georgios T. Halkias
Start date: 2019
Fund source: Collaborative Research Fund of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (C7052-18G)

This project will seek to explore the following research question: what is the religious impact of China’s intensification of ties and infrastructures linking it to the rest of Asia, now subsumed by the Chinese government under the label of the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)”? An unintentional effect of the BRI is to facilitate and intensify religious circulations between the nations of Eurasia. Religion is central to the culture and national identity of most BRI and adjacent countries, and, often, their political system and ideology as well. Other than business, religion is the main motivation for the sustained circulation of organized groups between Asian countries. In the past, the lasting impact of the Silk Road was primarily in the realms of both commerce and religion.

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 4^th century BCE to the 2^nd 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.

(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:

1. The “Orientation to Life Program” OLP was developed and disseminated to more than 200 teachers and students.
2. 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:

1. The theoretical foundation and protocol of the Dharma Therapy were completed.
2. Elementary training of the Dharma Therapy for the social workers of Tsz Shan Monastery Buddhist Spiritual Counselling Centre was completed.
3. 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.

The possibility of integrating Buddhist Teaching into the NSS curriculum for Liberal Studies

Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Hin Hung
End date: 2012 Jun
Fund source: Li Chong Yuet Ming Buddhist Studies Fund & UGC fund

A Sanskrit-English Glossary of Abhidharma Terms

Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Prof. K.L. Dhammajoti
End date: 2012 Jun
Fund source: Li Chong Yuet Ming Buddhist Studies Fund

Spirituality and Psycho-education of pregnant Chinese women: An evaluation of the effect of an Eastern based model of Mind-Body-Spirit intervention on maternal and fetal status

Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Prof. Jing Yin
End date: 2010 Oct
Fund source: Li Chong Yuet Ming Buddhist Studies Fund

Buddhism and the Road to Recovery from Drug Dependence

Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Prof. Jing Yin
End date: 2009 Jul
Fund source: Sponsored by Mr P Y Lau and UGC fund

Project to Develop Teaching Packages Predominantly for Module 1 (Personal Development and Interpersonal Relationships) of the NSS Liberal Studies Curriculum

Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Hin Hung
End date: 2009 Mar
Fund source: HKSAR Gov Education and Manpower Bureau

Effective use of Buddhist resources in children’s personal and social development education

Principle investigator (PI): Ven. Prof. Jing Yin
End date: 2008 Nov
Fund source: Li Chong Yuet Ming Buddhist Studies Fund