2026 Glorisun International Intensive Summer Program for Buddhist Studies with Peking University – Seminar and Lecture Series

Seminar 1: Ru ZHAN 湛如 (Peking University 北京大學) / Jinhua CHEN 陳金華 (The University of British Columbia 加拿大英屬哥倫比亞大學): Unidirectionality, bidirectionality and Radiality, Locality, Globality and Glocality: Reconfiguring Transregional and Transcultural Networks of Buddhist Transmission in Asia 單向性、雙向性與放射性、在地性、全球性與全球在地性：亞洲佛教跨區域與跨文化傳播網絡之再構

The transmission of Buddhism was not simply a process of moving from one place to another. Rather, it was shaped by continuous exchanges, interactions, and transformations across different regions, cultures, and societies. The movements of monks, merchants, and migrants, together with the circulation of scriptures, religious images, and monasteries, formed the historical networks through which Buddhism developed across Asia.

Through three case studies, this lecture series seeks to highlight the diverse modes of Buddhist transmission in East Asia and to reconsider the complex and dynamic routes and networks that underpinned them. The first lecture examines the circulation of religious information and explores the patterns of one-way transmission, reciprocal exchange, and multi-centered diffusion that characterized the spread of Buddhism, while reflecting on the interplay between the global and the local. The second takes the cult of Bodhi images in Tang Chang’an as a case study, investigating how Buddhist ideas were disseminated through image-making practices and developed into broader social trends. The third centers on Shengshan Monastery in Luoyang, exploring the intersections of Buddhism with political, economic, and cultural forces, and the important role monasteries played within these processes.

佛教的傳播並非單純由一地傳向另一地的過程，而是在不同地區、文化與社會之間持續交流、互動與重塑的結果。僧人的往來、商旅與移民的流動，以及經典、造像和寺院的傳播，共同構成了亞洲佛教跨區域發展的歷史網絡。

本系列希望通過三個個案來呈現東亞佛教傳播的多元面貌，並重新理解其背後複雜而活躍的傳播路線與網絡。首先，討論宗教信息的流動方式，以及佛教傳播所呈現的單向、雙向與多中心擴散現象，反思全球性與地方性的互動。其次，以唐長安菩提像信仰為例，考察佛教觀念如何透過造像活動在社會中傳播並形成風潮。最後，以洛陽聖善寺為中心，探討佛教與政治、經濟及文化力量的交織，以及寺院在其中所扮演的重要角色。

Lecture 1. Boundless Yet Structured, Reciprocal and Progressive: Reflections on the Nature and Modes of Buddhist Transmission | 有方無畛、回流俱進：芻議佛教傳播的本質與模式

Lecture 2. Major Trends and Micro-Histories in Medieval Buddhist Thought and Image-Making: The Bodhi Images Commissioned by Fazang and Siheng as a Case Study | 中古佛教觀念與造像的大思潮與微世界——以法藏與思恆所造菩提像為例

Lecture 3: Fields, Capital, and Maitreyaism: A Reconsideration of Shengshan Monastery in Tang Luoyang | 場域、資本與彌勒主義：唐洛陽聖善寺再攷

Seminar Page (accessible to intensive program participants)

Seminar 2: Imre GALAMBOS 高奕睿 (University of Cambridge 劍橋/Zhejiang University 浙江大學): Religious Texts across Languages in Northwest China 中國西北地區跨語言的宗教文獻

This lecture series focuses on manuscripts from sites along the Silk Road, examining how religious texts effortlessly transcended linguistic and political boundaries and adopted to ever new environments. Scriptures and other types of texts originally composed in one language were habitually translated into other languages, which in turn were sometimes translated further into other ones. The multilingual nature of religious literature is apparent at all major archeological sites, the largest of which yield manuscripts written in over a dozen languages. Contacts between languages and cultures, however, are not limited to translation. The manuscripts also give evidence of other forms of interaction. Among the most interesting ones is transcribing a text phonetically using a script not normally associated with that language, such as using Chinese characters to write Sanskrit words or the Tibetan alphabet to write a Chinese text. Equally intriguing is the interaction in the realm of material culture. In the case of manuscripts this pertains to the physical form of manuscripts, as well as their visual and paleographic traits, including book form, binding, layout, punctuation, and spacing. The series consists of the following lectures:

本系列講座聚焦於絲綢之路沿線遺址出土的寫本，探討宗教文獻如何跨越語言與政治疆界，並不斷適應新的文化環境。最初以某一語言撰寫的經典與其他類型文獻，經常被翻譯成其他語言，而這些譯本有時又進一步被轉譯成另一些語言。宗教文獻的多語性質在各大考古遺址中皆清晰可見，其中規模最大的遺址出土了以十餘種語言書寫的寫本。然而，語言與文化之間的接觸並不限於翻譯；出土寫本也為多種互動提供了證據。其中最有趣的現象之一，是以通常不屬於該語言的文字系統進行語音轉寫，例如以漢字書寫梵文詞語，或以藏文字母書寫漢文文本。同樣引人入勝的，還有物質文化層面的互動。就寫本而言，這涉及寫本的物質形態及其視覺特徵，包括裝訂方式、版面布局、標點符號等。

Chinese texts in other languages 譯成他語言的漢文文獻
Chinese texts in transcription漢文文獻的轉寫
Interaction between manuscript cultures 寫本文化之間的互動

Seminar Page (accessible to intensive program participants)

Seminar 3: Barend TER HAAR 田海 (University of Hamburg 漢堡大學/Peking University 北京大學): The Use of Paratexts for Studying Social and Religious History “風起青萍之末”：如何利用題跋來研究社會與宗教歷史

This series of classes will be devoted to what I have labelled as paratexts, mostly from the Zhao-Song period onwards. This term refers to those materials that have been added to a manuscript or printed work that we deem to be not the main texts or its regular attachments (such as a bibliography). These can be prefaces, postscripts, colophons, handwritten notes on a manuscript, or otherwise. I include doodles, but not regular illustrations. We tend to refer to comments written in the margins by a separate term, marginalia, and we will not consider them systematically in the present three classes for practical reasons. I do include the back of stone inscriptions, which serve similar functions as colophons in manuscripts or printed books. My examples will come from my own past and ongoing research. Paratexts are a part of textual production that may be used for dating and authorship, but is also often ignored by researchers as irrelevant to the main text. I will briefly touch upon other material characteristics, but since I cannot bring rare Chinese books or objects in stone or other materials to class that must be for another occasion. Similarly, I will talk briefly about miracles involving texts, since they turn up in paratexts, but a good introduction to this important type of source requires a series of seminars of its own. All of these paratexts for me are not only sources on dating and authorship, but also and more importantly part of the larger religious, social, political and economic context of the object to which they have been attached.

Seminar Page (accessible to intensive program participants)

Seminar 4: Michael FRIEDRICH 傅敏怡 (University of Hamburg 漢堡大學): Buddhism and Daoism in China, 1st through 4th centuries 東漢三國兩晉釋道兩教

The lectures will present a general introduction into the early history of Buddhism and Daoism in China, with a focus on their parallel development and interrelatedness with politics, society and culture. In detail, I shall discuss:

Eastern Han until Three Kingdoms
Remarks on method and sources, textual and material
The beginnings: An Shigao and Zhang Daoling
Miracle-working: Fotuteng and Kang Senghui
Western Jin: Buddhism
Travel and translation
The relationship between the state and the samgha
Xuanxue and Buddhism
Early Northern and Southern Dynasties
Elite Buddhism: Daoan and Huiyuan
Elite Daoism: Maoshan and Lingbao
Epilogue: Kumārajīva and Kou Qianzhi

本系列講座將對佛教和道教在中國早期的歷史進行總體介紹，重點探討二者並行發展的軌跡及其與政治、社會和文化的相互關聯。具體而言，我將探討以下內容：

東漢至三國時期
關於方法與史料（文獻與實物）的說明
起源：安世高與張道陵
神蹟：佛圖騰與康生慧
西晉：佛教
求經與翻譯
國家與僧團的關係
玄學與佛教
南北朝早期
精英佛教：道安與慧遠
精英道教：茅山與靈寶
尾聲：鳩摩羅什與寇謙之

I shall mainly introduce sources and try to sketch the larger picture, for tuning in the following secondary works may be helpful:

Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures, Berkeley et al.: University of California Press 1997.
⸻, Ancestors and Anxiety: Daoism and the Birth of Rebirth in China, Berkeley et al.: University of California Press 2007.
Antonino Forte, The Hostage An Shigao and His Offspring: An Iranian Family in China, Kyoto: Istituto Italiano di cultura scuola di studi sull’Asia Orientale, 1995.
Heirman, Ann and Peter Bumbacher eds., The Spread of Buddhism, Leiden et al.: Brill 2007.
John Kieschnick, The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture, Princeton: Princeton University Press 2003.
Terry F. Kleeman, Great Perfection: Religion and Ethnicity in a Chinese Millennial Kingdom, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press 1998.
⸻, Celestial Masters: History and Ritual in Early Daoist Communities, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Center 2016.
Michel Strickmann, ‘The Mao Shan Revelations: Taoism and the Aristocracy’, T’oung Pao, 1977, 63.1, 1-64.
Robert H. Sharf, Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press 2002, 1-25.
Erik Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China, 2 vols., 2^nd ed., Leiden: Brill 1972.

Lecture 1: Yinggang SUN 孫英剛 (Zhejiang University 浙江大學): The Influence of Gandhāra on Chinese Buddhist Art 犍陀羅對中國佛教美術的影響

犍陀羅見證了佛教發展史上一系列具有革命性意義的變革，包括菩薩信仰的興起、本生故事的創造性重構，以及新的佛教視覺文化形式的形成。隨著佛教由犍陀羅傳入中國，它不僅帶來了全新的藝術題材和圖像體系，也引入了富於創新性的視覺表現方式，深刻地重塑了中國佛教美術的發展面貌。這些藝術變革的背後，是佛教宗教想象與信仰世界的深刻轉型。因此，犍陀羅佛教的東傳絕不僅僅意味著藝術風格的交流，更標誌著一整套新的宗教觀念、敘事傳統與神聖圖像體系向中國的傳播。本講座將探討犍陀羅佛教美術如何改變了中國佛教的視覺語言，並進一步考察這些創新如何在中國文明的發展歷程中留下了深遠而持久的影響。

Gandhāra witnessed a series of revolutionary developments in the history of Buddhism, including the rise of Bodhisattva devotion, the creative reconfiguration of Jātaka narratives, and the emergence of new forms of Buddhist visual culture. As Buddhism spread from Gandhāra into China, it introduced not only new artistic motifs and iconographic programs but also innovative modes of visual expression that profoundly reshaped the development of Chinese Buddhist art. Behind these artistic transformations lay far-reaching changes in the Buddhist religious imagination and devotional world. The transmission of Gandhāran Buddhism thus represented more than an exchange of artistic styles; it marked the migration of new religious concepts, narrative traditions, and sacred imagery into China. This lecture explores how Gandhāran Buddhist art transformed the visual language of Chinese Buddhism and examines the enduring impact of these innovations on the history of Chinese civilization.

Lecture 2: You ZHAO 趙悠 (Peking University 北京大學): Why Should We Study Early Chinese Translations of Buddhist Texts? 我們為什麼要研讀早期漢譯佛典？

This lecture explores how Buddhist ideas were interpreted, negotiated, and reformulated as they entered the linguistic and cultural world of early China. Drawing on recent scholarship on early Chinese Buddhist translations as well as modern theories of translation, it argues that translation should be understood not simply as the transmission of existing ideas but as an integral part of the formation of Buddhist thought itself. These translations preserve earlier forms of Buddhism before many of their concepts, narratives, and technical vocabularies became standardized, thereby offering a unique window onto the historical process through which Buddhist narratives were reshaped across cultural boundaries and Buddhist concepts became intelligible in Chinese.

Three case studies illustrate this argument. The first revisits the Zhuan falun jing (T109) and its unique account of the Buddha’s first sermon. The second examines An Shigao’s translation of key psychological terms, demonstrating how early translators actively constructed a new Buddhist conceptual vocabulary in Chinese. The third explores how the philosophical notion of svabhāva and the like was rendered through expressions such as ziran (自然), illustrating how early translators experimented with indigenous conceptual resources before fixed Buddhist terminology emerged. Together, these examples suggest that the history of translation is inseparable from the history of Buddhist philosophy itself, and that early Chinese translations deserve to be studied not only as philological sources but also as sites of cross-cultural intellectual creativity.

Lecture 3: Guodong FENG 馮國棟 (Zhejiang University 浙江大學): 漢文佛教目錄與大藏經 Chinese Buddhist Catalogues and the Chinese Buddhist Canon

漢文佛教目錄與大藏經的同步發展，相輔相成。隨著佛教典籍數量的增多，無序性增加，典籍秩序化的需要促進佛教目錄的發展。道安綜理眾經，一方面形成了一切經（大藏經）的基礎，同時，也編成「綜理眾經目錄」。其後藏經製作與佛教目錄互相影響，互相促進。佛教目錄中入藏錄的出現，標志著大藏經體系的逐漸完善。至「開元釋教錄」出，漢文佛教大藏經正式定型。其後藏經的製作多依「開元釋教錄·入藏錄」。刻本藏經出現之後，對大藏經的閱讀更加方便，於是出現了大藏經的解題目錄、導讀目錄；明代方冊藏的刊刻也促進了流通目錄的出現。佛教目錄一方面規範著大藏經的發展、形成與定型；同時，藏經的寫刻、閱讀、流通也促進新的佛教目錄類型產生，二者在互動中，互相促進，互相型塑。

佛教目錄編纂與佛教經藏的形成
入藏錄與漢文佛教大藏經的定型、製作與庋藏
大藏經閱讀、流通與佛教目錄的形成
作為“他者”的漢文佛教文獻

The development of Chinese Buddhist catalogues and the Chinese Buddhist canon has been a synchronous and mutually reinforcing process. As the number of Buddhist scriptures grew, so did their disorder, and the need to systematize these texts propelled the development of Buddhist catalogues. Dao’an’s Zongli zhongjing mulu not only laid the foundation for the Yiqiejing（i.e., the Chinese Buddhist canon) but also resulted in the compilation of a catalogue that organized all known scriptures. Thereafter, the production of the canon and the compilation of Buddhist catalogues influenced and advanced each other in turn. The appearance of the Ruzang lu within Buddhist catalogues signalled the gradual maturation of the canon system. With the publication of the Kaiyuan shijiao lu, the Chinese Buddhist canon was formally standardized. Subsequent canon productions were largely based on the Ruzang lu of the Kaiyuan Era Catalogue. After the emergence of the printed canon, access to the canon became much more convenient, which in turn gave rise to annotated catalogues and guidebooks to the canon. The printing of the Ji Shan Zang during the Ming dynasty also promoted the appearance of circulation catalogues. On the one hand, Buddhist catalogues regulated the development, formation, and standardization of the canon; on the other hand, the copying, printing, reading, and circulation of the canon also stimulated the creation of new types of Buddhist catalogues. In this interactive process, the two mutually shaped and advanced each other.

The Compilation of Buddhist Catalogues and the Formation of the Buddhist Canon
The Ru Zang Lu and the Standardization, Production, and Storage of the Chinese Buddhist Canon
The Reading and Circulation of the Canon and the Emergence of Buddhist Catalogues
Chinese Buddhist Literature as “the Other”

Lecture 4: Rong HE 何蓉 (CASS 中國社會科學院): 佛教藉中國化邁向世界宗教：基於韋伯理論的比較-歷史分析 Buddhism Advancing toward a World Religion via Sinicization: A Weberian Comparative Analysis

馬克斯·韋伯的比較-歷史研究以社會科學的理論範式研究世界諸宗教、文明諸形態，貫通理解宗教及其與社會的關係，其歷史敘事的舛誤往往遮蔽了理論的洞鑑。佛教在韋伯中國研究中屬於缺失的一維，論述的篇幅和內容都相當有限。不過，若將其印度研究與中國研究的文本結合起來，可以勾勒出一個清晰的佛教演變與傳播的脈絡，從而賦予一個以佛教爲主體的敘事以完整性。在理論層次，佛教在印度與在中國構成了兩個可加以比較的個案，韋伯試圖探究，爲什麼佛教在印度深受打擊甚至在印度本部消失，卻經由傳播、經由中國化等環節，成爲一個世界宗教。韋伯從社會階層、知識生產、組織特徵等方面論述了佛教的產生與傳播，分析了佛教中國化的社會機制。從資料角度而言，韋伯倚重於漢學、東方學等領域的經典翻譯、闡釋與實地考察，在他關於印度佛教的論述中，引用了法顯《佛國記》、玄奘《大唐西域記》、義淨《南海寄歸內法傳》及《宋雲行紀》等中國文獻，以理解4-7世紀印度諸國的信仰特徵，在一定意義上，這表明在理解整體的佛教史方面，中國佛教更具有開放性和世界意義。

Max Weber’s comparative-historical studies investigate major world religions and diverse civilizational forms through the social scientific theoretical lens, aiming to comprehensively interpret religions and their relations to society. Flaws in his historical narratives often obscure theoretical insights. Buddhism as a missing dimension in Weber’s studies of China, remained understudied. Nevertheless, a clear trajectory of Buddhist evolution and dissemination can be delineated by integrating his textual analyses of India and China, thus forming a comprehensive Buddhist narrative.

Theoretically, Buddhism in India and Buddhism in China form two comparable case studies. Weber examines why Buddhism suffered suppressions and ultimately vanished from its Indian homeland, yet evolved into a world religion through cross-border transmission and Sinicization. The emergence and spread of Buddhism, the social mechanisms the Sinicization of Buddhism can be understand from sociological perspectives like social stratification, intellectual production and organizational traits.

Weber drew heavily on canonical translations, scholarly exegeses and fieldwork findings from sinology, oriental studies and related disciplines. To grasp the religious beliefs in India 4^th– 7^th centuries, his discussions cite a range of Chinese texts: Faxian’s Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms, Xuanzang’s Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, Yijing’s Records of the Buddhist Practices Sent Home from the Southern Seas, as well as the Travelogue of Song Yun. To a certain extent, this demonstrates that Chinese Buddhism bears greater openness and global significance for understanding the full sweep of Buddhist history.