The Healer-King Curing the Three Poisons – Panelists

One of Dr. Gao’s groundbreaking studies is a series of neuroscientific experiments on the spiritual chanting of Amitabha Buddha’s name, which represents a first systematic study of religious chanting and prayer in the world. This research has garnered significant interest not only within the Buddhist community in Eastern culture but also from Western media outlets such as the BBC. During decades of work in this interdisciplinary field, Dr. Gao asserts that the advancements in modern science have greatly contributed to helping ordinary people better understand Buddhist practices and philosophy. Moreover, he recognizes that the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) poses thought-provoking questions to both Buddhism and neuroscience regarding fundamental issues of consciousness and the self.

We are living in the best era to study Buddhism through an interdisciplinary approach. With an emerging challenges in the age of AI, his proposal of “The Power of the Buddhist Mind: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Reducing Suffering and Promoting Well-being in the Modern World.” Would seek to explore the relevance and potential of Buddhist wisdom in tackling the persistent problems of greed, anger, and ignorance in contemporary society, drawing upon insights from various fields of neuroscience, psychology, medicine, engineering, and computer science.

GAO Xi received her Ph.D. in history from Fudan University. She is now director, professor, and Ph.D. supervisor of modern history in the Department of History, Fudan University. She is also the deputy director of the Committee of the Chinese Society for the History of Medicine, and a committee member of the Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology. She is the author A Biography of John Dudgeon: A British Missionary and Chinese Medical Modernization in Late Qing (2009), Medicine and History (2020). She has published over 30 influential papers on her research fields, such as medical missionary Chinese medical modernization and the history of medical cultural exchange between West and East. She was a visiting fellow and visiting associate at Harvard Yenching Institute in 2004-2006 and 2013-2014. She has organized three international conferences, two on the history of medicine, and the other on the westward spread of Chinese knowledge and goods.

Wei LI (born in 1991) received his Doctoral degree of Literature from Peking University and currently serves as an associate professor at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Henan University, where he also fulfills the role of a supervisor for master’s students. His teaching portfolio includes courses such as “The History of Classical Chinese Literature,” “Classical Chinese Literary Theory,” and “Fictions of the Six Dynasties,” among others. His academic pursuits are centered on Buddhist Avadāna literature, the history of Classical Chinese literature, and the literary theories of the Six Dynasties. His research delves into the intricate relationship between Chinese Buddhism and literature, exploring topics such as novels, poems and Buddhist biographies in early medieval China. Additionally, he is actively involved in the translation of Buddhist scriptures into English, bridging cultural gaps and facilitating a deeper understanding of Buddhist teachings. He authored a translated work and published numerous research papers in prestigious journals, including “World Religions Research,” “Religions,” and “Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies.” He also leads a social science project funded by the Henan Provincial Government.

I am an assistant professor at Hirosaki University in Japan. I obtained my phD from Kyoto University。My research subjects are Chinese philosophy, medical thought in the early modern period, and Taoist Thought 。I have published “Formation and Development of Zhu Quan’s thought of Yangsheng-Focusing on Huorenxin and Shenyin” in the journal ‘ The Journal of eastern religions ‘（2021）；“The spread of Huorenxin by Zhu Quan in Korea and Japan –Comparative study based on various versions–” in the journal ‘ Human and Environmental Studies ‘（2019）。I have co-authored the book “Multifaceted Examination of East Asian Traditional Medical Culture”（2024）which has been published.

英國劍橋大學副院士，香港大學哲學博士。中國敦煌吐魯番學會會員。香港大學饒宗頤學術館名譽副研究員藝術顧問、饒學研究基金專案評審委員會會員、饒學聯滙榮譽顧問。著作《觀心自在：香港觀音誕與觀音信仰探源》（天地圖書2020年，首屆「想創你未來 —— 初創作家出版資助計劃」（非遺組）得獎作品，並榮獲第三屆「香港出版雙年獎」社會科學類出版獎, 2021），及著《緣繋敦煌》（中華書局2021年） 。

My research focuses on Japanese Buddhism, its material and visual culture, with particular emphasis on the performative, healing, and transformative dimensions of Buddhist rituals and material culture. Some of my research questions pertain the way in which people engage in ritual activities or with devotional objects to shape their body and mind, and the degree to which religious practices actively transform the physical world. I am also interested in the overlap between medical and religious practices in premodern Japan, and my publications specifically look at fertility and safe-birthing rituals devised and performed at Daigoji.

法鼓文理學院佛教學系副教授。學術專長為西藏佛教歷史與文化。歷年曾執行多個與佛教身心療主題相關的計畫，仍在進行中的是「法的療癒資料庫—佛教醫事文獻資料庫研究與建置」。近年研究興趣聚焦於佛教身體觀、佛教醫療、漢藏佛教交流與對話等。著有〈敦煌五辛禁忌文本分析〉、〈修持與療癒之間—六朝隋唐之佛教醫療初探〉、〈西藏寧瑪派伏藏文獻之長壽、療癒與解脫〉等期刊論文。2022年出版《漢傳佛教的療癒之道》專書。

Alessandro Poletto 擔任聖路易斯華盛頓大學東亞宗教講師。專業領域是前現代日本的社會和宗教歷史，重點是中世紀早期（約10至13世紀）的佛教。他於2020年在哥倫比亞大學獲得博士學位，論文題為《中世紀早期日本的治療文化：前現代認識論研究》。論文研究了有關治療和疾病的論域和實踐，特別關注佛教治療士和其他醫療技術人員之間的關係，即宮廷醫生和陰陽師。其他研究和教學興趣包括對前現代東亞自然災害的理解和對治儀法，朝鮮半島和日本列島之間的文化交流歷史，以及東亞的佛教物質文化和考古學。曾在京都大學擔任日本學術振興會博士後研究員。

The major theme in my scholarship is discovering the role of Buddhism in the global transmission and local reception of knowledge about health, disease, and the body. I approach this topic using methodologies from history, religious studies, translation studies, literary studies, and ethnography.

Venenerable Sik Hin Hung was born in Hong Kong and studied in La Salle Primary School. For his secondary education, he went to Japan and graduated from the Canadian Academy in Kobe. In 1976, he graduated from The University of Oregon in the US with a double major in International Business and Computer Science. After returning to Hong Kong, he worked for his father in the business and financial sector. In 1990, he decided to dedicate himself to the study and promotion of Buddhist teaching and practices. He became a Mahayana Buddhist monk and was ordained under the benediction of the Grand Master Ven. Sheng Yi. In 1993, he went to London and obtained an MA in Religious Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London. He is a Founding Fellow of the Centre of Buddhist Studies of The University of Hong Kong and has served as its Director for almost 10 years. He is currently the Senior Fellow of the Centre and Chairman of the newly launched Master of Buddhist Counselling programme. He also serves as the Managing Vice-President and Administrator-General of the Hong Kong Buddhist Association and has provided counselling services to the staff of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority for many years. Ven. Hin Hung specializes in Buddhist counselling and meditation. He has strived to make Buddhist teaching more “user friendly” and relevant to people nowadays. His current research projects include Buddhist counselling, “Neuroscience of meditation”, and “Guangdong Yuqie Yankou”. He has published many books and journal articles on Buddhist counselling, Buddhist teaching, psychotherapy and Buddhist education.

太史文擔任鈴木大拙佛學研究教授，也是普林斯頓大學宗教系的講座教授。他的領域是佛教與中國宗教，其研究運用文字材料、寫本、以及絲路遺留下來的藝術和物質資料，追溯文化之間的互動。他擔任普林斯頓跨院系東亞研究項目的主任。在2014年他榮獲普大 McGraw 教學中心頒發的人文學科研究生指導獎，他目前的研究重點是敦煌的儀禮寫本，并主編多種學術文集。

My thesis examines “religious heresy” as a discursive construct, largely independent of social realities, in the Ming and Qing. A revised version of my thesis was published in 2017 by Brill as a monograph in their series “Religion in Chinese Society”.

My current project focusses on the literary image of Chinese Buddhist monks, who, from the late 16th century onwards, frequently appear in popular stories as swindlers, evil magicians and sexual predators; nuns, too, are commonly stereotyped as procuresses and gossips. My project investigates the intentions and social forces behind this literature. Did it aim purely to entertain, or to instruct and enlighten as well? And if this latter, then how? This is an interdisciplinary project touching on social-religious history, Buddhist theology, literary studies, legal history, and gender and sexuality.

我的專長是從10世紀（宋朝）到16世紀晚期（明朝）的社會和宗教歷史。我對宗教觀念的變化特別感興趣，這些變化在歷史學的傳承中得以體現。我的博士論文探討了「宗教異端」作為一種話語構造，在明清時期的獨立性，與社會現實大部分無關。我的論文修訂版於2017年由 Brill 出版，作為他們「中國社會中的宗教」系列的專著發行。我的當前項目專注於中國佛教僧人的文學形象，從16世紀晚期開始，他們經常在流行故事中被描繪成騙子、邪惡的魔法師和性侵者；尼姑也常被刻板地刻畫成牽涉賣淫和散布流言的人。我的項目調查了這些文學背後的意圖和社會力量。它的目的純粹是娛樂，還是也有教育和啓迪的意圖？如果是後者，那麼是如何實現的呢？這是一個涉及社會宗教歷史、佛教神學、文學研究、法律史以及性別與性取向的跨學科項目。

伊丹，日本早稻田大學文學博士，東京大學東洋文化研究所特任研究員，Yanai Initiative研究員，曾任美國加州大學洛杉磯分校訪問學者。研究方向為日本古典文學、中日比較文學及東亞文化交流史。尤其關注醫學相關的文學文化交流，致力於中國醫學文化在日本的傳播研究，在《日本文學》《國語國文》《域外漢籍研究集刊》等日本及中國權威學術雜誌發表相關研究論著近十篇，獲得日本說話傳承學會論文奬，參與并負責中國、日本、美國的多個科研項目的研究工作。

Her book ReOrienting Histories of Medicine: Encounters along the Silk Roads (2021) analyses a number of case studies of Eurasian medical encounters by looking at medical manuscripts found in key Eurasian nodes of the medieval world–Dunhuang, Kucha, the Cairo Genizah and Tabriz. She is an associate editor of the journal Asian Medicine (Brill) and an editorial board member of the journal Medical History.

張園園，中國寧夏大學副教授，主要從事中國醫療社會文化史研究。博士畢業於南開大學歷史學院，博士學位論文為《宋元明清醫學知識的演變與重塑——以醫學文獻中的「蟲病」書寫為中心》，主持完成一項國家級課題《「儒學化」轉向與金元醫學知識的建構研究》。