Prof. Dr. Jinhua Chen

Bild von Jinhua Chen

Internationales Kolleg für Geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung "Schicksal, Freiheit und Prognose. Bewältigungsstrategien in Ostasien und Europa"




Home Institution: Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia


IKGF Visiting Fellow May 2017 – July 2017

IKGF Research Project:

To Prognosticate the Uncertain: Ruixiang-related Ideas and Practices in Medieval China


Curriculum Vitae

Jinhua Chen is a professor of East Asian Buddhism in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He was trained as a historian of religions, with a focus on East Asian Buddhism. After receiving a doctoral degree in Religious Studies from McMaster University in 1997, he held a postdoctoral research fellowship at Kyoto University in Japan. In 2001, he joined the Department of Asian Studies at UBC. That same year he was also appointed by the federal government of Canada as the Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in East Asian Buddhism (2001-2011). In addition to his work at UBC, he has held research and teaching positions at other leading research institutions, such as the University of Virginia, University of Tokyo, Stanford University, the University of Hamburg, Leiden University, the University of Ghent, and Duke University. He is currently the director of the newly-awarded multi-year international and interdisciplinary Partnership project sponsored by SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) Project that aims at reconstructing several key aspects of East Asian religions through multi-media sources and interdisciplinary perspectives (www.frogbear.org). As recipient of research grants and fellowships from different sources including SSHRC, CRC, Killam Foundation, Society for the Promotion of Buddhism, Japan Society for the Promotion of Social Sciences, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Academy of Korean Studies, the National Humanities Center (USA), and most recently the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (2015-16), he has been engaged in research projects related to East Asian state-church relationships, monastic (hagio/)biographical literature, Buddhist sacred sites, relic veneration, Buddhism and technological innovation in medieval China, Buddhist translations, and manuscript culture. He wrote five monographs including Making and Remaking History [Tokyo, 1999]; Monks and Monarchs, Kinship and Kingship [Kyoto, 2002]; Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician [Leiden, 2007]; Legend and Legitimation [Brussels, 2009]; and Crossfire: Shingon-Tendai strife [Tokyo, 2010]), co-edited seven books, and published over sixty book chapters and journal articles, with major academic journals.

Selected Publications

Books

2016 Fojiao yu Zhongwai jialiu 佛教與中外交流 (Buddhism and China's Communication with the world outside China) (in Chinese). Shanghai: Zhongxi shuju 中西書局.
2010 Crossfire: Shingon-Tendai Strife as Seen in Two Twelfth-century Polemics, with Special References to Their Background in Tang China (Studia Philologica Buddhica Monograph Series no. 25). Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies in Tokyo.
2009 Legend and Legitimation: The Formation of Tendai Esoteric Buddhism in Japan (Mélanges Chinois et Bouddhiques, vol. 30). Louvain: Peeters Press.
2007 Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician: The Many Lives of Fazang (643-712) (Series Sinica Leidensia 75). Leiden: Brill Academic Publisher.
2002 Monks and Monarchs, Kinship and Kingship: Tanqian in Sui Buddhism and Politics. Kyoto: Italian School of East Asian Studies.
1999 Making and Remaking History: A Study of Tiantai Sectarian Historiography (Studia Philologica Buddhica Monograph Series no. 14). Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies in Tokyo.

Books edited

2017 Yishan er wuding: Duo xueke, kua fangyu, chao wenhua shiye zhong de Wutai Xinyang yanjiu 一山而五顶：多学科、跨方域、超文化视野中的五台信仰研究 [One Mountain of Five Plateaus: Studies of the Wutai cult in Multidisciplinary, Crossborder and Transcultural Approaches]. Eds. Miaojiang 妙江, Chen Jinhua 陳金華 and Kuanguang 寬廣. Hangzhou 杭州: Zhejiang daxue chubanshe 浙江大學出版社.
2017 Rules of Engagement: Medieval Traditions of Buddhist Monastic Regulation, eds. Susan Andrews, Jinhua Chen, and Cuilan Liu (Hamburg Buddhist Studies 7). Bochum/Freiburg: Projekt Verlag.
2014 Shensheng kongjian: Zhonggu zongjiao zhong de kongjian yinsu 神聖空間: 中古宗教中的空間因素 [Sacred Space: The Spatial Elements in Medieval Religions], Fudan Zhonghua wenming yanjiu zhuankan 復旦中華文明研究專刊 (Fudan Monograph Series on the Studies of Chinese Civilization 1). Co-edited with Yinggang Sun. Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe 復旦大學出版社.
2012 Images, Relics, and Legends: The Formation and Transformation of Buddhist Sacred Sites, Essays in Honor of Professor Koichi Shinohara. Edited with James Benn and James Robson. Oakville: Mosaic Press.
2012 Fojiao shenhua yanjiu: Wenben, tuxiang, chuanshuo, yu lishi 佛教神話研究: 文本、圖像、傳說與歷史 [Studies on Buddhist Myths: Texts, Pictures, Traditions and History]. Eds. With Bangwei Wang 王邦維 and Ming Chen 陳明. Shanghai: Zhongxi shuju 中西書局.
2007 Buddhism and Peace: With a Focus on the Issues of Violence, Wars and Self-sacrifice. Co-edited with James Benn. Hua-lien (Taiwan): Tzu-chi University Press.
2007 Development and Practice of Humanitarian Buddhism: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Co-edited with Mu-chu Hsu and Lori Meeks. Hua-lien (Taiwan): Tzu-chi University Press.