Professional appointments

2016/03 – 2019/12

Doctoral Research Fellow, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1199: “Processes of Spatialization under the Global Condition,” Leipzig University, Germany.

2020/04 – 2020/08

Lecturer/Research Associate (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), Sinology, Institute of East Asian Studies, Leipzig University, Germany.

2020/09 – 2021/7

Research Associate, Sinology, Institute of East Asian Studies, Leipzig University, Germany.

2021/08 – now

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of the West

Director of the Institute for the Study of Humanistic Buddhism ISHB at University of the West

Education

2012

B.A., National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), Chinese Language and Culture for International Students, Taipei, Taiwan; 台灣國立師範大學, 國際華語與文化學系.

2014

M.A., National Chengchi University (NCCU), Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, Taipei, Taiwan; 台灣國立政治大學, 宗教學研究所.

2020

Ph.D., Leipzig University, Sinology

Research interests

Buddhism in sinophone societies, ethnic Chinese migration and diaspora, Buddhist transnationalism, multiple modern religiosities, post colonialism, multi-sited ethnography

Publications

Book

Mapping Modern Mahayana: Chinese Buddhism and Migration in the Age of Global Modernity. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021.

Peer reviewed articles

1.     “Innovation and Continuity in the Pure Lands: Pure Land Discourses and Practices at the Taiwanese Buddhist Order Dharma Drum Mountain.” Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies, 2017, vol. 30, New Taipei: Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies.

2.     Migrating Buddhas and Global Confucianism: The Transnational Space Making of Taiwanese Religious Organizations. Nikolas Broy / Jens Reinke / Philip Clart, SFB 1199 TP03 working paper, Leipzig University, 2017.

3.     “Sacred Secularities: Ritual and Social Engagement in a Global Buddhist China.” Religions, special issue: Religiosity, Secularity and Pluralism in the Global East, edited by Yang Fenggang, 2018, vol. 9, no. 11.

4.     “The Buddha in Bronkhorstspruit: The Transnational Spread of the Taiwanese Buddhist Order Fo Guang Shan to South Africa.” Contemporary Buddhism, special issue: Transnational Buddhism, 2020.

5.     “Modern Buddhist Communalism in the Diaspora and Beyond: Communal cultivation practices at Fo Guang Shan temples worldwide.” Religions, special issue: Buddhism and Modernity in Asian Societies, edited by Hiroko Kawanami (in progress).

Book chapters

1.     “Generating Global Pure Lands: Renjian Buddhist Civic Engagement within and beyond Chinese Diaspora Communities Worldwide.” Transnational Religious Spaces? Religious Organizations and their Interaction in Africa, East Asia, and beyond. Edited volume by Philip Clart and Adam Jones, Berlin, De Gruyter 2020.

2.     “The Buddha’s Light International Association Vest.” Chinese Religious Culture in 100 Objects. Edited volume by Adam Yuet Chau, (accepted).

3.     “Fo Guang Shans Globalisierung Reiner Länder: Zivilgesellschaftliches Engagement modernistischer Buddhisten in der ethnisch chinesischen Diaspora.” Verräumlichungsprozesse unter Globalisierungsbedingungen. Edited volume by Matthias Middell, Berlin, De Gruyter (in press).

Conference presentations

1.     “Constructing a Modern Pure land: Pure Land Practice at Dharma Drum Mountain.” Paper presented at the 2015 IAHR World Congress in Erfurt, Germany. 2015.08.24

2.     “Ven. Cihang and the Development of a Modern Taiwanese Buddhism.” Paper presented at the CESNUR Conference for Religious Studies Religious Movements in a Globalized World: Korea, Asia, and Beyond in Seoul, South-Korea. 2016.07.07

3.     “Buddhabilder in Bronkhorstspruit (Imaginations of the Buddha in Bronkhorstspruit).” Paper presented at the DVRW (German Association of Religious Studies) 2017 annual conference in Marburg, Germany. 2017.09.14

4.     “Transnational Buddhists and Global Pure Lands: Buddha’s Light Mountain’s Nan Hua Temple in Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa.” Paper presented at the Research Colloquium “Religion(s) in China,” organized by Leipzig University & FU Berlin in Berlin, Germany. 2017.12.15

5.     “The Buddha in Bronkhorstspruit: The Transnational Spread of the Taiwanese Buddhist Order Fo Guang Shan to South Africa.” Paper presented at the AAS Conference 2018 in Washington, D.C., USA. 2018.03.24

6.     Panel Organizer: “Dharma Tourists, Diasporas and Buddhist Transnationalism: Spreading the Dharma under the Global Condition.” Panel at the AAS Conference 2018 in Washington, D.C., USA. 2018.03.24

7.     “The Buddha in the Ethnoburb: The Chinese Buddhist Diaspora Temple as Transnational Religious Space.” Paper presented at the 16th Summer School of the Graduate School Global and Area Studies at Leipzig University, Germany. 2018.06.11

8.     “Back to the Future: The Development of Fo Guang Shan in the People’s Republic of China.” Paper presented at the Joint Research Colloquium “Religions in China,” organized by Leipzig University & FU Berlin in Wittenberg Lutherstadt, Germany. 2018.07.06

9.     “Global China, Local Buddhas: Transnational Buddhist Temple Spaces in Chinese Diaspora Communities around the Globe.” Paper presented at the EASSSR Inauguration Conference 2018 in Singapore. 2018.07.04

10.  “Generating Global Pure Lands: Renjian Buddhist Civic Engagement Within and Beyond Chinese Diaspora Communities Worldwide.” Paper presented at the Transnational Religious Spaces Workshop at Leipzig University, Germany. 2018.12.13

11.  “Fringes of a Global Buddhist China: Negotiating Cross-Cultural Interactions in Overseas Fo Guang Shan Temples.” Paper presented at the AAS Conference 2019 in Denver, USA. 2019.03.22

12.  “Parochial Cosmopolitanism: Negotiating Chineseness in a Global Buddhist China.” Paper presented at the fourth annual conference of the SFB 1199 at Leipzig University, Germany. 2019.09.30

13.  “Shifting the Paradigm of Humanistic Buddhism: From Modern to Global Buddhism.” Paper presented at the 7th Symposium on Humanistic Buddhism, Fo Guang Shan Institute for Humanistic Buddhism, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. 2019.11.02

14.  “(Re)inventing the Past: Ven. Suifo 隨佛 and His Original Buddhism Society (Zhonghua yuanshi fojiao hui 中華原始佛教會).” Paper presented at the EACS Conference 2021 at Leipzig University, Germany. 2021.08.04

15.  Panel organizer: “Modulating Mahāyāna Encountering Theravāda and Contesting Chinese Buddhist Tradition and Orthodoxy in the Southern Sinosphere.” Panel at the EACS Conference 2021 at Leipzig University, Germany. 2021.08.24

16.  “Humanistic Buddhism under the Global Condition.” Paper presented at the 8th Symposium on Humanistic Buddhism, Nan Ten Institute of Higher Education, Wollongong, Australia. 2021.11.07

Invited talks and guest lectures

1.     “Chinese Buddhism.” Introductory lecture, undergraduate General Education course “Religion in Taiwan” 宗教在台灣 at NCCU, Taiwan. 2012.12.05

2.     “Dharma Drum Mountain in the context of Modern Chinese Buddhism.” Lecture as part of the Long Island University Global Studies Program at NCCU, Taiwan. 2014.11.20

3.     “Dharma Drum Mountain in the context of Modern Chinese Buddhism.” Lecture as part of the Long Island University Global Studies Program at NCCU, Taiwan. 2015.09.11

4.     “Study in Taiwan.” Guest Lecture, Sinology, Institute of East Asian Studies, Leipzig University, Germany. 2016.06.17

5.     “Religion in Taiwan Today.” Guest Lecture, Sinology, Institute of East Asian Studies, Leipzig University, Germany. 2016.05.27

6.     “Religion.” Guest Lecture, Research Seminar: People-based Globalization and China in the world, Sinology, Department of East Asian Studies, Leipzig University, Germany. 2016.12.14

7.     “Transnationalization of Religion.” Guest Lecture, Research Seminar: Migration and Diaspora in a Transnationalized World, Anthropology Department, Leipzig University, Germany. 2018.11.13

8.     “Modernist Mahayana for the Masses: the Emergence of Renjian Buddhist Mass Organizations in Taiwan.” Guest Lecture, Research Seminar: Buddhism in China between Innovation and Integration, Sinology, Department of East Asian Studies, Leipzig University, Germany. 2019.12.12

9.     “Navigating a Global Buddhist China: The Transnationalism of the Modernist Buddhist Order Fo Guang Shan.” Center for the Study of Chinese Religions, NCCU, Taiwan, 台灣國立政治大學, 華人宗教研究中心. 2020.03.17

10.  “Mapping Modern Mahayana: Chinese Buddhism and Migration in the Age of Global Modernity.” Book talk and inaugural lecture for the Institute for the Study of Humanistic Buddhism at University of the West, Los Angeles, USA. 2021.09.09

Scholarships and grants

2007/09 – 2008/08

Mandarin Language Enrichment Scholarship 教育部華語文獎學金

2012/09 – 2014/08

Sheng Yen Education Foundation Scholarship 聖嚴漢傳佛教博碩士獎學金

2014/09 – 2015/08

New International Students Scholarship 外國新生獎學金

2015/09 – 2016/02

MOE Common Scholarship 教育部外國學生普通獎學金

2020/02 – 2020/03

Sheng Yen Education Foundation Visiting Scholars from Abroad, grant for two month field work visit to Taiwan 聖嚴漢傳佛教學術發展專案捐贈短期訪問獎學金