Nationality

Italy

Positions

2020 - Assistant Professor in Buddhist Studies and Chinese Religions, SOAS, University of London (UK), School of History, Religions and Philosophy

2013 - 2020 Assistant Professor Religion in Asia (tenured since September 2016)
Founding Director Centre for the Study of Religion and Culture in Asia
University of Groningen (NETHERLANDS)
Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies

2012 - 2013 Lecturer (Assistant Professor) Buddhist Thought and Practice
University of Manchester (UK)
Department Religion and Theology

2010 - 2012 Assistant Professor East Asian Buddhism
Pennsylvania State University (USA)
Department History

2009 - 2010 Assistant Professor Chinese Religions
University of Saskatchewan (CANADA)
Department Religion and Culture

2008 - 2009 Assistant Professor East Asian Religions
University of Missouri (USA)

Department Religious Studies

2004 - 2008 Teaching Fellow (part-time employment)
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (UK)

Department Study of Religions
Department History

2007 - 2008 Teaching Fellow (part-time employment)
Goldsmiths College, University of London (UK)
Department History

Education

2003 - 2009 School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (UK)

Department Study of Religions
PhD Thesis title: The Mādhyamika Dimension of Yinshun. A Re-statement of the School of Nāgārjuna in Twentieth-Century Chinese Buddhism.

Ca’ Foscari University, Venice (ITALY)

Department Chinese Studies (Oriental Languages and Literatures)
MA Thesis title: Le Eredi di Guanyin. Ritratti di Maestre e Praticanti del Nuovo Buddhismo
Taiwanese [Engl: Guanyin’s Legacy. Monastic and Lay Women Practitioners of the NewBuddhism in Taiwan].
* Thesis awarded the Italian Maitreya Foundation 1st prize for the most outstanding Laurea MA dissertation on Buddhism.

Main Research

Chinese Buddhism, Modern Chinese Buddhism, Buddhism in Taiwan

Publication

Books and Edited Volumes

1.     2009  The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Buddhism, co-authored with Peter Connolly and Helen Varley. London: Anness [book for undergraduate and large audience]

2.     2016  Religion and Media in China: Insights and Case Studies from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, edited volume. New York and London: Routledge

3.     2019  Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions III: Key Concepts in Practice, coedited with Paul R. Katz. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter

4.     2019 Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions I: History of the Field and Disciplinary Approaches, co-edited with André Laliberté. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter

5.     2020 Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions II: Intellectual History of Key Concepts, co-edited with Gregory Adam Scott. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter

6.     2021 Yinshun and his Exposition of Madhyamaka: New Studies of the Da ZhiduLun in Twentiethcentury China and Taiwan

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles and Book Chapters

1.     2001 “Il Nuovo “Buddhismo per l'Umanità” (renjianfojiao) a Taiwan. Una Nota sulla Classificazione degli Insegnamenti (panjiao) secondo il Maestro Yinshun.” Cina29: 65-102

2.     2004 “Ven. Miaoqing and Yuantong Chan Nunnery: A New Beginning for Monastic Women in Taiwan.” In Bridging Worlds: Buddhist Women’s Voices Across Generations, edited by KarmaLeksheTsomo, 83-96. Taipei: Yuanquan Press

3.     2004 “Master Yinshun and Buddhist Women in Taiwan.” In Discipline and Practice of BuddhistWomen: Present and Past, conference proceedings edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo, 186-198.Kailua: Sakyadhita International

4.     2004 “Master Yinshun and the Pure Land Thought. A Doctrinal Gap between Indian Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism.” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hung. 57, no.3: 271-328

5.     2005 “Fuhuitayuanyongjiuanxi. ErshishijichuanchengLongshufamen de gaoseng” 福慧塔院永久安息──二十世紀傳承龍樹法門的高僧. Dangdai當代215: 12-41

6.     2005 “ErshishijichuanchengLongshufamen de Zhongguogaoseng (shang)” 二十世紀傳承龍樹法門的中國高僧（上）. In Fengchengfayindianzibao風城法音電子報155

7.     2005 “ErshishijichuanchengLongshufamen de Zhongguogaoseng (xia)” 二十世紀傳承龍樹法門的中國高僧（下）. In Fengchengfayindianzibao風城法音電子報156

8.     2005 “Master Yinshun and Buddhist Women in Taiwan: Fayuan and Yitong Nunneries, Disciples of Guanyin in Northwest Taiwan.” In Out of the Shadows: Socially Engaged Buddhist Women, edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo, 198-210. Delhi: Indian Books Centre

9.     2006 “Shi Cihang釋慈航. The First Case of Mummified Buddhist in Taiwan.” Kervan–International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies 3: 77-100

10.  2007 “Buddhist Nuns and Female Buddhism in Taiwan. Historical Patterns and Engendered Values.”World Fellow Buddhist Review 44, no.1: 6-151

11.  2007 “Master Yinshun and Buddhist Nuns in/for the Human Realm. Shift and Continuity FromTheory to Practice of renjianfojiaoin Contemporary Taiwan.” In The Margins of Becoming.Identity and Culture in Taiwan, edited by Carsten Storm and Mark Harrison, 83-100.Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz

12.  2010 “Religionizing Fieldwork and Fieldworking Religion: Hermeneutics of the engagement between religion and research methodologies in the field.” Fieldwork in Religion 5, no.2: 133-145

13.  2010 Religionizing Fieldwork and Fieldworking Religion, special issue of Fieldwork in Religion 5,no.2, co-edited with James Kapalo

14.  2012 “What is behind Yinshun’s Re-statement of Mūlamadhyamakakārikā? Debates on the
Creation of a New Mahāyāna in twentieth-century China.”Buddhist Studies Review 29, no.2:
251-272

15.  2013 “Yinshun’s Re-Assessment of Shizhupiposhalun十住毗婆沙論: A Madhyamaka-based Pure Land Practice in Twentieth-century Taiwan.” Contemporary Buddhism 14, no.2: 320-343

16.  2014 “Concepts and Institutions for a New Buddhist Education: Reforming the Sangha Between and Within State Agencies.” East Asian History 39: 88-101

17.  2015 “Political Adjusting(s) in the Minnan Buddhist Institute: sanminzhuyi三民主义and aiguozhuyi爱国主义in the Sangha Education Context.” Review of Religion and Chinese Society 2, no.1: 21-50

18.  2016 “Houguan – a Modern Educator in Taiwan.” In Figures of Buddhist Modernity in Asia, editedby Justin McDaniel, Mark Rowe, and Jeffrey Samuels, 91-94. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press

19.  2016 “Dingkong – the Blogger monk in Southern China.” In Figures of Buddhist Modernity in Asia, edited by Justin McDaniel, Mark Rowe, and Jeffrey Samuels, 170-173. Honolulu: Universityof Hawai‘i Press

20.  2016 “Elder Gongga貢噶老人(1903-1997) between China, Tibet and Taiwan: Assessing Life, Mission and Mummification of a Buddhist Woman.” The Journal of the Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions 3: 250-272

21.  2016 “Dharma in Motion Pictures: Buddhist Cartoons and Documentaries in Contemporary Taiwan.” In Religion and Media in China: Insights and Case Studies from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, edited by Stefania Travagnin, 225-240. New York and London: Routledge

22.  2016 “Charting Religion and Media in Taiwan: Media Expressions of Faith as (Pluri)Identity Markers in the Democratization Era.” In Religion and Media in China: Insights and Case Studies from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, edited by Stefania Travagnin, 53-68. New York and London: Routledge

23.  2016 “Introduction – Religion and Media in China: Volume Objectives, Challenges, and Themes.”In Religion and Media in China: Insights and Case Studies from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, edited by Stefania Travagnin, 1-15. New York and London: Routledge

24.  2017 “Genealogy and Taxonomy of the “Twentieth-century Renjian Fojiao人間佛教: Mapping afamen法門from Mainland China and Taiwan to Europe.” Renjianfojiaoxuebao-yiwen人間佛教學報－藝文(Humanistic Buddhism: Journal, Arts, and Culture) 9: 180-197

25.  2017 “Yin &Yang Dynamics and the Concept of Kong: Understanding ‘Becoming’ and ‘Being’ in Chinese Philosophy and Religions.” In Oltrel'individualismo: Relazioni e relazionalità per ripensarel'identità, edited by Lorella Congiunti, Giambattista Formica and ArdianNdreca, 475-490. Rome: Urbaniana University Press

26.  2017 “Buddhist Education between Tradition, Modernity and Networks: Reconsidering the ‘Revival’ of Education for the Saṅgha in Twentieth-century China.” Studies in Chinese Religions 3, no.3: 220-241

27.  2018 “Mapping New Systems of Community Networks: Discursive Identity, Cross-Strait Lineage Construction, and Funerary Sacred Space in Taiwanese Buddhism.” In Communities of Memory: Reimagining and Reinventing the Past in East Asian Buddhism, edited by Mario Poceski, 177-217. Hamburg: Hamburg University Press

28.  2018 “Reception History and Limits of Interpretation: The Belgian Étienne Lamotte, Japanese Buddhologists, the Chinese monk Yinshun印順and the Formation of a Global ‘Da zhidulun大智度論Scholarship’.” Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies 1, no.1: 248-2772018 “A Harmonious Plurality of ‘Religious’ Expressions: Theories and Case Studies from the Chinese Practice of (Religious) Diversity.” In A Critical Analysis of Religious Diversity, edited by Lene Kühle, Jorn Borup, William Hoverd, 147-171. Leiden: Brill

29.  2019 “Reducing Suffering During Conflict: the Interface between Buddhism and International Humanitarian Law (IHL),” co-authored exploratory position paper, also in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (2019).

30.  2019 “Introduction,” co-authored with Paul R. Katz. In Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions III: Key Concepts in Practice, edited by Paul R. Katz and Stefania Travagnin, 1-10. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter

31.  2019 “Epistemic Communities of Buddhist Scholarship in Modern China: Narratives and Paradigms,” co-authored with André Laliberté. In Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions I: History of the Field and Disciplinary Approaches, edited by Stefania Travagnin and André Laliberté, 115-138. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter

32.  2019 “Cyber-Activities and ‘Civilized’ Worship: Assessing Contexts and Modalities of Online Ritual Practices.” In Buddhism after Mao: Negotiations, Continuities, and Reinventions, edited by Gareth Fisher, André Laliberté and Ji Zhe, 290-311. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press 2019 “Introduction,” co-authored with André Laliberté. In Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions I: History of the Field and Disciplinary Approaches, edited by Stefania Travagnin and André Laliberté, 1-22. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter

33.  2020 “From Online Buddha Halls to Robot-Monks: New Developments in the Long-term Interaction between Buddhism, Media, and Technology in Contemporary China.” Review on Religion and Chinese Society 7, no.1: 120-148

34.  2020 “From xue學to jiaoyu教育: Conceptual Understanding of ‘Education’ in Modern Chinese Buddhism.” In Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions II: Intellectual History of Key Concepts, edited by Stefania Travagnin and Gregory Adam Scott, 95-120. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter

35.  2020 “Introduction,” co-authored with Gregory Adam Scott. In Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions II: Intellectual History of Key Concepts, edited by Stefania Travagnin and Gregory Adam Scott, 1-10. Boston and Berlin: De Gruyter

36.  2020 “Renjian Fojiao from Taiwan to South East Asia: Yinshun, Yanpei, and a ‘renjian fojiao network’?” In Deep into Dependent Origination, Gather all Dharma-treasure: The Practice of Humanistic Buddhism in East and Southeast Asia (深入緣起．集眾法寶﹕人間佛教在東亞與東南亞的實踐), edited by Chen Jianhuang陳劍鍠, 467-500. Hong Kong: Xianggang zhongwendaxuerenjianfojiaoyanjiuzhongxin

37.  2020 “Chinese Religion and Violence,” co-authored with graduate students Harmen Grootenhuis, Gang Li, ArjanSterken. In Religious Violence Today: Faith and Conflict in the Modern World, edited by Michael Jerryson, 131-175. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO

38.  2020 “Assessing the Field of Āgama Studies in Twentieth-century China: With a Focus on Master Yinshun’s印順Three-aṅgaTheory,” co-authored with Bhikkhu Anālayo. In Research on the Saṃyukta-āgama, edited by Dhammadinnā, 933-1007. Taipei: Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation