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We are welcoming a new member of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies: FWO junior postdoctoral fellow Dr. Xiaoming Hou. Her research focuses on scholastic practices in medieval Chinese Buddhism and the cross-cultural transmission of Buddhism, with particular interest in exegetical traditions. Her current FWO-funded project, Visualizing Doctrine: A Study of Exegetical Diagrams in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (8th–10th Centuries), examines exegetical diagrams (fenmen tu 分門圖 and kewen 科文) from Dunhuang and their role in the transmission of scholastic knowledge. It investigates how diagrammatic and material practices shaped scholastic reasoning and pedagogical methods in local Buddhist communities, reframing these diagrams as epistemological tools situated between text and image.

She received her Ph.D. in 2022 from EPHE/PSL (École Pratique des Hautes Études/Université Paris Sciences et Lettres) in Paris, Department of Religions and Systems of Thought. Her doctoral thesis, Pratiquer le bouddhisme en chinois: traduction et reconstruction des enseignements sur la méditation bouddhique du IIe au VIe siècles en Chine, explores the interdependent dynamics between meditation and exegesis in early medieval China.

The next phase of the Reading Group convened on October 23, 2025, marking the first of three sessions dedicated to the study of materials prepared by Wushi Lin, a joint PhD student of Professor Bart Dessein (Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies) and Professor Weijen Teng (Department of Buddhist Studies, Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts). The materials focus on the epistemological interpretation of the no-self doctrine by the influential late Ming dynasty Buddhist monk Zibo Zhenke (紫柏真可, 1543–1603), and are part of Wushi Lin’s PhD project, “Comprehending Everything as Oneself: The No-Self Doctrine of Zibo Zhenke in Ming Dynasty Buddhism.”

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Kikee Doma Bhutia, who, having won the FWO Junior Postdoctoral Fellowship, will be with the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies for the next three years. Her project, “Local Deities, Natural Disaster, and Ritual Waste in Vernacular Buddhist Practices in the Himalayas,” project examines the intersection of local religious practices, environmental policies, and waste management in Sikkim, with a particular emphasis on the influence of Buddhist rituals and beliefs on the community’s approach to sustainability.

Despite its relatively small geographic size, Sikkim has emerged as a leader in environmental initiatives, including the prohibition of plastic and the promotion of eco-friendly practices. However, traditional rituals, such as the tying of prayer flags and the use of synthetic materials in religious offerings, pose significant challenges to environmental conservation. This research investigates the roles of local deities, vernacular Buddhist practices, and monastic institutions in waste management, analyzing how religious concepts are integrated into environmental policies. Utilizing ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and archival research, this study will explore how communities navigate the complexities of modernization and tradition, thereby contributing to academic discussions on waste, religion, and sustainability in the Himalayas. The project aims to produce scholarly articles, presentations, and public outreach materials, thereby fostering both academic and social engagement.

Yurui Zhao is a joint PhD candidate at the Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University, and the School of Chinese Classics, Renmin University of China. Her research focuses on the social, religious, and cultural history of China during the 4th–6th centuries. Her doctoral dissertation, Taoism and Social Life in Southern China during the Jin, Song, Qi, and Liang Dynasties, adopts a cultural-historical approach to examine the interaction between Taoist beliefs and social practices in Southern China during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Her project aims to reconsider the realities of Chinese society in this period by tracing the development of Taoism. Her study will extensively use Taoist literature, connecting it to social life to provide insights into the relationship between Taoist rules and social behaviors. Additionally, it will analyze historical records, anecdotal literature, and literary works to explore people’s views on social, moral, and ritual behaviors. Finally, it will utilize archaeological materials, like tomb epitaphs and murals, to reveal how Taoist beliefs influenced daily life and social values.

In the first semster of the 2025/2026 acedemic year, GCBS postdoctoral fellow Dr. Paride Stortini, together with Dr. Akshara Ravishankar, is co-organizing the elective MA course “Contemporary Asian Academic Debates I” at Ghent University. Focusing on the theme of “Golden Ages” across different regions of Asia, the course invites students to critically explore how this idea is constructed and contested in various historical and cultural contexts. Several sessions are directly relevant to Buddhist Studies, including Massimiliano Portoghese’s lecture “Xuanzang’s Journey: Tang China and Its Cosmopolitan Golden Age”, which highlights the intersections between Buddhist history, travel, and the making of cultural memory.

The Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies opened its 2025–26 reading group on September 11, 2025, with a focus on rare Vinaya (monastic discipline) texts from Dunhuang. For the first three sessions, the group will engage with primary sources studied by Zixuan Wang, joint PhD student of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies and the Institute of Dunhuang Studies, Lanzhou University. Her doctoral project, “A Study of Buddhist Vinaya Texts from Dunhuang Excluded from the Taishō Tripiṭaka”, examines materials outside the standard Chinese Buddhist canon. The inaugural meeting explored one such text, concentrating on passages concerning the establishment of monastic boundaries (结界).

Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies has a notable presence at the XXth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS) held at Leipzig University, Germany, from August 10th to 15th, 2025. Our professors, postdocs and PhD students made eight presentations at various panels:

• Andreeva, Anna (Ghent University): “Buddhist Embryological Knowledge and Women’s Reproductive Health in Medieval Japan: A study of the Daigoji and Kanazawa Bunko manuscripts of Sanshō ruijūshō 産生類聚抄 (Encyclopedia of Childbirth, ca. 1318)”
• Choi, Jin Kyoung (Ghent University); Matsuda, Kazunobu (BAdW & Bukkyo University): “New Sanskrit Manuscript of the Abhidharmakośa from Afghanistan”
• Chu, Li-Ya (Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University): “Taiwanese Buddhism and Sexual Ethics for Laypeople”
• DiSimone, Charles (Ghent University): “The Gandhāra Corpora Project: Reports from Year One”
• Heirman, Ann (Ghent University): “Buddhist Monastics and (Their) Dogs: Daoxuan’s Vinaya Commentaries”
• Portoghese, Massimiliano (Ghent University): “Debates and Perceptions of Śramaṇas’ Bodily Gestures in Early Medieval Chinese Society”
• Sokolova, Anna (Ghent University): “The Integration of Buddhist Practices in Tang Dynasty Mortuary Rituals”
• Stortini, Paride (Ghent University): “Observing Japanese Buddhism from the Peak of the Kailash: Pilgrimage and Mountaineering in the Photography and Travel Accounts of Hasegawa Denjirō”

In addition, GCBS’s Professor Charles DiSimone, together with Naomi Appleton, will chair a discussion on the possibility of holding regional IABS meetings — in particular, an annual European Regional IABS gathering — with the aim of fostering more regular Buddhist Studies research exchange and networking among IABS members in Europe and those able to travel there.

For details, please see the Conference Program.

From 21 September 2024 to 11 May 2025, the Domain & Royal Museum of Mariemont, in cooperation with the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies, presented the exhibition Sensing the Buddha — an unprecedented, multisensory immersion into the world of Buddhism.

Although the exhibition has now closed, you can still experience it through the Virtual Tour: 🔗 Start your visit here

For the English version, simply select your language in the upper left corner of the screen. Then switch to full-screen mode, explore the 3D map, move through the space, zoom in on objects, read exhibition panels, and enjoy the embedded audio and video content. You can even try the “dollhouse view” for a unique overview of the exhibition layout.

🎥 Highlights from the virtual experience:

• Video: The Life of the Buddha → Watch on YouTube

• Interview: Aaron Ponce on the concept of Dana → Listen here

• Interview: Sayalay Vajiranani on the concept of Karma → Listen here

Step inside Sensing the Buddha—no matter where you are—and discover a rich world of history, art, and spiritual insight.