人間通訊社

As the first university founded by Master Hsing Yun in 1992, University of the West (aka. UWest, formally called Hsi Lai University) and its faculty always devote themselves to promote Humanistic Buddhism in the US and the West. To the 10th Symposium on Humanistic Buddhism, organized by Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism between December 15 and 17, three UWest faculty members present their research work: Dr. Miroj Shakya, Chair of Department of Religious Studies, Dr. Darui Long, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, and Dr. Shou-Jen Kuo, Director of the Institute for the Study of Humanistic Buddhism. Their presentations overall demonstrate the long-term commitment of the UWest in the research and teaching components of Higher Education in the West along with Master Hsing Yun’s vision on the development of the human world.

Dr, Shakya’s “An Examination of the Concept of Bodhicitta in the Context of Humanistic Buddhism” presents the scriptural lineage he found in various Master Hsing Yun’s work to promote Humanistic Buddhism. Bodhicitta, the concept of the “thought of Enlightenment” or “aspiration of Enlightenment” in Sanskrit-based Mahayana tradition, conveys Master Hsing Yun’s goal of developing the theories of Humanistic Buddhism as the spiritual guidance for today’s human lives. Through practicing Bodhicitta, modern Buddhists emphasize “the pursuit of abstruse knowledge and the prioritization of concern for the masses over individual self” in the present world. Aligning with the concept of Bodhicitta in Mahayana scriptural tradition, Dr. Shakya admires Master Hsing Yun’s work to “provide a path to enlightenment that is particularly relevant in the present context.”

Dr. Long’s “Exploring Digitization Challenges: Insights from the Qisha Canon in the Rare Book Collection at the East Asian Library, Princeton University” emphasizes the contribution of Fo Guang Shan’s work on preserving Buddhist canonical treasure in using modern digital technology. By presenting the hardship of managing various Buddhist canons to have modern scholars and practitioners’ access to these paper-based materials, Dr. Long enlists several issues of digitizing or even activating Buddhist texts in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that Fo Guang Shan has currently engaged with. His presentation indicates one of the ongoing challenges that echoes the main theme of this Symposium: Humanistic Buddhism and the Future.

Dr. Kuo’s “Fifteen Lectures on Instruction to Humanistic Buddhism: My Views on Establishing a Humanistic Buddhism Research Course in Western Academic Institutions” reveals another aspect of developing Humanistic Buddhism for the future generation. To nurture the next generation of the scholars who could continuously carry the torch of Buddhist knowledge into the future, how to systematize and convert the current achievement of studying Humanistic Buddhism into a course syllabus in western Higher Education, argued by Dr. Kuo, is a responsibility of current researchers within Master Hsing Yun’s vision of establishing five universities around the world. Through his presentation, Dr. Kuo shares his teaching work of “Fundamentals of Humanistic Buddhism” course in the UWest.

All three UWest faculty members lastly appreciate Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism to organize this wonderful Symposium to facilitate the exchange of their works with the scholars coming from different disciplines and countries.