Asian American / Asian Research Institute
The City University of New York
Hsuan Tsang, the famous Chinese monk from the Tang dynasty, traveled from China to India to learn Yogacara Buddhism. He crossed deserts, mountains, rivers and spent eighteen years before his triumphant return to his country and began the daunting task of translating the sutras and commentaries that he brought back. One of the most important … Read more
Nagarjuna is generally recognized as the founding father of Mahajuna Buddhism. Based on his work “Mulamadhyamika Karika,” the discussion will focus on the original contribution of the Buddha, and Nagarjuna’s elaboration of the middle way, and the relationship between Pratityasmautpada (inter-relatedness of everything) and Sunyata (emptiness). Online Notes
Motivated by a game called the “Tower of Hanoi” played by the monks in Hanoi, Dr. Lap found a game that he loves called – “Magic Square” in a book called “Lo Shu” in Beijing. The principle of the “Magic Square” is to arrange the numbers in any square that is equal or larger than … Read more
An important issue within the contemporary Chinese art circle is the close relationship between Eastern and Western cultures, and their effects on one another when it comes to traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. Chinese art today is heavily influenced by Western art and concepts, particularly ink and oil paintings, and performance arts. By transforming both … Read more
The Mahayana school of Buddhism in China often emphasized the role of altruism and disparaged self-salvation. Its sutras were considered to be the first sermons by the Buddha whose profound ideas were too difficult for the ordinary people to understand. To cater to their level, it was said that Buddha then delivered the Agama Sutra for the less intellectually endowed. For more than 1500 years after it was translated into Chinese, Agama Sutra has been ignored by Chinese Buddhists mainly because of this prejudice. More recently, Master Yin Shun has vastly expanded the research started by Lu Jing, and has written many volumes of texts to clarify the origins of Buddhism. This lecture will be based mostly on writings by him and his disciples.