Time: May 22, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm (London) | May 23, 12:30 am – 2:00 am (Beijing/Taipei)
Venue: TBA
Zoom: https://soas-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/2jdH8W6tRLWqJjnI05hyTQ#/registration
The lecture will be presented in English.
Abstract:
A world in which spirits stand guard, animals gravitate toward sages, and the Earth itself expresses its opinion is par for the course in both Indic and Chinese texts.
It is the backdrop of the earliest biographies of the Buddha—a mahāpuruṣa, or ‘superman’—and countless later accounts of eminent Buddhist monks and Daoist adepts in China. In the modern era, with the rise of secular discourses, the ubiquity of autobiographical writing, and the prominence of scientific inquiry and experimentation, we might anticipate that such otherworldly accounts would become less common or be reinterpreted.
But this is not the case. This talk focuses on the autobiographical writings of the eminent 20th century Chan master Laiguo Miaoshu (1881–1953), who, in addition to his voluminous teachings on meditation and monastic life, left a robust record of his encounters with the spirit world.
About the Speaker: Benjamin Brose (University of Michigan)
Benjamin Brose is Professor of Buddhist and Chinese Studies in the department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. His most recent monograph is Embodying Xuanzang: The Postmortem Travels of a Buddhist Pilgrim (2023). He is also the editor of Buddhist Masters of Modern China: The Lives and Legacies of Eight Eminent Teachers (2025) and the co-editor of Inner Worlds: Individuals and Interiority in Chinese Religious Life (2025).
About the Discussant: Gregory Adam Scott (University of Manchester)
About the Yin-Cheng Distinguished Lecture Series: Launched in September, 2021, the Yin-Cheng Distinguished Lecture Series (印證佛學傑出學術系列講座) is a collaborative, multi-university partnership between Peking University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Inalco (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales), Princeton University, Harvard University, the University of British Columbia, University of California, Berkeley, SOAS, University of London, University of Tokyo, and Taiwan University. The Lecture Series is established in honour of Venerable Cheng-yen 證嚴, founder of Tzu Chi, and her mentor Yinshun 印順 (1906–2005), with the goal of promoting topics in Buddhist Studies.
Original source
