Title: Karmic Infrastructures of Polarization: Buddhist Moral Psychology and Contemporary Political Discourse
Subject Fields: Political History / Studies, Religious Studies and Theology
Speaker: Jonathan C. Gold, Professor of Religion, Princeton University
Host: Ching Keng, Associate Professor of Philosophy, National Taiwan University
Discussant: Weijen Teng, Associate Professor and Department Chair, Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts
Time: Monday, April 13, 2026; 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Taiwan / 02:00 AM – 04:00 AM UTC
Venue: Room 220, Department of History, National Taiwan University (in person)
Online (Zoom)
Abstract:
This talk develops a Buddhist moral-psychological approach to contemporary political polarization by placing trauma theory and moral disengagement research in dialogue with classical Buddhist analyses of ignorance (avidyā) and attachment to views (dṛṣṭi-upādāna).
While conceptual metaphor theory and Foucauldian discourse analysis help demonstrate how frames organize power and knowledge, Buddhist moral psychology adds an essential explanatory layer: it explains how perceived threat and affective conditioning lead agents to become attached to interpretive frames as if they were reality itself. The paper examines trauma-informed “parts” therapy as a contemporary practical analogue to Buddhist anti-reification practices—such as Abhidharma analytic decomposition, Yogācāra reflexive conventionalism, and introspective awareness meditation. Translating these strategies into journalism and civic education suggests Buddhist-inspired approaches to political communication that allow disagreement to occur without collapsing into identity-fused certainty.
About the Speaker:
Jonathan C. Gold is Professor in the Department of Religion and Director of the Center for Culture, Society and Religion. A scholar of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, he is especially interested in Buddhist approaches to meaning, ethics, language and learning.
About the Series:
The Yin-Cheng Distinguished Lecture Series on Buddhism is named in honor of the founder of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, Venerable Cheng Yen, and her mentor, Venerable Yin Shun. The Series is supported by the Tzu Chi Foundation and jointly organized by the following institutions to promote studies in contemporary Buddhism. The partners include, in alphabetical order, UC Berkeley; the University of British Columbia; the University of Cambridge; Harvard University; INALCO (l’Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales); the University of Oxford; Peking University; Princeton University; SOAS, University of London; Taiwan University; and the University of Tokyo.
All are welcome to attend.
Contact Information: Ching Keng (Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, National Taiwan University)
Contact Email: ckeng@ntu.edu.tw
