PROJECT TEAMS
UWest students work on project teams in which they engage in faculty-led research projects that introduce students to relevant methodologies and cultivate research skills necessary to undertake independent MA and PhD research of their own.
The current ISHB project team is engaged in the multidisciplinary study of Humanistic Buddhism and Fo Guang Shan within a global religious context. Venerable Master Hsing Yun established his visionary brand of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism and founded the Fo Guang Shan Monastery in 1967. In its fifty year history, Fo Guang Shan has developed into a global Buddhist movement with temples, lay organizations, publishing centers, and schools and universities around the world. With Master Hsing Yun and Fo Guang Shan as its starting point, the project team seeks to develop the following resources that document Fo Guang Shan’s contribution to modern Buddhism and encourage and enhance the scholarly study of Humanistic Buddhism.
This project endeavors to construct a multi-use ArcGIS map of Fo Guang Shan temples, schools, and other organizations that also visualizes their historical development. Sample layers will also be developed that, for instance, track the institution’s development alongside the economic growth of Taiwan or the political history of China. The base map will be made available to scholars, who are encouraged to develop their own layers that are relevant in their own work.
The Scholarly Working Group is part of ISHB's overarching initiative to promote the multi-faceted study of Chinese Buddhism under the global condition.