Dr. Laurent Van Cutsem

I am a Special Research Fund (BOF) Postdoctoral Fellow (“Doctor-Assistant”) in the Department of Languages and Cultures (Sinology) at Ghent University, Belgium, and a member of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies. I hold a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from the University of Louvain (2015, Summa cum laude) and a Ph.D. in Oriental Languages and Cultures (Sinology) from Ghent University (2023). My dissertation, titled "The Zutang ji 祖堂集: Aspects of Textual History, Genealogy, and Intertextuality," explored the compilation history, structure, contents, and sources of the Zutang ji (Collection of the Patriarchal Hall), a mid-tenth century twenty-juan 卷 (fascicle) Chan/Zen 禪 Buddhist text. This work is the earliest extant anthology of hagiographic narratives and dialogues of the Chan patriarchs and masters structured around a complex, multi-branched genealogical framework.

My current research investigates the formation of Chan historiography during the Tang-Song transition (ca. 750–1000). Specifically, I examine how Chan historians shaped and refined hagiographies for the Chan patriarchs and early masters in the four earliest extant anthologies from this period: the Baolin zhuan 寶林傳 (Chronicle of the Baolin [Monastery]; ca. 801), the Shengzhou ji 聖冑集 (Collection of the Sagely Descendant [i.e., Bodhidharma]; ca. 899), the Zutang ji (Collection of the Patriarchal Hall; ca. 952), and the Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄 (Jingde-Era Record of the Transmission of the Lamp; ca. 1004). For further details, please refer to the "Projects" section. 

As a contributor to the Database of Medieval Chinese Texts (DMCT), I am responsible for the collection and input of variant characters (yitizi 異體字) and the production of XML-based TEI editions for sections of the Zutang ji and related Dunhuang 敦煌 manuscripts, such as the Quanzhou Qianfo xinzhu zhuzushi song 泉州千佛新著諸祖師頌 (Or.8210/S.1635) and the Shengzhou ji 聖胄集 (Or.8210/S.4478).

My research interests include pre-modern Chan/Zen literature, Chinese Buddhism from the late Tang to the early Northern Song, Dunhuang manuscripts, pre-modern Chinese manuscript and print culture, Chinese writing (e.g., variant characters), and Digital Humanities methodologies for East Asian studies (e.g., TEI scholarly digital editions of pre-modern Chinese sources, Historical Social Network Analysis).

I currently work on the following research projects:

1. Postdoctoral/Monograph Project: “Carving the Patriarchs: Chan Historiography in Tang-Song Transition China.”

2. Research Articles:

   • Chan/Zen and the Art of Quoting: A Study of the Fragments of the Baolin zhuan 寶林傳 Contained in the Keitoku dentō shōroku 景德傳燈鈔錄.

   • Chan Historiography in Fragments: The Shengzhou ji 聖冑集 and the Dunhuang 敦煌 Manuscript Or.8210/S.4478.

   • Did the Indian Patriarchs Matter? A Diachronic Study of Chan Hagiographies for Ānanda from the Late Tang to the Early Northern Song.

   • A Palaeographic Study of the Silla 新羅 Monks’ Hagiographies in the Zutang ji 祖堂集 (K. 1503).

   • Revisiting the Textual History of the Zutang ji 祖堂集.

3. Second Monograph Project: "Xuefeng Yicun's 雪峰義存 (822–908) Legacy: Chan Circles in the Min 閩 (909–945) and Southern Tang 南唐 (937–976) Kingdoms."

4. Digital Humanities Projects:

   • Short-Term Projects:

     1. TEI-compliant edition of the Dunhuang 敦煌 manuscript Or.8210/S.4478, a fragment of the Shengzhou ji 聖冑集.

     2. TEI edition of the Niutou School 牛頭宗 section of the 1245 Goryeo woodblock edition of the Zutang ji 祖堂集 (K.1503).

     3. GIS-based study of the Zutang ji 祖堂集 related to the text’s geographical coverage from the early Tang 唐 (618-907) to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms 五代十國 (907-960/979) period.

   • Long-Term Projects:

     1. TEI edition, with parallel translation, of the Dunhuang version of the Liuzu tanjing 六祖壇經 (Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch), taking Or.8210/S.5475 as the base text.

     2. TEI edition of the extant booklets of the Keitoku dentō shōroku 景德傳燈鈔錄.