“Mourning texts” (āi jìwén 哀祭文) are an important genre of Dūnhuáng 敦煌 literature and are usually regarded as a subgenre of Dūnhuáng "Prayer texts” (yuànwén 願文). More than 230 Mourning texts are ...read more
The main objective of this research are the flying apsaras in the grottoes of the Northern Wei Dynasty, focusing on the three main royal grottoes, Yungang Grottoes, Longmen Grottoes and Gongyi ...read more
“Encounter dialogue” is perhaps the most recognizable of all (Zen) Buddhist genres. Better known under their abbreviated form as kōan, these texts portray mysterious verbal sparring bouts between Zen masters ...read more
Recently, the Department of Languages and Cultures with the Centre for Buddhist Studies at Ghent University has joined a large multidisciplinary project on East Asian religions (for a short abstract, ...read more
This research project examines the textual history and literary characteristics of the Zǔtáng jí 祖堂集 (Collection of the Patriarchal Hall , K.1503), i.e., the earliest extant Chán history (chánshǐ 禪史), or "lamp ...read more