Thinking translocally: A reflection on methods in the study of modern Chinese Buddhism

Through a close reading of excerpts from the Kek Lok Monastery Gazetteer, this seminar examines translocal connections, spatial (re)imagination, and adaptations in the history of Chinese Buddhism in modern Southeast Asia. 

The study of modern Chinese Buddhism in Southeast Asia faces a double marginalization. One the one hand, it is often found in the periphery in China-centric narratives on religion and modernization, if not an afterthought. On the other hand, most scholarship focuses on Theravāda Buddhism, the predominant form of the religion in the region.  

Founded in 1891 as a branch of the famed Yongquan Monastery in Fujian, Kek Lok Monastery (Jile si) in Penang, Malaysia, is the oldest and largest monastery in the country. In reflecting on methods in the study of modern Chinese Buddhism, this seminar critically examines the interplay between commerce, migration, dialect groups, and Dharma lineage in the production of religious identity in colonial and postcolonial contexts. 

Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Lecture Series in Chinese Buddhism

About the Speaker

Rongdao Lai is assistant professor of Religious Studies and East Asian Studies at McGill University, Canada. She was formerly assistant professor at the University of Southern California, postdoctoral fellow at the Asia Research Institute (National University of Singapore), and research fellow in the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies. 

Her research focuses primarily on the changing landscape and identity production in modern Chinese Buddhism. Her monograph Citizen Bodhisattvas: Education, Student-Monks, and Citizenship in Modern Chinese Buddhism is forthcoming by Brill. Her other on-going projects include historical production, lineage networks, transnational movements, and monastic economy in twentieth-century Chinese Buddhism.   

Attending the event

This event is free and open to all, but registration is required. Please register using the link at the top of this page.

• Organiser: Centre of Buddhist Studies
• This event is made possible by the generous support of The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation