A new partnership to support Buddhist studies at Inalco

Buddhist studies at Inalco

Inalco supports research on Buddhism through the "Professorial Chair for Studies on Buddhism in the Modern and Contemporary Chinese World" headed for its first term (2021-2024) by the Prof. Zhe JI, Professor of Sociology of Religion in Modern and Contemporary China at the IFRAE (Institut Français de Recherche sur l'Asie de l'Est) and at Inalco's Chinese Studies Department, and co-founder and director of the CEIB (Centre d'Etudes Interdisciplinaires sur le Bouddhisme).
Thus, this chair and the CEIB today benefit from triple funding from the Sheng Yen Education Foundation, from the Tzu Chi Foundation, and now from the GS Charity Foundation Limited.

The Tzu Chi Foundation and the Sheng Yen Education Foundation

TheTzu Chi Buddhist Foundationis a Taiwanese humanitarian NGO founded by Dharma master Cheng Yen. It works in the fields of charity, medicine, education and culture. It forms the Yin-Cheng Network with six international universities: the Harvard University, Peking University, Princeton University, University of British Columbia, Cambridge University and Oxford University.

Since 2021, initially launched thanks to the support of the Sheng Yen Education Foundation, Prof. Zhe JI's chair has been carrying out research and development work in the field of education. Zhe JI is conducting research around four main themes:

• The globalization of Chinese Buddhism
• Buddhism and the religious policies of the Communist Party
• The interaction between Chinese Buddhism and other Buddhist translations
• The construction and network model of Chinese Buddhism

For more information on these Foundations

The GS Charity Foundation Limited

The GS Charity Foundation Limited was founded in 2005 by Dr. Charles Yeung, the founder and leader of the GS Charity Foundation. Charles Yeung, the founder and head of Glorious Sun Enterprises Limited. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the Foundation is funding the creation of the Glorisun Global Network for Buddhist Studies in January 2017, the aim of which is to strengthen links between Buddhist studies researchers around the world.

Inalco was recently able to become the 14th member of this network which, like the Yin-Cheng Network, brings together prestigious universities around the world: Harvard University FAS CAMLab; Yale University; Princeton University; University of California, Berkeley; University of British Columbia; University of Cambridge; University of Hamburg; University of Oxford; University of Tokyo; Zhejiang University; Peking University; University of Hong Kong, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

By becoming the first French university to join this network, Inalco and the CEIB have been recognized for their role in the field of Buddhist studies.

The Inalco Foundation welcomes this agreement signed with the GS Charity Foundation Limited, which will enable Inalco to assert itself as a central player in the field of Buddhist studies.