Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies

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Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies

This group provides information on the research and activities of the Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS). Dr. Louis de La Vallée Poussin (1869-1938).

The Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS) was founded in 2007 at Ghent University, within the Department of Languages and Cultures as the first academic centre for Buddhist studies in Belgium. The buddhological research in Ghent is rooted in a long tradition of expertise that began in the early 20th century with the works of Prof. Since then an increasing number of researchers have focused on a

broad range of Buddhological fields. Given the fact that Buddhism took shape throughout its spread from India via China to Tibet and Japan, the GCBS aims to enable scholars and students to research and study philosophical, doctrinal and socio-cultural aspects of especially the Asian Buddhist traditions . The members of the GCBS are working interdisciplinary as well as on highly specialized fields. Therefore a major task of the GCBS is to offer a forum for international discussions and to organize lecture series and symposia where research methodologies and findings can be presented and exchanged. Initiatives such as the 'Permanent Education in Buddhism', which is open to everyone holding an M.A., have the intention of opening the academic discourse to society and informing the public about current ongoings in the field of buddhological research. The GCBS puts a strong emphasis on cooperation with other institutions. Bilateral agreements and Socrates programs have been established with many institutions abroad.

04/09/2026

We are very proud of our PhD student DUAN Xi who successfully defended his PhD thesis "Materialising Frontier Authority: Institutions, Commemoration and Spatial Order in Late Imperial Menghua" (supervisors: Prof. Dr. Ann Heirman - Ghent University, Prof. Dr. Christoph Anderl - Ghent University, Prof. Dr. Lia Wei - Sorbonne Alliance / INALCO) on September 3rd, 2026.

MANY CONGRATULATIONS!!

The exam commission consisted of Prof. Dr. Jo Steenbergen (chair, Ghent University), Dr. Mathieu Torck (rapporteur, Ghent University), Emeritus Prof. Dr. Timothy H. Barrett (examiner, SOAS, University of London), Prof. Dr. Megan Bryson (examiner, University of Tennessee), Dr. Mariia Lepneva (examiner, Ghent University), Prof. Dr. Sara Mondini (examiner, Ghent University).

Enjoy the photographs from the Doctoral defence meeting!

21/08/2026

Come do a postdoc with us. How to apply is linked in the comments.

The Ghent Centre for Buddhist Studies (GCBS) (www.cbs.ugent.be ), located at Ghent University, Belgium, is seeking candidates for postdoctoral fellowships which run between 3 and potentially 6 years. This fellowship is open to scholars worldwide. There are two fellowship opportunities: the Junior FWO Postdoctoral Fellowship, which is open to those who have received their PhDs within the past three years and the Senior FWO Postdoctoral Fellowship, which is open to those who have received their PhD no earlier than three years ago and no later than six. Those who have successfully obtained a Junior Fellowship are automatically eligible to apply for a Senior Fellowship after thus offering a total fellowship length of six years.

The GCBS is a thriving community for Buddhist Studies and offers an international research environment with faculty and staff from all over the world. Our research focus spans the historic regions of Buddhist transmission from South and Central Asia and on to East Asia across a number of historic periods favoring textual methodologies in the primary sources of the traditional languages of Buddhist Transmission (Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, etc.). We are pleased to support projects focussed on South/Southeast/Central Asian, Tibetan/Himalayan, and East Asian Buddhist manifestations.

23/07/2026

GCBS doctoral student, Longyu Zhang, organized the panel "Buddhist and Nestorian Texts as Multilingual Contact Zones: Phonological, Lexical and Grammatical Evidence" at the 2026 EACS held recently in Venice, pictured here with co-panelists Chia-Wei Lin (Lausanne University) and Haoxue Yang (Seoul National University). Huzzah!

10/07/2026

Continuing GCBS's efforts to further academic cooperation between Belgium and Thailand, through the kind organization of the Thai Embassy we hosted Ajahn Fookij yesterday, who visited us from The UK. We were joined by Dr. Natchapol Sirisawad of Chulalongkorn University, and legendary scholar of Buddhism, Dr. Peter Skilling. Of course, Thai was on the menu for lunch.

08/07/2026

GCBS researcher Dr. Xiaoming Hou participated in the ongoing “Translation across the Four Directions”: Buddhist Translation Institutions,
Canon Formation, and the Translingual Shaping of Asian Civilizations conference held at the Mount Kuaiji Advanced Institute of Buddhist Studies where she presented a talk titled, “Where Meditation and Wisdom Converge: The Translation and Conceptualization of sīzé 思擇 and niànhuì 念慧”

06/07/2026

We are looking very much forward to a one-day workshop on July 10th with guest lectures by Taiwanese scholars, and project presentations by researchers of our department, as well as discussions concerning future collaboration in various fields of Chinese Studies, including Buddhist Studies.

Workshop “New Perspectives on Chinese History, Buddhism, and Cultural Heritage,” July 10, 2026 We are very happy to announce a workshop “New Perspectives on Chinese History, Buddhism, and Cultural Heritage: Taiwanese Scholars and Ghent University Researchers in Dialogue,” which will take pla...

08/06/2026

Continuing the GCBS cooperation with the Thai Buddhist community we had another fruitful meeting today with Thai Ambassador to Belgium, H.E. Mrs. Kanchana Patarachoke, who came to visit us with the knowledgeable Venerable Chandako. We had an expansive discussion about the finer points of the translation of Buddhavacana and various other delightful topics.

06/06/2026

We are very proud of GCBS researcher Massimiliano Portoghese who successfully defended his PhD thesis "The Advent of Buddhist Monastic Bodies in China: Symbolic Appearance, Identity Markers and Social Perceptions" (main supervisor: Prof. Ann Heirman; co-supervisor: Prof. Christoph Anderl) on Friday, June 5th! The exam commission consisted of Prof. John Kieschnick (Stanford University), Prof. Ester Bianchi (University of Perugia), Prof. Sylvie Hureau (École Pratique des Hautes Études), and Prof. Anna Andreeva (Ghent University), headed by Prof. Michael Meeuwis (Ghent University).
Many congratulations!!!

01/06/2026

GCBS professor Anna Andreeva has recently participated in the Buddhism and Medicine held at Bristol University and sponsored by the Khentse Foundation where she presented her research on protective rituals for pregnant imperial consorts in medieval Japan. It was quite a stimulating gathering of excellent scholars. Huzzah!🎉

25/05/2026

We had a wonderful workshop with Prof. Kiyonori Nagasaki and Dr. Wang Yifan as main speakers, as well as GCBS researchers presenting their ongoing research involving Digital Humanities tools. Here, we share some impressions from the meeting.

Adres

Blandijnberg 2
Ghent
9000

Website

http://www.cbs.ugent.be/node/1

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