Research Projects

The HCBSS supports faculty led research projects in collaboration with scholars at other institutions by developing and administering workshops/conferences and providing funding to assist with publication.

Current

Photo by Hedda Morrison in Hedda Morrison's Collection at the Harvard-Yengching Library

A History of Vegetarianism in China

John Kieschnick is working on a history of vegetarianism in China from ancient times to the present. He recently published part of a chapter on the early twentieth century in the Journal of Chinese History. A workshop on "Food in Chinese Religion" was organized through the Ho Center in Spring 2025.

Palm leaf manuscript fragment of the Ajātaśatrukaukṛtyavinodana Sūtra

Buddhist Manuscripts

This project fosters international collaboration and understanding of the different Buddhist manuscript ﬁnds worldwide by regularly hosting workshops and conferences. One of the project's first goals was to publish a state-of-the-ﬁeld survey of recent research on Buddhist manuscripts; to this end, the HCBSS held a major conference at Stanford in June of 2009.

Section of wall-painting from Ming-oi, China. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Critical Edition of the Song gaoseng zhuan 宋高僧傳

Chang Po-yung, Marcus Bingenheimer, and John Kieschnick have been working on a new critical edition of this text by the scholar-monk Zanning 贊寧 (919-1001), the "Biographies of Eminent Monks Compiled during the Song Dynasty" ("Song gaoseng zhuan" 宋高僧傳). Kieschnick is also working on an annotated English translation.

Kamalaśīla (c. 8th century CE): partial image from a thangka

Kamalaśīla’s Vajracchedikāṭīkā Project

This project is led by Professors Paul Harrison (Stanford University) and Birgit Kellner (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna), designed to bring together an international group of scholars working on Kamalaśīla’s Vajracchedikāṭīkā and related texts.

Past

Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra Project

This project provided a varied set of opportunities for scholars to explore the texts, teachings, and history, of the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra. The first workshop of the project was held at Stanford during Summer 2008. A second workshop took place at Munich in Summer 2010.

Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō (8 volumes)

Sōtō Zen Text Project

Stanford hosted the website for the Sōtō Zen Text Project. This project led to the 2023 publication of the "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō" in eight volumes by the Sōtō Administrative headquarters in Tokyo.