Thanks to the generous support of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, China, the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Arizona establishes two graduate studies fellowships, each worth $10,000, to support two qualified Ph.D. students, to complete a major project towards the completion of their degrees. Congratulations to Lu Zhang to be one of the recipients in 2020.
Lu Zhang is currently a 5th year Ph. D student in the Department of East Asian Studies, at the University of Arizona. Her project examines historiographical works in Chinese Chan Buddhism—denglu—in the 11th-to-13th-century with a particular focus on a rarely noticed group of individuals who are considered incarnated buddhas and bodhisattvas. Compiled into a specific section entitled the “Sages and Worthies as Incarnations (of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas)應化聖賢” in denglu, the individuals from diverse traditions are venerated as Buddhist saints. Since historiographies in Chan Buddhism are customarily used for preserving genealogical information of Chan schools and essential teachings of Chan masters, the incorporation of the section constituted a new change in this era.