Thanks to the generous support of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, China, the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Arizona establishes Lingyin Buddhist Studies Best Graduate Research Paper Award. The award is for graduate students who demonstrate superb research abilities through writing and publishing. The total amount of the award is $5,000. Congratulations to Jinhui Wu to be the recipient of the award in 2020.
Jinhui Wu is a doctoral candidate of the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona. Her paper, titled “Mapping the Pure Land: The Classification of the “Four Lands” in Chinese Illustrated Exegeses of Buddhist Cosmology” (in Chinese 圖說「四土」：「四土」論在中國與其三種圖解) is a comparative study of three illustrated exegeses of the “Four Lands” that were created in different social and historical backgrounds in China—the “Yuanrong situ xuanfo tu” (Illustrations of the Selection of Buddhas in the Consummately-interfused Four Lands) by Mao Ziyuan (1096-1166) in the Southern Song dynasty, the “Situ yuanrong tu” (Diagram of the Consummate Interfusion of the Four Lands) by Renchao in the late Ming dynasty and the “Xuanfo tu” (Chessboard of the Selection of Buddha) by Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655) in the early Qing dynasty.