Academic Talk on Chan Buddhism

School of Philosophy, Fudan University

Paradoxicality of Institution, De-Institutionalization and

the Counter-Institutional

--A Case Study in Classical Chan Buddhist Thought

Speaker: Professor Youru Wang (王又如)

Date : 23^rd April, 2015 (Thursday)

Time:3:00-5:00 Afternoon

Location: Room 2501,West Tower, Guanghua Building

Language: English

Abstract This lecture will explore the philosophical issue of the paradoxicality of institution, de-institutionalization, or the counter-institutional in the understanding of Chan Buddhist thought. It will involve two parts. The first part will start with the problems of the iconoclasm model used by the 20^th century scholars to characterize the classical Chan attitude toward institution. The analysis in this part will then focus on the opposite of the iconoclasm model, the traditionalistic interpretation of the Chan attitude, a problem that reveals the limits of current critiques of the iconoclasm model. Based on the problematic of these two opposite models, the second part of this paper will introduce a new paradigm for understanding this classical Chan attitude, the model of de-institutionalization, which borrows certain insights from Derrida’s discussion on the counter-institutional. This model of de-institutionalization is supported by the Chan heritage of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy of relationality and non-duality. It will better characterize the Chan understanding of the paradoxicality of institution and the subtle Chan relationship of being “with and against” institution.

It should be noted that this examination will only take the form of a case study, limiting itself to the major texts and teachings of the Hongzhou school, one of the most influential schools in classical Chan Buddhism, since it would be impossible for this lecture to examine the entirety of classical Chan thought on this issue. It should also be noted that following contemporary philosophical discourses on institution or institutionalization, the lecture would discuss the issue of institution or institutionalization in terms of the broad meanings of these terms, which go beyond the merely material side of social/religious (or monastic) ordering/organization. They involve all kinds of established/formalized social-cultural system or systematization, including ideology, philosophy, religion and its canonized teachings. In addition, the use of the term de-institutionalization should be distinguished from non-institutionalization, namely, from the sense of the absence of institutionalization.

Speaker Dr. Youru Wang currently is Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Religion, Rowan University, USA. He got his PhD degree from Religion Department, Temple University, USA. He has specialized in the modern interpretation of Chinese Buddhist Philosophy and early Daoist philosophy. His recent research interest focuses on the philosophical exploration in Chan Buddhist thought. His major publications include Linguistic Strategies in Daoist Zhuangzi and Chan Buddhism—the Other Way of Speaking, published by Routleldge in 2003, and Deconstruction and the Ethical in Asian Thought, published by Routledge in 2007. Also, A Dictionary of Chan Buddhism, forthcoming, by Rowman and Littlefield Publications, and the Dao Companion to Chinese Buddhist Philosophy, by the Springer. His articles have appeared in leading journals in the related fields. He is a member of the editorial board for the Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy published by Springer.