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The Institute of Religion and Humanities, Tzu Chi University, Taiwan

 

• About the Institute: Letter from the Chair

Since the Institute was founded in 2000, we have been focusing on the areas of faith, action and healing, and following founder Dharma Master Cheng Yen’s educational goals, to help cleanse our hearts and create a peaceful society.

In 2019, we reorganized the curriculum to two groups, namely Religious Studies and Tzu-Chi Studies, expanding teaching and research on “religious healing” and “Tzu-Chi experience.”

Students of religious healing will study ongoing values and their applications plus traditional religious concepts and their current applications. To assist students, we offer courses in Life Writing and Healing, Self-Reflection and Healing, Grief Counseling, Religious Thanatology, Buddhist Psychology, etc.

Students choosing Tzu-Chi studies will learn what Tzu Chi Foundation has been doing in Taiwan and elsewhere, since 1966, and how it has passed on and spread the essence of Tzu Chi experience for the wellbeing of humanity. Moreover, students are expected to explore possible innovations for Tzu Chi Foundation to keep serving the needy. We provide the Principle and Action of Dharma Master Cheng Yen, Philosophy of Lotus Sutra and its Religious Practice, Theory and Practice of Bodhisattva Path and so on, to our students.

We welcome you to join us to explore joy and beauty of our lives.

• Mission & Vision: Our missions and special features

We prepare students to become professionals who are capable of carrying out religious research, religious education or religious service. Students will thoroughly explore the relationship between faith, action and healing.

Students will start from studying religious texts and gaining firsthand experience from daily practice, such as loving themselves and caring for others.

Later, they will write their research papers, meanwhile, practicing what they have learned in the field they are associated with, such as medicine, education, charity, counseling, humanistic culture, communications, etc. As a result, students will enhance their knowledge and enrich their practices. Our special features are as follows:

1. From studying the theories and philosophies of religious texts, anthropology, psychology, and phenomenology, students will learn religious doctrine, dogma and experience, such as how religions alleviate and heal societal and individual sufferings.
2. Our research is action-oriented, mainly employing an empirical approach and puts relevant theories into use. The Institute provides students ample opportunities to acquire humanistic, sociological, and other practical experience, enabling them to expand their horizons from knowledge and actual experience.
3. Students enrich their lives from studying their own experiences, as well as those of others. The ways of their studies differ from those of traditional religious practitioners. Students associate with the public, capable of working with people in diverse fields, and realize the impacts of religious practices.

• Our educational goals and core competencies

The Institute’s educational goal is to prepare students to be professionals who are willing and capable of teaching religious texts and carrying out religious practices for the wellbeing of others. Three core competencies, namely faith, action and healing, and their relevant indexes are as follows:

• Educational Goals

Equip students with knowledge and skills as well as altruism, and prepare them to be professionals who are willing and capable of teaching religious texts, and carrying out religious practices for the wellbeing of others

• Index for Core Competencies

1. Capable of reading religious texts

1a Understand the approaches related to religious research

1b Able to interpret scriptures from daily practice

2. Able to understand religious phenomena

2a Able to carry out fieldwork

2b Able to combine at least one more discipline into their studies

3. Capable of communicating clearly about religious healing

3a Able to explore the phenomena of religious healing

3b Able to communicate the aspirations and actions of religious practices

4. Able to develop loving care

4a Understand the meaning of loving care

4b Carry out loving care in their daily lives

• Faculty

Chien-Te Lin / Kent Lin, Professor & Director

Distinguished Professor of the School for the 2021 Academic Year.

Expertise: Buddhist Philosophy, Humanistic Buddhist Thought, Buddhist Psychology, Comparative Religion of Buddhism and Taoism

Highest degree: PhD in Philosophy, National Taiwan University.

Main courses: Philosophy of Religion, Seminar on the Thought of Humanistic Buddhism, Comparative Religion, Seminar on Buddhist Psychology, Seminar on the Modernization on Buddhism.

Email: bhadanta@gmail.com

Others: Prof. Kent Lint CV

Personal blog: http://mind-breath.blogspot.tw

Jou-Han Chou, Associate Professor

Expertise: Early/Sectarian Buddhism, Buddhist Classics, Buddhist Thought, Life Education.

Highest degree: PhD in Literature, Rissho University, Japan.

Main courses: Studies on Buddhist Scriptures (Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā-śāstra, The Way to Buddhahood, Āgamas, The Distinctive Dharma of the Great Vehicle, Sad-dharma Puṇḍárīka Sūtra), Self- Perspective and Healing.

Email: jouhan2008@mail.tcu.edu.tw

Others: Prof. Jou-Han Chou’s CV

Wen-Ling Chien, Associate Professor

Expertise: Madhyamakā, The Three Treatises (Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Dvādaśanikāya Śāstra and Sataka), Zen (Chan School), Environmental Ethics, Natural Landscape Conservation, Sustainable Development.

Highest degree: PhD in Religion, Columbia University; PhD in Geography and Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University.

Main courses: Meditation Practice, Buddhist Thought and Environmental Sustainability, Selected Readings on Buddhist English Classics, Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch and Meditative Practice.

Email: wlj108@mail.tcu.edu.tw

Others: Prof. Wen-Ling Chien’s CV

Chun-Kuan Shi, Associate Professor

Expertise: Hospice Social Work, Grief Care and Counseling,  Spiritual Care, Social Welfare, Volunteer Service.

Highest degree: PhD in Sociology, Bukkyo University, Japan.

Main courses: Spiritual Care and Grief Counseling, Seminar on Religious NGO, Grief Counseling and Life Narratives, Seminar on Hospice and End-of-Life Cares

Email: zunkn@mail.tcu.edu.tw

Others: Prof. Chun-Kuan Shih’s CV

• Joint Appointment Faculty
• Adjunct Faculty

Mei-Rong Lin, Proferssor

Expertise: Cultural Anthropology, Chinese Kinship Studies, Taiwanese Folk Beliefs, Folk Buddhism, Folk Religion and Medicine.

Highest degree: PhD in Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine.

Main courses: Folk Religion and Medicine, Research on Taiwanese Folk Beliefs, Seminar on Folk Buddhism.

Email: workfun@gate.sinica.edu.tw

Others: Prof. Mei-Rong Lin’s CV

Hwei-Syin Lu, Professor

Expertise: Anthropology of Religion, Cultural Anthropology, Religion and Gender, Tzu Chi Studies

Highest degree: PhD in Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Main courses: Religious Healing and Life Writing, Religious Life-and-Death Studies, Religion and Culture

Email: lu@mail.tcu.edu.tw

Others: Prof. Hwei-Syin Lu’s CV

An-Wu Lin, Professor

Expertise:  Philosophy of Religion, Chinese Philosophy, Communication between Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism

Highest degree: PhD in Philosophy, National Taiwan University.

Main courses: Research for Classics of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, Seminar on Buddhism and Taoism, Chinese Religions and Logotherapy, Comparisons of the Analects and the Jing-Si Aphorisms

Email: limaw@mail.tcu.edu.tw

Others: Prof. An-Wu Lin’s CV

Rey-Sheng Her, Associate Professor

Expertise: Theory and Practice of Humanistic Buddhism, Religion and NGO, Religious Dissemination, Tzu Chi Studies

Highest degree: PhD in Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Peking University.

Main courses: Religious Dissemination and Globalization, Seminar on Religious NGO, Seminar on Religion and Media Culture.

Email: rey_her@tzuchi.org.tw

Others: Prof. Rey-Sheng Her’s CV

• General Guidelines學業章程

1. Graduation requirements:

Our master’s program will take you two to four years to complete. Students must take at least thirty credit hours of coursework (not including thesis), and required courses are Theory of Religious Studies（3 credit hours）, Academic Ethics（0 credit hour）, Religious Practices and Field Studies（2 credit hours）, Research Methods and Thesis Writing（2 credit hours）, Independent Study（1 credit hour）.

2. Faculty Advisor

Every student is required to look for a faculty advisor, who must meet the following qualifications:

(1)    The faculty advisor must be a full-time or a jointly appointed faculty member of TCU’s Institute of Religion and Humanity.

(2)    Anyone who isn’t a TCU faculty member can only be a co-faculty advisor to the student.

(3)    Anyone who is our Institute’s adjunct faculty member must be approved by the Institute, before becoming the student’s faculty advisor.

(4)    Anyone who isn’t a TCU faculty member, researches a unique area, and has obtained achievement, academically or professionally, can be a co-faculty advisor to the student, subject to the Institute’s approval.

Each student is required to find a faculty advisor before the fourth semester mid-term exam.

Should students decide to change their faculty advisors, they must obtain approval from both their current and new faculty advisors, and then submit a written statement to the Institute stating the reasons. Moreover, the application must meet TCU’s deadline.

3. Oral examination on thesis proposal

Before starting their research papers, students must submit their thesis proposals, and their thesis titles must be relevant to courses that they have taken. Students might encounter problems, which must be resolved in the Institute’s meeting. Except for those who take Independent Study, students are required to present their thesis proposals at Institute sponsored sessions and take oral examinations on their thesis proposals.

Thesis proposals must be approved by faculty advisors and submitted to the Institute at least two weeks prior to the examination, while providing the examination date/time and location to the Institute in writing. The oral examination result, which will be sent to the students, is either “passed” or “failed.”

Those who fail the oral examination may apply to take it a second time, after making needed changes. In case students fail again, they may apply to take the exam a third time, six months later. Should they fail one more time, they may apply for a fourth time, six months later. In case students fail to pass the oral examination within four years, they may no longer continue their studies at the Institute.

4. Final oral examination and Oral Examination Committee

Students must hand in their thesis drafts to their faculty advisors for approval, before submission to the Institute, at least two weeks prior to their final oral examinations.

Students must follow University rules regarding thesis format and submission deadline. Moreover, students must notify the Institute in writing, regarding the examination date/time and location.

Students aren’t allowed to take the final oral examination within three months after passing the oral examination on their thesis proposal.

The Oral Examination Committee consists of three or four members (including the faculty advisor,) and more than one third must be off-campus members.

• Curriculum for Tzu Chi Studies

Required Courses: Master Cheng Yen Thoughts and Practices, Theory of Religious Studies, Research Methods and Thesis Writing, Independent Study, Research Ethics Education Online Program.

Elective Courses:

• Faith: Topics on Jing Si Lotus Sutra (Seminar on The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, religious rule and commandment), The Way Bodhisattvas Thoughts and Practices, Topics on Humanistic Buddhism, Seminar on The Way to Buddhahood, Selected Readings on “The Analects” and “Jing Si Aphorisms”, English in Buddhism Study, Comparative Study of Religions, (Topics on Tzu chi History).
• Action: Topics on Non-Governmental Organization of Religious, Buddhist Thoughts and Environmental Sustainability(Climate change and Sustainable Development) , Seminar on Lotus Sutra Thoughts and Religion Practices , Topics on Tzuchi Experiences, Religion and Culture, Seminar on the Moral Philosophy of Buddhism , Charities Aid and volunteer service (Tzu Chi’s Philanthropy and Humanity in Disaster Relief, Tzu Chi’s Volunteerism in Organization and Operation, DaAi Technology and Disaster Relief ) .
• Healing: Narrative and dissemination of dharma, Religion of China and Logotherapy, The Religious Healing and Life Writing, Religious studies in Life and Death, Spiritual Care and Grief Consolation, Topics on Positive Psychology, Dharma and Medicine, Seminar on Buddhist Psychology (Dharma Healing Theory and Practices), Self-Perspective and Healing.

Graduation Requirement: 30 credits in total (Master Thesis is not included), including 11 credits of required courses and 22 credits of selected courses. In addition of Humanities and Religions Department’s selected courses, students can also take classes of other Master programs from Tzu Chi University and Dong Hwa University.

• Curriculum for religious studies

Required:  Theory of Religious Studies, Research Ethics Education Online Program, Religious Practices and field Studies, Research Methods and Thesis Writing, Independent Study.

Elective:

• Faith: Comparative Study of Religions, A Study of the Buddhist Sutra（Daśabhūmikavibhāṣāśāstra）, A Study of the Buddhist Sutra (Chinese Agamas), Seminar on The Way to Buddhahood, Selected Readings on “The Analects” and “Jing Si Aphorisms”, Studies of Three Teachings Scripture, Methodology of Human Hermeneutics, Seminar on Philosophy of Religions, Topics on Humanistic Buddhism, Seminar on Philosophy of Buddhism, The Distinctive Dharma of the Great Vehicle.
• Action: Seminar on Lotus Sutra Thoughts and Religion Practices, Topics on Tzuchi Experiences, Topics on Folk belief, Religion and Culture, Topics on Religion and gender, Seminar on the Moral Philosophy of Buddhism, Topics on Buddhism of modernization, Humanities Counseling Discussion in Practice, Topics on Non-Governmental Organization of Religious.
• Healing: Religions and medical, Religion of China and Logotherapy, The Religious Healing and Life Writing, Research for the Philosophy of ” I Ching” and Logotherapy, Humanities Counseling Discussion, Religious studies in Life and Death, Spiritual Care and Grief Consolation, Seminar on Buddhist Psychology, Self-Perspective and Healing.

Graduation Requirement: 30 credits in total (Master Thesis is not included), including 8 credits of required courses and 22 credits of selected courses. In addition of Humanities and Religions Department’s selected courses, students can also take classes of other Master programs from Tzu Chi University and Dong Hwa University.

Other Information

a. Students who have taken Holy Orders and are admitted to the department receive a partial fee subsidy from the Tzu Chi Foundation.
b. Website: http://www.religion.tcu.edu.tw
Telephone: 03-8572677*3211

Mailing address:

Tzu Chi University

Institute of Religion and Humanity

No. 67, Jieren St., Hualien, 97041, Taiwan