Gloria (I-Ling) Chien

Gonzaga University, Religious Studies, Faculty Member

Dharma Drum Buddhist College, Buddhist studies, Alumna

University of Virginia, Religious Studies, Alumna

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Gloria (I-Ling) Chien is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University. She received her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. She conducts bibliographic analysis of the Tibetan Buddhist master Tokmé Zangpo's (1295-1369) biographies and Collected Works in order to shed light on the cultural legacy of Tibetan Buddhist Lojong, or mind training.

Inspired, in part, by her research on Lojong compassion meditation, Gloria became a certified teacher in the Cognitively-Based Compassion Training® (CBCT®) program affiliated with Emory University. In the spring of 2018, she taught a CBCT® course entitled “Compassion Meditation and Happiness” to promote emotional well-being in Gonzaga’s students and to enlarge their ethical considerations of others. This course was funded by the Office of the Dean at the College of Arts and Sciences. Based on this foundation, she includes CBCT® principles in her “Buddhist Meditation & Practice” course. To promote scholarly discussion on teaching Buddhism, she established and co-chairs the Buddhist Pedagogy Seminar for the American Academy of Religion.

Gloria's article “Complementary Teaching Practices: Ignatian Pedagogy and Buddhist-Inspired Compassion Meditation” is about how her CBCT® teaching aligns with Ignatian Pedagogy. Her article “Building the Sanctity of a Tibetan Buddhist Lojong Master through His Hagiography” is about literary strategies presented in Tokmé Zangpo's hagiography.

Before teaching at Gonzaga in 2017, Gloria taught courses in Buddhism, Eastern Religions, and Religion and Film at Virginia Commonwealth University. In her spare time, she enjoys playing racquetball and making vegan dishes.

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Papers by Gloria (I-Ling) Chien

Integrating Contemplative and Ignatian Pedagogies in a Buddhist Studies Classroom

Religions. no. 11: 567: 1-21. , 2020

The burgeoning application of contemplative pedagogy (CP) in Buddhist studies courses has been wi... more The burgeoning application of contemplative pedagogy (CP) in Buddhist studies courses has been widely discussed; yet, how educators incorporate it with other teaching strategies has not attracted much scholarly attention. Drawing from the author's teaching experience at a Jesuit University, this article demonstrates that integrating CP's first-person, second-person, and third-person approaches with the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) will create a multidimensional environment in learning Buddhism in higher education. This article first argues that the issue of avoiding even implied proselytizing can be successfully overcome, as it is related to the application of Buddhist-inspired contemplative practice, such as Cognitively-Based Compassion Training ® , in class. Next, based on the principles of CP and the IPP, this study shows specific examples of multisensory contemplation activities that expand students' ways of knowing about Buddhist practice and foster their consideration for others. Third, to complement the Jesuit educational purpose of students' spiritual growth, and the CP's advocating for inner growth, this research navigates these concerns in a way that also enhances students' learning in the course content. In conclusion, a combination of CP and the IPP facilitates the whole-person development as well as deepens students' understanding of Buddhism.

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Complementary Teaching Practices: Ignatian Pedagogy and Buddhist-inspired Compassion Meditation

Teaching Theology & Religion 23, no. 2: 96-109, 2020

While scholarly discussions on Jesuit education are plentiful , inquiries related to Ignatian ped... more While scholarly discussions on Jesuit education are plentiful , inquiries related to Ignatian pedagogy are rare. This article examines the applications of Ignatian pedagogy by juxtaposing it with the analysis of a Buddhist-inspired and interdisciplinary contemplation program, Cognitively-Based Compassion Training ® (CBCT ®). Drawing from the author's experience in teaching CBCT ® at a Jesuit University, this article explores how CBCT ® aligns with the Ignatian Peda-gogical Paradigm's five elements: context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation. This study uses psychometrical measurements, such as the Compassionate Love for Humanity Scale, to document how my interdisci-plinary approach may enhance participants' emotional well-being and widen their ethical concerns. As these outcomes are inherently cross-disciplinary and include intellectual and affective dimensions, they cannot be achieved through a single field. Building a bridge between the Ignatian Peda-gogical Paradigm and CBCT ® provides a successful strategy for the educational objectives of developing the whole person and forming a compassionate character.

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Building the Sanctity of a Tibetan Buddhist Lojong Master through His Hagiography

International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Culture 30, no. 1: 167-204, 2020

Tibetan Buddhist lojong (Tib. blo sbyong), or “mind training,” is a specific approach that aims t... more Tibetan Buddhist lojong (Tib. blo sbyong), or “mind training,” is a specific approach that aims to develop the preeminent ideal of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the cultivation of the awakening mind (bodhicitta). Best known as Gyelsé Tokmé or Ngülchü Tokmé, lojong master Tokmé Zangpo (1295–1369) advocated for the importance of the bodhisattva tenets and lojong teachings. His Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattvas has drawn the most attention from today’s Tibetan Buddhist masters, such as the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and laity alike. In spite of this significance, how Tibetan hagiographical texts (namtar, Tib. rnam thar) have portrayed Tokmé Zangpo as a model lojong master and bodhisattva has received little academic attention. By identifying particular themes in an early Tokmé Zangpo namtar written by Zhönnu Gyeltsen, The Guide to Your Devotion: Precious Gyelsé Tokmé’s Life, I offer the first scholarly discussion on how namtar commemorates Tokmé Zangpo’s sanctity. I first reveal how Zhönnu Gyeltsen’s institutional affiliation influenced his promotion of Tokmé Zangpo’s ancestral background. I further argue that the text shapes Tokmé Zangpo’s compassionate character by relating it to his childhood behaviors and extreme magnanimous actions, which mirror the Indian master Asaṅga’s life story and the jātaka tales. Finally, I examine how the text establishes Tokmé Zangpo’s lojong legacy through the lens of his connections with the Tibetan Kadam school and his achievement in visualization meditation. In conclusion, this analysis uncovers rhetorical strategies that concern a prominent master in Tibetan namtar literature. This study moreover contributes to the larger field of Buddhist hagiography and the examination of how its polyvocalic and didactic dimensions present moral behaviors of an exceptional individual, transforming a person from an ordinary figure into a master and thereby inspiring readers to follow and imitate their footsteps.

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