A scholar specializing in the history of Japan, China, Sino-Japanese relations, and Buddhism. Her research concerns 1) Japanese and Chinese religion and culture from interdisciplinary and transnational perspectives, 2) the intellectual, religious, and cultural exchanges and interactions between China and Japan, and 3) Buddhism in the modern world. Specifically, she works on Chinese Buddhism, Late Imperial China, Japanese religion, Meiji Buddhism, Chan/Zen, Gozan/Five Mountains, and women and families in East Asia.
Composite photocatalysts using TiO2 coated by Multi-walled carbon nanotues(MWCNTs) and CdS were p... more Composite photocatalysts using TiO2 coated by Multi-walled carbon nanotues(MWCNTs) and CdS were prepared by sol-gel process. The purpose of adding MWCNTs and CdS was extending the light absorbance range of pure TiO2 to visible light. Methyl orange (MO) was chosen as an object. The degradation of MO by MWCNTs/TiO2/CdS composite photocatalysts under visible light irradiation was studied. The results showed that the presence of MWCNTs and CdS can enhance the photoefficiency of TiO2 greatly. In addition, The photocatalyst was used for five cycles with photocatalytic degradation efficiency still higher than 96%. The photocatalytic degradation of MO followed a first-order kinetics according to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. A possible decomposing mechanism for the photocatalytic oxidative degradation was also discussed. The results of the study showed the potential use of MWCNTs/TiO2/CdS composite in degradation of toxic organic pollutants.
Owing to a similar way of thinking, visualized thought, a close link between Hanzi and traditiona... more Owing to a similar way of thinking, visualized thought, a close link between Hanzi and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been set up at the very beginning of the ancient Chinese culture. Both Hanzi and TCM had undergone many ups and downs before they were firmly established in Chinese lives. Instead of being phased out, Hanzi and TCM have been successfully reinvigorated and can meet the challenge of the information technology-dependent modern society.
An account of historical background, definition, and application of he(和)in traditional Chinese m... more An account of historical background, definition, and application of he(和)in traditional Chinese medicine is given in this article. It is mutual respect and tolerance that lay a solid foundation for he(和), which has deeply shaped the Chinese culture.
Composite photocatalysts using TiO2 coated by Multi-walled carbon nanotues(MWCNTs) and CdS were p... more Composite photocatalysts using TiO2 coated by Multi-walled carbon nanotues(MWCNTs) and CdS were prepared by sol-gel process. The purpose of adding MWCNTs and CdS was extending the light absorbance range of pure TiO2 to visible light. Methyl orange (MO) was chosen as an object. The degradation of MO by MWCNTs/TiO2/CdS composite photocatalysts under visible light irradiation was studied. The results showed that the presence of MWCNTs and CdS can enhance the photoefficiency of TiO2 greatly. In addition, The photocatalyst was used for five cycles with photocatalytic degradation efficiency still higher than 96%. The photocatalytic degradation of MO followed a first-order kinetics according to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. A possible decomposing mechanism for the photocatalytic oxidative degradation was also discussed. The results of the study showed the potential use of MWCNTs/TiO2/CdS composite in degradation of toxic organic pollutants.
Owing to a similar way of thinking, visualized thought, a close link between Hanzi and traditiona... more Owing to a similar way of thinking, visualized thought, a close link between Hanzi and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been set up at the very beginning of the ancient Chinese culture. Both Hanzi and TCM had undergone many ups and downs before they were firmly established in Chinese lives. Instead of being phased out, Hanzi and TCM have been successfully reinvigorated and can meet the challenge of the information technology-dependent modern society.
An account of historical background, definition, and application of he(和)in traditional Chinese m... more An account of historical background, definition, and application of he(和)in traditional Chinese medicine is given in this article. It is mutual respect and tolerance that lay a solid foundation for he(和), which has deeply shaped the Chinese culture.
The Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2021
The primary concern of Mind Cure is the broad, diffuse Mindfulness movement that includes Mindful... more The primary concern of Mind Cure is the broad, diffuse Mindfulness movement that includes Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) developed by the microbiologist Jon Kabat-Zinn and “all the therapeutic derivatives of MBSR, collectively called MBIs [Mindfulness-Based Interventions]” (p. 8). In this timely study Wakoh Shannon Hickey aims to challenge many contemporary psychologists, physicians, and scientists’ presentation of the Mindfulness movement as secular. Drawing on her specialization in American religion, she associates the movement with the American Mind Cure or mind-body healing tradition “to tell a story that begins two centuries earlier, about people who set the stage on which Kabat-Zinn became a star” (p. 3).
Seeking Śākyamuni is a wide-ranging culmination of Richard Jaffe’s work of over a decade and incl... more Seeking Śākyamuni is a wide-ranging culmination of Richard Jaffe’s work of over a decade and includes sections previously published as articles. It “focus[es] on the crucial but frequently overlooked role that South and, to a far lesser extent, Southeast Asia played in shaping how Japanese Buddhists thought about their tradition in the twentieth century” in order to explore the interactions, especially the “numerous flows of people, objects, texts, and scholarship,” that “took place between the Japanese and South and Southeast Asian Buddhists that largely have gone unnoticed by scholars, particularly outside of Japan” (15-16). Much of the book examines the complex process by which the Japanese Buddhists explored and deployed the Buddhist traditions in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Tibet from the late nineteenth century until the height of the Fifteen Years’ War in the 1940s in the context of British imperialism. Jaffe argues that the Japanese Buddhists’ growing engagement with South and Southeast Asian Buddhism led to their revival and reinterpretation of Japanese Buddhist practices and scholarship. In the process, they not only enhanced the South Asian and Western understanding of East Asian Buddhism from a Japanese Mahāyāna perspective but also used their knowledge to develop alliances with other Asian nations and with anti-European independent movements in line with Japanese nationalism and imperialism.
Essays in History (University of Virginia), Jun 2012
This book is a timely contribution to the burgeoning field of American Buddhism, providing valuab... more This book is a timely contribution to the burgeoning field of American Buddhism, providing valuable insights into the early development of Shin Buddhism (Jōdo Shinshū) in the United States from the 1880s to the 1930s. Ama Michihiro’s research sheds light on the evolution of Shin Buddhist churches and teachings in mainland North America and Hawai’i. His research draws upon the BCA Archives (the Buddhist Church of America), one of the earliest Buddhist organizations in the United States which was renamed the Buddhist Mission of North America of Nishi Honganji (BMNA) in the decades before World War II, and Nishi and Higashi Honganjis’ periodicals and writings published in the United States and Japan. The study focuses on the Nishi Honganji branch and touches on Higashi Honganji’s overseas propagation despite the relative scarcity of primary sources. Ama demonstrates that Nishi Honganji ministers succeeded in their early overseas propagation by primarily addressing Japanese immigrants’ cultural and ethnic experience in Hawai’i and North America, despite challenges such as immigration and racial policies. This research highlights the perseverance and resourcefulness of these early ministers and their contribution to the institutional spread of Shin Buddhism into the 1930s.
presented at "The 12th Annual Crossing Borders Convocation: A Global Exploration of Comparative S... more presented at "The 12th Annual Crossing Borders Convocation: A Global Exploration of Comparative Studies and Multi-sited Research," at the University of Iowa, IA
presented at "The 2nd May Brodbeck Symposium in the History of Women and Gender," University of I... more presented at "The 2nd May Brodbeck Symposium in the History of Women and Gender," University of Iowa, IA. The study draws on written Japanese-language sources and eye-witness accounts by Shinto priests and Meiji-period writers to examine these women's communal activities and religious celebrations and their cross-dressing during the Meiji Restoration. The article also draws on similar but earlier Shinto record about women's crossing-dressing during festivals to understand the patterns of such behavior. The article also uses contemporary Japanese feature films about the event to evaluate its historical significance. The contrast between diachronic and synchronic views on history and between emic and etic views on the carnival are at the heart of this study.
presented at Colorado University East Asia Graduate Association Conference, University of Colorad... more presented at Colorado University East Asia Graduate Association Conference, University of Colorado, Boulder. It studies Ema Saiko's poems written in classical Chinese in accordance with traditional verse forms with a specific set of meters alternating in a particular order. Such poems normally consist four or eight lines, with each consisting of five or seven Chinese characters, which have specific tone patterns. Ema wrote such poems as a form of autobiographical writing to record her everyday life and reflections.
presented at "The 21st Annual Language, Reading and Culture, Graduate Student Colloquy of Univers... more presented at "The 21st Annual Language, Reading and Culture, Graduate Student Colloquy of University of Arizona." The article on Haruki Murakami's 村上春樹 novel Kafka on the Shore 海辺のカフカ (2002) provides a close study of Kafka Tamura and several other characters from a religious, psychological, and historical perspective.
presented in Japanese at Waseda University in Tokyo, and Shitennoji International Buddhist Univer... more presented in Japanese at Waseda University in Tokyo, and Shitennoji International Buddhist University in Osaka, Japan (November 2003); this article draws on Lo's writings about his 东文学社, a private school focusing on teaching Japanese language. Portion of the presentation was published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2004.
Drawing on Meiji-era periodicals and writings, this paper plans to examine Dharmapāla's interacti... more Drawing on Meiji-era periodicals and writings, this paper plans to examine Dharmapāla's interactions with Japanese Buddhists to delineate Japanese Buddhism's interest in the revivals of Buddhism in Ceylon and British India from the 1880s onward. It also addresses Japanese Buddhists' declining enthusiasm in Dharmapāla's Buddhist revival project in India.
On 東嶺禅師's『宗門無尽燈論』text, including a discussion of how Tōrei attempted to achieve a unity of Buddhi... more On 東嶺禅師's『宗門無尽燈論』text, including a discussion of how Tōrei attempted to achieve a unity of Buddhism, Shinto, and Confucianism, and how this text contributed to Hakuin Ekaku and his followers' revival effort in the Myōshinji branch and the Rinzai Zen sect in the late Tokugawa period. This study will also explore how Meiji Zen monks used the text to legitimize Hakuin's lineage as the authentic of the Rinzai Zen sect and Hakuin Zen as the authoritative.
This writing project hopes to read some of the poems authored by Ema Saikō 江馬細香 (1787-1861), Hara... more This writing project hopes to read some of the poems authored by Ema Saikō 江馬細香 (1787-1861), Hara Saihin 原采蘋 (1798-1859), Yanagawa Kōran 梁川紅蘭 (1804-1879), and several Japanese women writers of kanshi 漢詩 - poems written in classical Chinese. It historicizes and contextualizes their literary activities and output to understand why and how these women undertook kanshi writing which had traditionally been reserved for men in Japan and for Confucian scholars and literati in China, and how their pursuits brought to bear on their life. Considering the pervasive presence of Buddhist temples in urban and rural areas and the rise of Shinto teachings since the mid-Tokugawa period, this article also hopes to discuss the role of Buddhism in these women poets' life, especially since Ema's poems reveal her close relationship with Buddhist temples. It is developed from one of my conference presentations at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
This writing project hopes to explore (Ikenobō 池坊) Ikebana's 生け花 aesthetic principles including i... more This writing project hopes to explore (Ikenobō 池坊) Ikebana's 生け花 aesthetic principles including its conception of space and time to analyze its religious/philosophical underpinning. To historicize and contextualize the analysis, this project draws on some of the major Ikebana works and textbooks for practitioners to explicate the basic principles and the history of their development. It will then examine some of the early modern Chinese texts on flower arrangements to suggest possible philosophical/religious exchanges between the two cultures. It will move on to discuss how such "rigid" forms of Ikebana allow for spontaneous expression of individual Ikebana practitioners, which contribute to its enduring popularity in contemporary Japan and abroad.
This book provides a close study of Shaku Soen's role in Suzuki's introduction of Japanese Rinzai... more This book provides a close study of Shaku Soen's role in Suzuki's introduction of Japanese Rinzai Zen to the West. It also studies the missionizing activities of Soen's other followers--Senzaki Nyogen, Shaku Sokatsu, and Sokei-an--- in the United States, and their relationship with Japanese Rinzai Zen.
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Papers by Aihua Zheng