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Prof. WU Jiang

Prof. WU Jiang

Sarina and Ho Pak Kong Professor of Buddhist Studies

Ph.D Harvard University

About Prof. WU Jiang

Professor Jiang Wu is a scholar of Buddhism and East Asian intellectual history whose research seeks to understand how religious ideas, texts, and cultural traditions have shaped civilizations across China, Japan, and the wider East Asian world. Rooted in rigorous philological research yet driven by methodological innovation, he integrates Buddhist studies, textual criticism, book history, digital humanities, especially spatial analysis (GIS), to investigate historical formation of Buddhist knowledge in East Asia.

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  • Research Interests
    • Professor Wu's current research encompasses Chinese Buddhist canons, Chan/Zen Buddhism (especially in the seventeenth century), the Ōbaku tradition in China and Japan, regional religious systems in Hangzhou and other regions, and AI-assisted Buddhist philology of Chan texts such as The Records of Linji (Linji lu/Rinzai roku). Alongside these projects, he is expanding his research into modern Chinese philosophy with a forthcoming Chinese-language monograph on Contemporary New Confucianism and the linguistic analysis of Chinese philosophy, which is his early interest as a philosophy student.
  • Recent Research ProjectS
    1. Monograph in preparation: “Scripture and Modernity: The Ōbaku Buddhist Canon in East Asia and the West” (funded by Guggenheim Foundation and Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation).
    2. Regional Religious Systems in Greater China, especially in Hangzhou (funded by Lingyin Monastery and Khyentse Foundation).
    3. Academic platform for International Chinese Buddhist Canon Research, including the publication of International Chinese Buddhist Canon Research Newsletter.
    4. Obaku Ingen Art Exhibition (funded by Wanfu Monastery).
    5. Digitization and AI-assisted Buddhist Philology of the translation notes of Linji lu/Rinzai roku left by Ruth Fuller Sasaki and her team (funded by BDK America and Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Arizona).
  • Representative Publications
    1. Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in Seventeenth-Century China (Oxford University Press, 2008).
    2. Leaving for the Rising Sun: Chinese Zen Master Yinyuan and the Authenticity Crisis in Early Modern East Asia (Oxford University Press, 2016).
    3. Spreading Buddha's Word in East Asia: The Formation and Transformation of the Chinese Buddhist Canon (co-ed., Columbia University Press, 2016).
    4. Reinventing the Tripitaka: Transformation of the Buddhist Canon in Modern East Asia (co-ed., Lexington Books, 2017).
    5. The Formation of Regional Religious Systems in Greater China (ed., Routledge, 2022).
    6. Encyclopedia of Hangzhou Buddhist Culture (editor-in-chief, De Gruyter Brill, 2026).
    7. Shaping Sacred Knowledge: The Transmission and Legacy of the Chinese Buddhist Canon (co-ed., Religions, 2026).
    8. The Digital World in an Age of Uncertainty: Humanizing Technology for Wellness, Resilience, and Creativity (co-ed., IEEE CFP22M10-ART, 2022)
    9. Fofa yu fangfa: Ming Qing Fojiao ji zhoubian佛法與方法: 明清佛教及周邊 (Dharma and Method: Buddhism and its Surroundings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties) (Co-ed. 2021, in Chinese)
    10. Xiandai Xinrujia yu Zhongguo zhexue de yuyan fenxi 現代新儒家與中國哲學的語言分析 (Contemporary New Confucianism and the Linguistic Analysis of Chinese Philosophy) (Forthcoming, in Chinese)
  • OTHER PROJECTS, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND/OR AWARDS
    1. Regents Professor, University of Arizona (2025).
    2. Founding Director, Center for Buddhist Studies, University of Arizona (2017-2026).
    3. John Simon Guggenheim Fellow (2023).
    4. Tianzhu Best Book in Chan Studies Award (2018).
    5. Principal Investigator of projects funded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and other international funding agencies.
    6. Editor-in-Chief, International Chinese Buddhist Canon Research Newsletter.
    7. Certificate of Congressional Recognition by the U.S. Congressional Representative Judy Chu (27th District of California, 2018)
    8. Award of Recognition from the City of Rosemead, California (2018).
    9. Academic Consultant for the BBC’s series Earth’s Sacred Wonders (first aired on August 7, 2019), the documentary series Huangbo (Obaku) aired in 2025, and the documentary Lingyin Temple in 2026.
    10. Review expert for the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)