National University of Singapore appoints first member of Foo Hai Ch'an Monastery in Buddhist studies

The National University of Singapore (NUS) has appointed Associate Professor Jack Chia Meng-Tat as the inaugural Foo Hai Ch'an Monastery Fellow in Buddhist Studies. This prestigious appointment, effective July 1, recognizes Professor Chia's significant contributions to the field of Buddhist studies and religious history.

“This new chair position will allow me to introduce more students from NUS and Singapore to advanced research and Buddhist studies,” Professor Chia told BDG.

Foo Hai Ch'an Monastery (福海禪寺) was founded in Singapore in 1935 by Venerable Hong Zong of Taiwan, who visited Singapore to propagate Buddhist teaching. The monastery, which actively supports education, charity and culture, is also home to a descendant of the sacred Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India. The sapling, taken from a cutting of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka, itself taken from a cutting of the original Bodhi tree at the UNESCO World Heritage site at Bodh Gaya, was gifted to the monastery by the visiting Sri Lankan president. The top floor of the main temple building also houses sacred relics of the Buddha. In 2022, Foo Hai Ch'an awarded US$800 in funding to NUS to support postgraduate research applicants who focus on Buddhist studies.*

Born and raised in Singapore, Professor Chia is the author of the monograph Monks on the Move: Buddhism and Modernity Across the South China Sea (Oxford, 2020), for which he received the EuroSEAS Humanities Book Prize 2021 and was shortlisted for the Friedrich Weller Prize 2023. He is currently working on two book projects: Buddhayana: the birth of an Indonesian Buddhist movementet Diplomatic Dharma: Buddhist Diplomacy in Modern Asiasupported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Fellowship 2020 awarded by the Social Science Research Council of Singapore.

Professor Chia earned a doctorate in history from Cornell University, where his dissertation won the Lauriston Sharp Prize. He received his BA (cum laude) and MA in history from the National University of Singapore and his second MA in East Asian Studies from Harvard University, where he was a Harvard-Yenching Fellow. Before joining NUS, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

“Beyond the generous funding, I am particularly excited about the potential of this position to increase awareness and scholarly interest in Buddhism at NUS and Singapore,” Professor Chia told BSG. “My long-term goal is to cultivate a strong Buddhist studies community at NUS that will not only help make Singapore a hub for bridging Eastern and Western studies of Buddhism, but also elevate it. »

Singapore is a multicultural island state in Southeast Asia with a population of nearly six million. More than 31% of Singaporeans identify as Buddhist, according to 2020 census data. Christianity is represented by 18,9%, Islam by 15,6%, Taoism and other Chinese religions by 8,8%. %, Hinduism by 5% and Sikhism and other religions by 0,6%. About 20% of Singaporeans have no religious affiliation.

* Foo Hai Ch'an Monastery funds Buddhist scholarships at the National University of Singapore (BDG)

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