I’m an American who’s finally throwing in the towel in the PRC after 9 1/2 years. Nothing original about my reasons for giving up there, so I’ll spare you all my sob story–unless, of course, somebody who’s never lived on the other side of the strait wants to hear about what it’s like to live a life of adventure, written in advance by this deranged Chinese lovechild of Franz Kafka and Joseph Heller’s who’s been hired to test out new punishments for Purgatory. But I shan’t digress unless prompted.
Anyway, in my time in the Big Dirt I managed to learn Chinese (incl. classical grammar, traditional characters) to fluency, get a 5-year degree in acupuncture and tuina, and generally stomp around the countryside and urban nooks and crannies to my heart’s content. After all these years I find myself really enjoying reading and translating various fairly arcane writings, and I’m already getting paid enough to keep a (flimsy) roof over my head doing so. I’d like to delve deeper into the writings of Chinese spiritual self-cultivation with guidance and hopefully in as vibrant an academic community as can be found. My main interests are Song through Qing inner alchemical writings, and I am starting to gradually take more of an interest in reading old writings from Chan Buddhism.
I’ve been to Taiwan twice and thoroughly enjoyed both of my trips; I also found that the majority of my native-Chinese-speaking friends in the PRC were actually from Taiwan, quite likely because most of locals I met in my age group grew up in the post-Cultural Revolution, post-Tiananmen era when people stopped thinking and learned to love the WeChat. Although my Chinese peers were usually very friendly, it was never very easy to relate to many of them, and thus I ended up hanging out with a lot of Taiwanese people of all ages. My interests in classical Chinese culture always proved deep enough to sustain me through years of pollution and endless PRC frustrations–since my enthusiasm for this aspect of the culture hasn’t faded even as my tolerance for a life of facepalms has, I’m leaning heavily toward pursuing a PhD in Taiwan. I’m aware that doing so might not open any doors to a professorship in a good university in the west, but this isn’t a huge concern for me. Ultimately I’m just hoping to deepen my understandings of Taoism and Buddhism so that I can pursue my scholarly/cultivation interests alongside my TCM practice. My goal is to be able to produce good Chinese-English translations, not necessarily to be a professor.
Well, I suppose that covers it… any advice on universities or professors to look into would be deeply appreciated!
If you are just seeking to get deeper understanding, maybe a Taiwanese Ph.D. is not the way to go. It can be rigid and pedantic, and Taiwanese academia is quite rife with scandals as some professors can be less than ethical yet with so much power over grad students. It seems you are interested in the spiritual, religious Taoism as opposed to the philosophy school. In that case, you can check out YouTube videos on 南懷瑾 and similar topics. He also covered a good deal on Zen Buddhism, pineal gland, and all that stuff.
Thank you, Cottonwood, but frightening as it may seem, “rigid and pedantic” is exactly what I’m looking for. If the alternative is watching YouTube videos or reading Nan Huaijin books, I would much rather be in academia, even if the same power imbalances and scandals one will find in American and PRC universities exist in Taiwan, too. So, to put it succinctly, at which Taiwanese universities can I find the most rigid, pedantic, and rigorous department of Chinese philosophy/religious studies?
So this is kind of a late reply, but I believe I’ve heard that some Daoists have gone through the religion department at Fu-Jen. I think there are not a lot of religions programs–another is Cheng Chi University. There are also some Buddhist programs and Taiwan houses some of the internet Buddhist collections. I did meet someone studying Chinese religions a while back for a three-year masters, but I can’t remember where they were. Another consideration in Taiwan is that masters degrees are typically three years and include a thesis, so you might also consider looking for a school in the States with funding where you could do field work in Taiwan or China (i.e. apply straight to PhD or for a one year masters).
NTU has an Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, which includes religious studies, and is fairly academic.
Academia Sinica also has several Taoism specialists, some of them came from Cheng-chi university’s Insitute of Religious Studies, so like @teach mentioned above, Cheng-chi seems to be the way to go.
Several also came from Nanhua University’s Department of Philisophy and Life Education (哲學與生命教育系). Nanhua university also has an Insitute of Religious Studies.
I also found that MOE (ministry of education) has a list of Universities with a religious institute.
Fo Guang does Buddhist Studies (and has a program taught in English!). Chung Yuan is Protestant.
Aletheia and Hsuan Chuang are more mixed, but are (how shall I put this?) not upper-tier schools. There has been a shift away from pure academics to job training, e.g. temple management or religious tourism. Still, both departments struggle to survive.
Tzu-chi is Buddhist and run by Buddhists (of a certain stripe). I believe they have a dress code (a uniform) and require vegetarianism. Anyway, for God’s sake, visit them first if you ever contemplate going.
I don’t know anything about Nanhua but suspect you should look elsewhere. “Life Education” means meaning-of-life type general courses for undergraduates.
The first two names on this list are quite respectable and cover multiple religions. NCCU is just down the hill from Zhinangong, which offers its own (unaccredited) course of studies on Daoism (focused on Laozi/Zhuangzi and fortune telling). You could easily combine the two. Fu Jen is Catholic, of course, but covers other religions too. Check to make sure how many and what kind of courses they offer on religious Daoism.
I know people at many of these schools, so let me know if you’re interested in any of them and would like information “from the horse’s mouth,” as it were.
Many thanks–lots of very useful information in the most recent posts. Incidentally I’m heading to a temple in Jilin Province with no internet this afternoon and will be staying for about a week, so I’ll give these a proper look when I get back.