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Paul Crowe

Simon Fraser University, Humanities, Faculty Member

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I am an associate professor in the Department of Humanities at SFU where I teach courses on Daoist, Buddhist, and Literati (Ru) culture and intellectual history. My graduate work, completed at UBC in 2005, focused on textual study of inner alchemy during the Song and Yuan dynasties. Presently I am finishing a complete translation of a six-juan (chapter) canonical inner alchemy text titled Qing'an yingchanzi yulu compiled by disciples of Li Daochun (fl. 1288-1292).Over the past several years I have been researching Daoist groups in Canada with connections to organizations in Hong Kong and south China. My interest extends to Buddhist and popular religious groups in British Columbia particularly.
Supervisors: Daniel L. Overmyer and Leslie Kawamura

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Kansas State University

Ucla

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Università di Bologna

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Francisco Rodriguez Jimenez

Universidad de Extremadura

Fabien Montcher

Saint Louis University

UERJ - Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Rio de Janeiro State University

Fabrizio Pregadio

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Sverrir Jakobsson

University of Iceland

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Books by Paul Crowe

The People and the Dao: New Studies in Chinese Religions in Honour of Daniel L. Overmyer

The papers in this volume go back to a conference held September 14–15, 2002, at the University o... more The papers in this volume go back to a conference held September 14–15, 2002, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., in honour of Prof. Daniel L. Overmyer on his retirement. The contributions pay tribute to this renowned scholar of Chinese religious traditions, whose work is a constant reminder to look beyond text to context, beyond idea to practice, to study religion as it was and is lived by real people rather than as an abstract system of ideas and doctrines.

Papers by Paul Crowe

“What are “Daoist” Virtues? Seeking an Ethical Perspective on Human Conduct and Ecology." In Heesoon Bai and David Chang eds., Ecological Virtues. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2020.

What are “Daoist” virtues? This is a question that poses formidable challenges to anyone seeking ... more What are “Daoist” virtues? This is a question that poses formidable challenges to anyone seeking a satisfactory answer. In providing an answer a disproportionate amount of attention has been given to two texts that emerged during the fourth through second centuries BCE: the Daode jing (Scripture on the Way and its Power) and the Zhuangzi, which bears the name of its putative author. The challenge in distilling an answer to the opening question is that these texts are only two out of 1,487 texts comprising the Daoist Canon compiled in 1445 during the reign of Emperor Yingzong. Further, as early as the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220), Confucian and Buddhist elements began to influence conceptions of virtue among those we now refer to as Daoists. Finally, groups now subsumed under the title “Daoist” have developed in complex and varied ways over the past two millennia. This chapter will avoid a reductionistic approach by drawing together several important strands that have come to constitute an approach to human conduct that has in some ways spanned a range of social and cultural affiliations and that may contribute to a way of human conduct conducive to minimizing our disruption of the fragile ecosphere we depend upon for life. These strands include: the superimposition of familial virtues on the sky (father) and earth (mother), to who we owe a debt of filial gratitude; an understanding of health as symbiotically related to conduct and a conception of the individual as not strictly delimited by the body, which by its very nature is a site of “osmotic exchange” within the larger body we inhabit.

“Buddhisms in Diaspora: The Canadian Context of Chinese Buddhism.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford University Press. Article published November 2019. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.596.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, 2019

Any discussion of Chinese Buddhist diaspora communities in Canada must account for the broader co... more Any discussion of Chinese Buddhist diaspora communities in Canada must account for the broader context within which they have been subsumed. To a great extent the timing and nature of Chinese Buddhist activity in Canada was determined by a legacy of racism and harsh immigration laws that were not fully reformed until the late 1960s. The first significant flow of Chinese migration to Canada began in the mid-19th century, commencing with gold rushes in California and British Columbia during the 1850s. Following this, construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1881–1885), spanning a distance of approximately 4,700km between Montréal, Québec, and Port Moody, British Columbia, provided the impetus for a subsequent wave of Chinese migration for the purpose of providing rail construction labor on Canada’s west coast. Despite the presence of significant numbers of Chinese in Canada, there is very little evidence of Chinese Buddhist practice and certainly practice within institutional settings prior to the 20th century. Nineteenth-century Chinese religious activity, such as it was, took place in the context of centers serving as clan shrines with altars dedicated to local deities linked to clan home regions. Buddhist figures mixed with popular deities were associated with clan rituals informed by a cyclical calendar of rites. Development of the critical social mass needed for support of Buddhist temples and centers was severely curtailed by an absence of a basic supporting family structure, as the Chinese population was virtually all male through 1885. Subsequent modest population gains made in the first decades of the 20th century were reversed with passage of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923. Historically, Chinese religious activity has had a strong public dimension that includes public, and often outdoor, festivals. This, combined with the distinct appearance associated with Buddhist architecture, would make Chinese Buddhist communities’ institutions and practices conspicuous during times when they were viewed with widespread hostility. Relegated to “Chinatowns,” there was little support for building Buddhist institutions and every reason not to make such conspicuous and dangerous cultural gestures. Following World War II, and coincident with the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, to which Canada was a signatory, things began to change for the better. In 1947 the Chinese were finally able to vote, though immigration legislation remained deeply racist. In 1967 Canada’s Liberal government under Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau (1919–2000) inaugurated the point system, permitting people to qualify for landed immigrant status without reference to their particular country of origin. In the same year this change was made the community roots of the first Chinese Buddhist institutions were established in Vancouver and Toronto. Major development of Buddhist institutions did not begin to gain any real momentum until the mid-1980s, with a significant increase in Chinese migration from Hong Kong. This accelerated as the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from Britain to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) drew closer. Significant social networks and an increase in economic resources finally made the purchase of land and the construction of Chinese Buddhist temples a reality. Canada’s demographics underwent a dramatic transformation as European migration that had peaked in the mid- to late 1970s was equaled and then eclipsed by migration from East Asia. In Canada, Pure Land Buddhist organizations such as Ling Yen Mountain Temple and Gold Buddha Monastery, with roots in Taiwan and the United States, and International Buddhist Temple, with roots principally in Hong Kong, led the way in the emergence of Chinese Buddhist diaspora communities. Through the 1990s Taiwan-based Dharma Drum Mountain, which provides both Pure Land ceremonies and Chan teaching, established itself in Vancouver, as did Tung in Kok Yuen, an organization originating in Hong Kong. A significant increase in PRC migration, concentrated in Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver, did not bring with it any significant institutional ties, but the new immigrant population did provide a constituency from which temples could draw new members, though they competed in this regard with Christian churches. Through the early 21st century Chinese migration numbers have remained robust, and Chinese Buddhist communities in many cases continue to consolidate and grow with deepening and expanding local community roots and increasingly strong international ties and outreach.

“The Chinese Religious Landscape in the Vancouver Area with A Brief Case Study of Po Yuen Taoist Centre Society,” Archives de sciences sociales des religions. Paris: Editions de l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (forthcoming publication date unknown).

NOTE: This paper was submitted and successfully passed peer review but, for reasons that were nev... more NOTE: This paper was submitted and successfully passed peer review but, for reasons that were never made clear, the special issue of Archives de sciences sociales des religions, in which it was to appear, was never published. This descriptive paper is arranged in three sections, each with a successively narrower focus. First, is considered the wider context of migration and demographics within which Chinese cultural institutions have taken shape over a period of more than one hundred and fifty years. The next section provides a few illustrative and representative examples of Buddhist, Yiguan dao, Falun gong and Daoist institutions and activities supported by an increasing Chinese immigrant population on Canada’s west coast. The second half of the paper provides a brief case study of one altar, Po Yuen Taoist Centre Society, dedicated to Lü Dongbin. This altar, located on the outskirts of Vancouver’s Chinatown, continues a decades-long relationship with altars in Hong Kong Central, Kowloon and the New Territories.

"Heeding the Phoenix Pen: Trans-Pacific Scriptures from Lü Dongbin," in Loyd Wong ed., Trans-Pacific Mobilities The Chinese and Canada (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017)

“Nature, Motion and Stillness in Li Daochun’s Vision of the Three Teachings.” Republished in Critical Concepts in Religious Studies: Taoism. Ed. Russell Kirkland. New York: Routledge, 2015.

To download a PDF of this article go to the entry under Journal of Daoist Studies 5 (2012).

Dao Learning and the Golden Elixir: Shared Paths to Perfection, Journal of Daoist Studies 7 (2014): 88-116.

This article is, to some extent, a continuation of thoughts expressed in a previous article in th... more This article is, to some extent, a continuation of thoughts expressed in a previous article in the Journal of Daoist Studies (Crowe 2010), where motion and stillness were examined as sources of continuity between the “three teachings” as imagined by Li Daochun and his disciples. The present article considers that continuity from a different vantage point, turning the focus on our characterization of the relationship between Ru 儒 (literati) daoxue 道學 (learning of the way) and jindan 金丹 (golden elixir) ways of cultivation. It is suggested here that common ground is found not by bridging two essentially and categorically differing groups, but rather by bringing to light shared perspectives on soteriological ends and on the framing of praxis intended to realize those ends.

"Dharma on The Move: Vancouver Buddhist Communities and Multiculturalism."

In Victor Sogen Hori, John Harding and Alexander Soucy eds., Flowers on the Rock: Global and Local Buddhisms in Canada. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press., 2014.

"RESPONSE TO ARMOUR’S PAPER: “THOUGHTS ON THE IDEA OF A WORLD HUMANITIES”" Journal of Chinese Philosophy 39:4 (December 2012) 571–579

The article opens by stating the importance of the humanities and need for unapologetic advocacy ... more The article opens by stating the importance of the humanities and need for unapologetic advocacy on its behalf. Armour’s metaphor of world humanities, as a conversation, is then taken as a point of departure for considering the example of Chinese and European “philosophy” that might join in conversation in order to expand, through mutual transformation, what we mean by “philosophy.” The concluding section argues that if we cast Chinese thought in the light of philosophy as constructed in Europe and North America, we exclude elements that could enrich and expand our pursuit of wisdom and what that entails.

"Nature, Motion, and Stillness: Li Daochun's Vision of the Three Teachings." Journal of Daoist Studies 5 (2012): 61-88.

This article examines the way in which inner alchemist, Li Daochun (fl. 1280-1290), understood th... more This article examines the way in which inner alchemist, Li Daochun (fl. 1280-1290), understood the relationship between his own practice of cultivation and that of the Buddhists and Literati (Ru). Though Li viewed himself as a practitio-ner of Golden Elixir methods he also understood his practice from the perspec-tive of what he called the “Dao of Peerless Orthodox Reality.” According to him this Dao existed at a level that both transcended and united the “Three Teach-ings.” Two aspects of this unifying Dao will be examined here: First is the con-cept of Nature (Xing), which Li believed Daoists, Buddhists and Literati shared. Second is the metaphor of motion and stillness in relation to the cultivation of that Inner Nature. By examining these facets of Li’s perspective on practice one gains insight into his sense of religious identity and an appreciation for the self-consciously ambiguous or perhaps fluid nature of that identity.

"Amitābha’s Birthday and Liberation of Life" in John Harding, ed., Studying Buddhism in Practice. Hillary Rodrigues series editor. New York: Routledge, 2012.

Popular notions concerning the nature of Buddhism and Buddhist practice tend to focus on the figu... more Popular notions concerning the nature of Buddhism and Buddhist practice tend to focus on the figure of a solitary meditating Buddha. Solitary practice is an important part of what Buddhist monastics and lay practitioners do but the majority of what happens on a daily basis in a monastery or temple is communal. Large energetic gatherings of monks, nuns and lay supporters involving music, movement, and often food are the fabric of a rich and varied practice shared by Buddhist communities. Activities follow a cycle of more than two-dozen ritual celebrations of significant dates such as the date Sakyamuni Buddha entered nirvana, or the date Bodhisattva Guanyin, “she who hears the cries of the world,” attained enlightenment. Recounted here is my visit to Gold Buddha Monastery in Vancouver British Columbia to celebrate the birthday of Amitabha Buddha. A second part of the proceedings included a ceremony known as the “Liberation of Life.” This retelling is based on my notes, video recordings and photographs.

"Universal Buddhist Temple (世界佛教會): Embracing Myriad Dhārmas." Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies (No. 6 2010). Published in 2011. PDF Available.

This article is a first attempt to provide some basic details on the history, function and orient... more This article is a first attempt to provide some basic details on the history, function and orientation of the Universal Buddhist Temple. The Universal Buddhist Temple stands as the oldest functioning Chinese Buddhist Temple in Vancouver and has been supportive of other temples that have been established on the Lower Mainland throughout its history. What follows is a recounting of the basic history of this enduring community.

“Chinese Religions in British Columbia” in Baker, Donald, L. DeVries and Daniel L. Overmyer, eds. Asian Religions in British Columbia. UBC Press. 2010.

"Daoist Heritage Today" in The World's Religions: Continuities and Transformations, Second Edition, eds. Peter Clark and Peter Beyer, London: Routledge, 2008

Chaos: A Thematic Continuity Between Early Taoism and the Way of the Golden Elixir in Purity of Heart and Contemplation: A Monastic Dialogue Between Christian and Asian Traditions, New York: Curzon 2001.

Chapters on Awakening to the Real: A Song Dynasty Classic of Inner Alchemy Attributed to Zhang Boduan (ca. 983-1081). B.C. Asian Review 12 (Spring 2000): 1-40.

Talks by Paul Crowe

Chinese Exclusion in Canada: The Passing and Repealing of the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act

This is a revised and expanded version of a speech given on June 29, 2012. This version was prese... more

The People and the Dao: New Studies in Chinese Religions in Honour of Daniel L. Overmyer

The papers in this volume go back to a conference held September 14–15, 2002, at the University o... more The papers in this volume go back to a conference held September 14–15, 2002, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., in honour of Prof. Daniel L. Overmyer on his retirement. The contributions pay tribute to this renowned scholar of Chinese religious traditions, whose work is a constant reminder to look beyond text to context, beyond idea to practice, to study religion as it was and is lived by real people rather than as an abstract system of ideas and doctrines.

“What are “Daoist” Virtues? Seeking an Ethical Perspective on Human Conduct and Ecology." In Heesoon Bai and David Chang eds., Ecological Virtues. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2020.

What are “Daoist” virtues? This is a question that poses formidable challenges to anyone seeking ... more What are “Daoist” virtues? This is a question that poses formidable challenges to anyone seeking a satisfactory answer. In providing an answer a disproportionate amount of attention has been given to two texts that emerged during the fourth through second centuries BCE: the Daode jing (Scripture on the Way and its Power) and the Zhuangzi, which bears the name of its putative author. The challenge in distilling an answer to the opening question is that these texts are only two out of 1,487 texts comprising the Daoist Canon compiled in 1445 during the reign of Emperor Yingzong. Further, as early as the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220), Confucian and Buddhist elements began to influence conceptions of virtue among those we now refer to as Daoists. Finally, groups now subsumed under the title “Daoist” have developed in complex and varied ways over the past two millennia. This chapter will avoid a reductionistic approach by drawing together several important strands that have come to constitute an approach to human conduct that has in some ways spanned a range of social and cultural affiliations and that may contribute to a way of human conduct conducive to minimizing our disruption of the fragile ecosphere we depend upon for life. These strands include: the superimposition of familial virtues on the sky (father) and earth (mother), to who we owe a debt of filial gratitude; an understanding of health as symbiotically related to conduct and a conception of the individual as not strictly delimited by the body, which by its very nature is a site of “osmotic exchange” within the larger body we inhabit.

“Buddhisms in Diaspora: The Canadian Context of Chinese Buddhism.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford University Press. Article published November 2019. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.596.

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, 2019

Any discussion of Chinese Buddhist diaspora communities in Canada must account for the broader co... more Any discussion of Chinese Buddhist diaspora communities in Canada must account for the broader context within which they have been subsumed. To a great extent the timing and nature of Chinese Buddhist activity in Canada was determined by a legacy of racism and harsh immigration laws that were not fully reformed until the late 1960s. The first significant flow of Chinese migration to Canada began in the mid-19th century, commencing with gold rushes in California and British Columbia during the 1850s. Following this, construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1881–1885), spanning a distance of approximately 4,700km between Montréal, Québec, and Port Moody, British Columbia, provided the impetus for a subsequent wave of Chinese migration for the purpose of providing rail construction labor on Canada’s west coast. Despite the presence of significant numbers of Chinese in Canada, there is very little evidence of Chinese Buddhist practice and certainly practice within institutional settings prior to the 20th century. Nineteenth-century Chinese religious activity, such as it was, took place in the context of centers serving as clan shrines with altars dedicated to local deities linked to clan home regions. Buddhist figures mixed with popular deities were associated with clan rituals informed by a cyclical calendar of rites. Development of the critical social mass needed for support of Buddhist temples and centers was severely curtailed by an absence of a basic supporting family structure, as the Chinese population was virtually all male through 1885. Subsequent modest population gains made in the first decades of the 20th century were reversed with passage of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923. Historically, Chinese religious activity has had a strong public dimension that includes public, and often outdoor, festivals. This, combined with the distinct appearance associated with Buddhist architecture, would make Chinese Buddhist communities’ institutions and practices conspicuous during times when they were viewed with widespread hostility. Relegated to “Chinatowns,” there was little support for building Buddhist institutions and every reason not to make such conspicuous and dangerous cultural gestures. Following World War II, and coincident with the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, to which Canada was a signatory, things began to change for the better. In 1947 the Chinese were finally able to vote, though immigration legislation remained deeply racist. In 1967 Canada’s Liberal government under Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau (1919–2000) inaugurated the point system, permitting people to qualify for landed immigrant status without reference to their particular country of origin. In the same year this change was made the community roots of the first Chinese Buddhist institutions were established in Vancouver and Toronto. Major development of Buddhist institutions did not begin to gain any real momentum until the mid-1980s, with a significant increase in Chinese migration from Hong Kong. This accelerated as the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from Britain to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) drew closer. Significant social networks and an increase in economic resources finally made the purchase of land and the construction of Chinese Buddhist temples a reality. Canada’s demographics underwent a dramatic transformation as European migration that had peaked in the mid- to late 1970s was equaled and then eclipsed by migration from East Asia. In Canada, Pure Land Buddhist organizations such as Ling Yen Mountain Temple and Gold Buddha Monastery, with roots in Taiwan and the United States, and International Buddhist Temple, with roots principally in Hong Kong, led the way in the emergence of Chinese Buddhist diaspora communities. Through the 1990s Taiwan-based Dharma Drum Mountain, which provides both Pure Land ceremonies and Chan teaching, established itself in Vancouver, as did Tung in Kok Yuen, an organization originating in Hong Kong. A significant increase in PRC migration, concentrated in Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver, did not bring with it any significant institutional ties, but the new immigrant population did provide a constituency from which temples could draw new members, though they competed in this regard with Christian churches. Through the early 21st century Chinese migration numbers have remained robust, and Chinese Buddhist communities in many cases continue to consolidate and grow with deepening and expanding local community roots and increasingly strong international ties and outreach.

“The Chinese Religious Landscape in the Vancouver Area with A Brief Case Study of Po Yuen Taoist Centre Society,” Archives de sciences sociales des religions. Paris: Editions de l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (forthcoming publication date unknown).

NOTE: This paper was submitted and successfully passed peer review but, for reasons that were nev... more NOTE: This paper was submitted and successfully passed peer review but, for reasons that were never made clear, the special issue of Archives de sciences sociales des religions, in which it was to appear, was never published. This descriptive paper is arranged in three sections, each with a successively narrower focus. First, is considered the wider context of migration and demographics within which Chinese cultural institutions have taken shape over a period of more than one hundred and fifty years. The next section provides a few illustrative and representative examples of Buddhist, Yiguan dao, Falun gong and Daoist institutions and activities supported by an increasing Chinese immigrant population on Canada’s west coast. The second half of the paper provides a brief case study of one altar, Po Yuen Taoist Centre Society, dedicated to Lü Dongbin. This altar, located on the outskirts of Vancouver’s Chinatown, continues a decades-long relationship with altars in Hong Kong Central, Kowloon and the New Territories.

"Heeding the Phoenix Pen: Trans-Pacific Scriptures from Lü Dongbin," in Loyd Wong ed., Trans-Pacific Mobilities The Chinese and Canada (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017)

“Nature, Motion and Stillness in Li Daochun’s Vision of the Three Teachings.” Republished in Critical Concepts in Religious Studies: Taoism. Ed. Russell Kirkland. New York: Routledge, 2015.

To download a PDF of this article go to the entry under Journal of Daoist Studies 5 (2012).

Dao Learning and the Golden Elixir: Shared Paths to Perfection, Journal of Daoist Studies 7 (2014): 88-116.

This article is, to some extent, a continuation of thoughts expressed in a previous article in th... more This article is, to some extent, a continuation of thoughts expressed in a previous article in the Journal of Daoist Studies (Crowe 2010), where motion and stillness were examined as sources of continuity between the “three teachings” as imagined by Li Daochun and his disciples. The present article considers that continuity from a different vantage point, turning the focus on our characterization of the relationship between Ru 儒 (literati) daoxue 道學 (learning of the way) and jindan 金丹 (golden elixir) ways of cultivation. It is suggested here that common ground is found not by bridging two essentially and categorically differing groups, but rather by bringing to light shared perspectives on soteriological ends and on the framing of praxis intended to realize those ends.

"Dharma on The Move: Vancouver Buddhist Communities and Multiculturalism."

In Victor Sogen Hori, John Harding and Alexander Soucy eds., Flowers on the Rock: Global and Local Buddhisms in Canada. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press., 2014.

"RESPONSE TO ARMOUR’S PAPER: “THOUGHTS ON THE IDEA OF A WORLD HUMANITIES”" Journal of Chinese Philosophy 39:4 (December 2012) 571–579

The article opens by stating the importance of the humanities and need for unapologetic advocacy ... more The article opens by stating the importance of the humanities and need for unapologetic advocacy on its behalf. Armour’s metaphor of world humanities, as a conversation, is then taken as a point of departure for considering the example of Chinese and European “philosophy” that might join in conversation in order to expand, through mutual transformation, what we mean by “philosophy.” The concluding section argues that if we cast Chinese thought in the light of philosophy as constructed in Europe and North America, we exclude elements that could enrich and expand our pursuit of wisdom and what that entails.

"Nature, Motion, and Stillness: Li Daochun's Vision of the Three Teachings." Journal of Daoist Studies 5 (2012): 61-88.

This article examines the way in which inner alchemist, Li Daochun (fl. 1280-1290), understood th... more This article examines the way in which inner alchemist, Li Daochun (fl. 1280-1290), understood the relationship between his own practice of cultivation and that of the Buddhists and Literati (Ru). Though Li viewed himself as a practitio-ner of Golden Elixir methods he also understood his practice from the perspec-tive of what he called the “Dao of Peerless Orthodox Reality.” According to him this Dao existed at a level that both transcended and united the “Three Teach-ings.” Two aspects of this unifying Dao will be examined here: First is the con-cept of Nature (Xing), which Li believed Daoists, Buddhists and Literati shared. Second is the metaphor of motion and stillness in relation to the cultivation of that Inner Nature. By examining these facets of Li’s perspective on practice one gains insight into his sense of religious identity and an appreciation for the self-consciously ambiguous or perhaps fluid nature of that identity.

"Amitābha’s Birthday and Liberation of Life" in John Harding, ed., Studying Buddhism in Practice. Hillary Rodrigues series editor. New York: Routledge, 2012.

Popular notions concerning the nature of Buddhism and Buddhist practice tend to focus on the figu... more Popular notions concerning the nature of Buddhism and Buddhist practice tend to focus on the figure of a solitary meditating Buddha. Solitary practice is an important part of what Buddhist monastics and lay practitioners do but the majority of what happens on a daily basis in a monastery or temple is communal. Large energetic gatherings of monks, nuns and lay supporters involving music, movement, and often food are the fabric of a rich and varied practice shared by Buddhist communities. Activities follow a cycle of more than two-dozen ritual celebrations of significant dates such as the date Sakyamuni Buddha entered nirvana, or the date Bodhisattva Guanyin, “she who hears the cries of the world,” attained enlightenment. Recounted here is my visit to Gold Buddha Monastery in Vancouver British Columbia to celebrate the birthday of Amitabha Buddha. A second part of the proceedings included a ceremony known as the “Liberation of Life.” This retelling is based on my notes, video recordings and photographs.

"Universal Buddhist Temple (世界佛教會): Embracing Myriad Dhārmas." Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies (No. 6 2010). Published in 2011. PDF Available.

This article is a first attempt to provide some basic details on the history, function and orient... more This article is a first attempt to provide some basic details on the history, function and orientation of the Universal Buddhist Temple. The Universal Buddhist Temple stands as the oldest functioning Chinese Buddhist Temple in Vancouver and has been supportive of other temples that have been established on the Lower Mainland throughout its history. What follows is a recounting of the basic history of this enduring community.

“Chinese Religions in British Columbia” in Baker, Donald, L. DeVries and Daniel L. Overmyer, eds. Asian Religions in British Columbia. UBC Press. 2010.

"Daoist Heritage Today" in The World's Religions: Continuities and Transformations, Second Edition, eds. Peter Clark and Peter Beyer, London: Routledge, 2008

Chaos: A Thematic Continuity Between Early Taoism and the Way of the Golden Elixir in Purity of Heart and Contemplation: A Monastic Dialogue Between Christian and Asian Traditions, New York: Curzon 2001.

Chapters on Awakening to the Real: A Song Dynasty Classic of Inner Alchemy Attributed to Zhang Boduan (ca. 983-1081). B.C. Asian Review 12 (Spring 2000): 1-40.

Chinese Exclusion in Canada: The Passing and Repealing of the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act

This is a revised and expanded version of a speech given on June 29, 2012. This version was prese... more