{"id":29210,"date":"2021-06-26T11:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T03:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/?p=29210"},"modified":"2021-06-23T16:16:50","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T08:16:50","slug":"diplomatic-dharma-buddhist-diplomacy-in-modern-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/2021\/06\/26\/diplomatic-dharma-buddhist-diplomacy-in-modern-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"Diplomatic Dharma: Buddhist Diplomacy in Modern Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
One month ago on 26 May, 2021, many Buddhists living in Singapore celebrated Vesak Day, which marks the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha. Vesak Day occurs on the 15th day of the fourth lunar month, which typically falls in May. In Singapore, a street procession takes place in the evening of Vesak Day in which Buddhist temples carry out a ceremony called \u2018Three-Step One-Bow\u2019 where adherents take three steps on their knees, then bow while praying for peace, personal blessings, and repentance. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
In a bid to consolidate China\u2019s position as a crucial player on the international stage, China\u2019s government and diplomatic officials have promoted the use of Buddhism as a tool for cultural diplomacy. This is observed in the use of Buddhist diplomacy to strengthen China\u2019s relationships with countries involved in the Belt and Road initiative. Buddhist diplomacy is seen as a tool to support the Belt and Road initiative which, in turn, aims to bolster China\u2019s status in the new world order.<\/span><\/div>\n
\"jack
Assistant Professor Jack Meng-Tat Chia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
In Diplomatic Dharma: Buddhist Diplomacy in Modern Asia, 1950s\u2013Present<\/em>, Assistant Professor Jack <\/span><\/span>Meng-Tat Chia (NUS History) aims to examine the role of Buddhism in promoting cultural exchanges and strengthening diplomatic relationships, and to challenge assumptions about Buddhism being politically inert and a passive entity in foreign relations. Building on his previous research on the role of Buddhism in Singapore-China relations<\/a>, this new project focuses on the collaboration and networks between Buddhists, non-Buddhists, and state actors in the making of Buddhist diplomacy. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research (SSHR) Fellowship, Dr Chia\u2019s study plans to contribute to the field of Asian studies in three crucial ways. Firstly, it will offer a new understanding of Buddhist diplomacy during the Cold War and Post-Cold War period. Previous studies have neglected the fact that Buddhism continues to be employed as a tool for cultural exchange in modern Asia. This project aims to build an understanding of Buddhism\u2019s role in five Asian countries \u2013 China, India, Japan, Myanmar, and Singapore \u2013 during the modern age.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Secondly, Dr Chia will investigate the role of Buddhism in international relations within the Asian context. He notes that our current understanding of the role of religion in international relations is built on our investigation of monotheistic religions such as Christianity and Islam. The role of Buddhism has largely been neglected. This further highlights commonly held misconceptions of Buddhism as apolitical and indifferent towards political developments. The project plans to uncover Buddhism\u2019s increasing influence on regional and international politics.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Lastly, Dr Chia aims to explore how transnational Buddhist networks have fostered cultural exchanges and diplomacy in modern Asia. The approach considers the contributions Buddhist transnational networks have made towards diplomacy, proposing a framework of understanding Asian cultural and diplomatic relations that go beyond migration and migratory flows.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Notably, Dr Chia is the first humanities scholar to receive a SSHR Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council since its establishment in 2018. With this fellowship, he will receive research funds of up to $1 million over five years. Equipped with an understanding of Buddhism\u2019s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region and the international stage, his five-year project will provide actionable insights that will have far-reaching implications on areas in Singapore\u2019s foreign and domestic policy, such as maintaining and promoting cultural exchange, religious harmony and social cohesion, and the role of religion in enhancing diplomatic relations for Singapore.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Learn more about Dr Chia’s research and writing at his website<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"Venerable
Venerable Hong Choon and the Inter-Religious Organisation in China, 1985<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One month ago on 26 May, 2021, many Buddhists living in Singapore celebrated Vesak Day, which marks the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha. Vesak Day occurs on the 15th day of the fourth lunar month, which typically falls in May. In Singapore, a street procession takes place in the evening of Vesak Day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":29311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4529],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29210"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29318,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29210\/revisions\/29318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fass.nus.edu.sg\/srn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}