Buddhist Education Foundation of Canada Annual Article Award
This award of $1000 each will be given annually to two early career Buddhist scholars for outstanding contributions to the Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies. Priority will be given to those who are Canadian, based in Canada, or whose research was done in Canada.
In 2025, Dr. Amber Moore and Dr. Colin Simonds were recipient of this Annual Article Award.
The 2026 recipients of the Annual Article Award are:
1. Adrian Stathoukos, PhD student at McGill.
Article abstract:
“The Collector of Teeth: The Stone Jizō of the Mountain of Fear”
This paper investigates contemporary intersections of material, ideological, and spatial culture within expressions of emotion and imagination at Osorezan Bodaiji, a Sōtō Zen temple in Aomori, Japan. It analyses the temple’s figura-tive stupa, the hachiyō Jizō bosatsu (Eight-Leaf Stone Jizō), in comparison to the Gokuraku Jizō to elucidate how Jizō ex-ists as a non-binary figural repository and protector for the youthful dead, and non-figural manifestation of the Womb World and salvation. By focussing on children’s teeth interred within the Stone Jizō-cum-reliquary, this study contributes to the field of “Zen materialism” and more nuanced understandings of lived Buddhist realities in Tōhoku.
2. Qian Zhang, recent PhD graduate from the University of Calgary.
Article abstract:
“Reimagining Individual Karma and Collective Family Destiny in Yuan Drama: A Buddhist-Confucian Synthesis in A Slave to Money Buys a Creditor as His Enemy”
This article examines how Yuan dramatist Zheng Tingyu, in his play A Slave to Money Buys a Creditor as His Enemy, adapted Buddhist concepts such as karma and “blessing power” (fuli) within zaju to reinforce Confucian ideals of collective family responsibility. Through a close analysis of the play’s performative dimensions, this study argues that its portrayal of karmic retribution reflects not a new synthesis but a creative continuation of narrative traditions dating back to Tang-era pienwen. By situating the play within Yuan zaju—a genre aimed at diverse public audiences—the article highlights how Zheng Tingyu used drama to dramatize moral tensions between individual ambition and familial duty during a period of Confucian marginalization under Mongol rule.
Buddhist Education Foundation of Canada Conference Grants
This grant of $500 each will be given annually to 3 recipients for the purpose of supporting scholars based in Canada to present their original research at international conferences.
Qi Liu, PhD Candidate, McGill University,
Tiantian Zhong, PhD Candidate, University of Calgary, and
Dr. Amber Moore, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto,
have been selected as 2025’s recipients. Please see this link for the report of their conference activities： https://cjbuddhist.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/annoucing-the-winners-for-the-buddhist-education-foundation-of-canada-conference-grant-2025/ on the Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies Blog.
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The recipients of 2026 BEFC Conference Grants are:
1. Xiaowen Zhou, PhD student, McMaster University
Conference: AAS 2026 Annual Conference, March 2026
Paper: Reframing Demons: The Daoist Adaptation of Buddhist Child-Protecting Spirits (Bāla-grahā) in Late Medieval China
Abstract:
This paper examines how Daoist traditions in late medieval China appropriated and repurposed the Buddhist cult of the Fifteen Demon-Deities (Bāla-grahā), a group of female spirits associated with childbirth and pediatric affliction. While previous scholarship has emphasized the cult’s Indian origins and Buddhist ritual frameworks, little attention has been paid to its Daoist reinterpretation. Through close textual and visual analysis, this study traces how Daoist texts such as the Scripture of the Jade Pivot (Yushu baojing) incorporated the spirits but retained only their demonic dimension, namely, the narratives of malevolence and child-harming power. In contrast to the Buddhist model of conversion through refuge and transformation, whereby demons are ritually tamed and turned into child-protecting deities, the Daoist approach focuses on subjugation, classification, and hierarchical subordination, degrading the spirits into marginalized creatures subdued by Daoist deities, talismans, and spells. Analysis of woodblock illustrations from the 13th century and the Ming period further reveals evolving visual strategies that reinforced this ritual authority. I argue that the purposeful repositioning of Buddhist demonology by reframing the group of spirits as subordinated and featherweight agents within a Daoist cosmological hierarchy asserts Daoist ritual supremacy and illuminates broader contestations over sacred authority, healing, and protection in late medieval China. Ultimately, this case suggests that the adaptive logic through which the fifteen demon-deities became a crucial site of negotiation between competing and porous Chinese religious systems.
2. Dr. Lan Li, Department of Cultural and Historical Studies, University of Toronto Scarborough
Conference: AAS 2026 Annual Conference, March 2026
Paper Title: Interpretation, Reconstruction, and Recontextualization of Chinese Buddhist Archaeological Sites in International Classrooms
Abstract:
How can interdisciplinary methods and multimedia technologies be integrated to enrich pedagogical approaches to teaching Chinese Buddhism through the lens of material culture? This project explores innovative teaching strategies to bridge the spatial and temporal distances between international classrooms and Chinese Buddhist archaeological sites, such as monastic complexes and cave temples. By offering students immersive and critically engaged learning experiences, it aims to cultivate a deeper understanding of the religious, historical, and cultural dimensions of these sites. Drawing on my prior teaching experience at the University of Toronto, I propose a three-stage pedagogical model.
First, I advocate for strategies that move beyond aesthetic appreciation, focusing instead on situating archaeological remains within their original religious functions and historical contexts. For example, analyzing the spatial layout and related images of burial caves at Longmen Grottoes can reveal the dominant Buddhist ideas and funerary ritual practices in the Tang dynasty.
Second, I propose the integration of cutting-edge technologies, such as Virtual and Augmented Reality, 3D modelling, and printing, to enable both virtual and tactile reconstruction of these sites in the classroom. These tools enhance students’ visual-spatial understanding and create embodied experiences that approximate on-site encounters.
Third, I emphasize the pedagogical value of recontextualization, where students connect reconstructed spaces to real human experiences and devotional practices they once embodied. Through activities such as crafting Buddhist life narratives and developing imaginative protagonists and their stories, students will cultivate insiders’ perspectives and become active interpreters of Buddhist heritage, rather than remaining passive recipients of historical information.
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