Researches and studies on Chan Buddhism (禪宗) are kept being done and discussed in the academic circle. These studies are conducted according to several dominant approaches of research. However, most of these approaches involve controversial issues of mysticism, cultural difference and historical fact, and only a few of them are focusing on the discussion of the philosophy of Chan Buddhism. In addition, issues of how Chan Buddhism works and how it can enlighten people nowadays are seldom elucidated, even with the discussion of the philosophy of Chan Buddhism.

In this research, first, I want to classify on the existing researches of Chan Buddhism. For these researches, all of them presuppose, in different degree, a kind of “Irrationalistic character of Enlightenment of Chan Buddh...[ Read more ]

Researches and studies on Chan Buddhism (禪宗) are kept being done and discussed in the academic circle. These studies are conducted according to several dominant approaches of research. However, most of these approaches involve controversial issues of mysticism, cultural difference and historical fact, and only a few of them are focusing on the discussion of the philosophy of Chan Buddhism. In addition, issues of how Chan Buddhism works and how it can enlighten people nowadays are seldom elucidated, even with the discussion of the philosophy of Chan Buddhism.

In this research, first, I want to classify on the existing researches of Chan Buddhism. For these researches, all of them presuppose, in different degree, a kind of “Irrationalistic character of Enlightenment of Chan Buddhism” that assumes the experience of enlightenment of Enlightenment of Chan Buddhism cannot be explained by daily language. I think the notion of “Irrationalistic character of Chan Buddhism” hinders people nowadays from understanding and trying to make use of the wisdom of Chan Buddhism. So, there is a research gap that allows a new kind of interpretation of Chan Buddhism to come into existence.

Second, my thesis tries to introduce new kind of interpretation of Chan Buddhism: Chan Buddhism as a kind of Philosophical Counseling. Before that, I will introduce what "Philosophical Counseling" is and how the philosophical counselling can help us to solve the problems in our (daily) life.

Third, I will show how the new interpretation of Chan Buddhism gives us a reasonable and practical explanation on how Chan Buddhism works.

Finally, I want to show that this new interpretation of Chan Buddhism aspires to a new form of philosophical counselling: Philosophical Counseling of Chan Buddhism.

This research aims at providing a new perspective on understanding Chan Buddhism and trying to bridge the gap between the profound wisdom of Chan Buddhism and the practical daily usage of it.