Topic: From Monks to Merchants: Assessing Buddhism in the Philippines—the Land of Gold

Date: November 7, 2025

Time: 17:30-19:00 (Shanghai Time)

Venue: N107, NYU Shanghai, New Bund Campus

or via zoom: 92620075678

This talk explores how countries and communities across Southeast Asia draw on their rich maritime pasts to navigate the challenges of global politics today. From ancient trade routes to modern heritage projects, the sea continues to shape how governments and communities express identity, independence, and sovereignty. By asking why prestige matters in international relations, the talk examines how maritime heritage becomes a tool for asserting status and legitimacy on the world stage.

Extending these ideas into the digital present, the talk then considers how data and artificial intelligence now shape whose (his)tories gain visibility. Just as colonial maps once defined whose knowledge counted, today’s data infrastructures and algorithms influence how maritime heritage is represented and valued. Through these parallels, the talk invites audiences to see Southeast Asia as a region that continues to chart its own course through shifting global currents: both maritime and digital.

本演讲旨在填补汉学研究对东南亚的两个空白。已经有许多系统性的研究描述了东亚（尤其是中国）、印度和东南亚之间的历史联系，但其中一个被忽略的领域是菲律宾。我将尝试将菲律宾前殖民时期的历史融入中国僧侣迁徙到南亚和东南亚的更大历史背景中，同时将菲律宾置于连接中国（主要是福建）和东南亚的海上贸易网络中，这些贸易网络通过在菲律宾发展起来的节点相连。正如本文旨在显示的，最早期的历史阶段充斥着与佛教僧侣的接触，然后后来中国文化和宗教开始通过商人迁徙者传播。本文的第二部分旨在评估我们对菲律宾佛教历史的了解，基于一些最近的考古发现，这些发现似乎也与更大的汉学问题相关。关于该历史，文献资料非常有限，因此我们必须转向物质记录。最后，我将简要讨论菲律宾佛教历史的殖民后接触时期。

James Robson is Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. He has served as Director of Graduate Studies for the Regional Studies East Asia M.A. program. He teaches East Asian religions, in particular Daoism, Chinese Buddhism, and Zen. Robson received his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford University in 2002, after spending many years doing research in China and Japan. He specializes in the history of medieval Chinese Buddhism and Daoism and is particularly interested in issues of sacred geography, local religious history, talismans, and Chan/Zen Buddhism. He has been engaged in a long-term collaborative research project with the École Française d’Extrême-Orient studying local religious statuary from Hunan province. He is the author of Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak [Nanyue 南嶽] in Medieval China (Harvard, 2009), which was awarded the Stanislas Julien Prize for 2010 by the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres and the 2010 Toshihide Numata Book Prize in Buddhism. Robson is also the author of Signs of Power: Talismanic Writings in Chinese Buddhism (History of Religions 48:2), Faith in Museums: On the Confluence of Museums and Religious Sites in Asia (PMLA, 2010), and A Tang Dynasty Chan Mummy [roushen] and a Modern Case of Furta Sacra? Investigating the Contested Bones of Shitou Xiqian. His current research includes a long term project on the history of the confluence of Buddhist monasteries and mental hospitals in Japan.

羅柏松（James Robson），哈佛大学东亚语言文明系教授，曾任东亚区域研究硕士项目研究生主任。他主要讲授道教、中国佛教与禅宗等东亚宗教课程。罗布森教授于2002年获斯坦福大学佛教研究博士学位，并长期在中国、日本等东亚地区开展深入的田野调查与文献研究。他专攻于中国中古时期的佛教与道教史，尤其致力于圣山地理、地方宗教史、符箓文献及禅宗传统等领域的研究。他与法国远东学院长期合作，共同开展关于湖南地区民间宗教造像的专题研究。

其专著《地方的力量：中古中国南岳的宗教景观》由哈佛大学出版社于2009年出版，先后荣获法国铭文与美文学院颁发的2010年度“儒莲奖”，以及同年佛教研究领域的“沼田俊秀图书奖”。罗布森教授亦发表多篇具有影响力的学术论文，包括〈权力的符号：中国佛教中的符箓文字〉、〈博物馆中的信仰：亚洲博物馆与宗教场所的交汇〉，以及〈唐代禅僧肉身与现代圣物争议：石头希迁遗骨考〉等。目前，他正致力于一项关于日本佛教寺院与精神病院历史关联的长期研究计划。

本次英文讲座面向公众开放，可线下参与或通过zoom加入。请于11月6日下午5点前完成报名，报名链接：https://cga.shanghai.nyu.edu/from-monks-to-merchants-assessing-buddhism-in-the-philippines-the-land-of-gold/?sessionid=。我们将在审核通过后发送确认邮件，请留意您的邮箱。