Research Statement
My research explores the intersections of Buddhist Studies, comparative philosophy and theology, existential hermeneutics, and ethics. Drawing especially on Chinese Chan Buddhism, Humanistic Buddhism, Søren Kierkegaard’s existential philosophy, and comparative theology, my work examines how truth, selfhood, and ethical transformation are understood and lived across religious and philosophical traditions. Methodologically, I combine close textual analysis, comparative hermeneutics, and interdisciplinary engagement with contemporary philosophy, theology, and cognitive science. Across these fields, my central concern is how understanding becomes existentially transformative rather than merely conceptual.
A major strand of my recent work develops what I call an “existential–hermeneutic” model for comparative theology. My article, “Toward an Existential-Hermeneutic Model for Comparative Theology,” forthcoming in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, argues that comparative theology should be understood not simply as a method of textual comparison, but as a self-involving practice in which interreligious encounter reshapes the interpreter’s relation to truth, self, and the religious other. Bringing Raimon Panikkar’s dialogical dialogue and Francis X. Clooney’s comparative theology into conversation with Kierkegaard’s notion of “truth as subjectivity,” I show how interreligious understanding involves existential appropriation, inward transformation, and ethical responsibility. This project contributes to broader debates in comparative theology and religious studies concerning the role of the interpreter, the limits of methodological neutrality, and the transformative dimensions of comparison itself.
My forthcoming monograph, Knowing/Seeing Truth: Conceptual Bridges Between Kierkegaard and Chan Buddhism(Springer, 2026), further develops these themes through a comparative engagement between Kierkegaard and Huineng’s Chan Buddhism. Employing Conceptual Metaphor Theory as a comparative methodology, the book examines how Kierkegaard’s “truth is subjectivity” and Chan Buddhist notions of nonduality and “seeing one’s nature” disclose parallel existential concerns regarding truth, selfhood, and transformation. Rather than reducing traditions to conceptual equivalence, the project demonstrates how comparative philosophy can illuminate structural resonances while preserving difference. More broadly, the work advances comparative philosophy of religion as a discipline capable of generating new conceptual frameworks across cultural and religious boundaries.
A second major focus of my research concerns Humanistic Buddhism and its contemporary philosophical, ethical, and theological significance. As the Founding Director of the Institute for Humanistic Buddhist Thought & Practice at Trinity College, University of Toronto, I am developing research on Humanistic Buddhism in dialogue with Western philosophy and theology, particularly around questions of ethics, public engagement, and religious practice in modern pluralistic societies. My forthcoming article, “The Philosophical Foundations of Humanistic Buddhism: Middle Way and Non-Duality,” in Studies on Humanistic Buddhism 8 (2026), examines how Humanistic Buddhism draws upon Madhyamaka and nondual philosophical traditions to articulate a relational and practice-oriented vision of ethical life. More broadly, I am interested in how Humanistic Buddhism reinterprets classical Buddhist thought in response to modern ethical and social challenges while remaining rooted in Mahayana Buddhist traditions.
This research also informs my work on Buddhist ministry, pedagogy, and public humanities. I am interested in how Buddhist thought can contribute to contemporary discussions of ethical formation, interreligious dialogue, and spiritual care. In both scholarship and institutional practice, I seek to bridge rigorous academic inquiry with public and community engagement, particularly within Chinese Buddhist contexts in North America.
Another important dimension of my work engages ethics and technology, especially the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. Building on my comparative and existential-hermeneutic framework, I investigate how technologically mediated decision-making reshapes notions of responsibility, selfhood, and ethical agency. My recent and forthcoming work explores how Buddhist concepts such as mindfulness, attentiveness, relationality, and existential responsibility may contribute to contemporary AI ethics. In “The Responsible Architect: An Existential Hermeneutic Ethics for AI in Design,” forthcoming in Architects Where Too? AI an Existential Threat or Opportunity? (Springer, 2026), I develop an existential-hermeneutic approach to responsibility in technologically mediated environments. In another forthcoming chapter, “Relational Becoming: A Comparative Process Philosophical Engagement with Kierkegaard, Chan Buddhism, and AI Ethics,” in Weaving Together: Comparative Approaches to Process Philosophy (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026), I explore process-relational understandings of selfhood and ethical becoming through dialogue between Kierkegaard, Chan Buddhism, and contemporary AI ethics. Together, these projects argue that ethical responsibility cannot be reduced to procedural governance alone, but must also involve inward, interpretive, and relational dimensions of human existence.
More broadly, my research seeks to contribute to global and cross-cultural philosophical discourse by bringing Buddhist thought into sustained dialogue with contemporary philosophical, theological, and ethical questions. Future projects will continue to develop existential-hermeneutic approaches to comparative theology, expand research on Humanistic Buddhism and Buddhist ministry, and explore the relevance of Buddhist philosophy for contemporary issues in ethics, technology, and public life. Through this interdisciplinary work, I aim to demonstrate how Buddhist and comparative philosophical traditions can contribute meaningfully to contemporary conversations about truth, ethical responsibility, and human flourishing in an interconnected world.
Jizhang Yi 