Kin Cheung 張健

Classroom

Dr. Kin Cheung 張健

Associate Professor of East and South Asian Religions; Chair, Departments of Global Religions and Philosophy

kin cheung

Contact

Office: Comenius 110
Email: cheungk@moravian.edu
CV: https://moravian.academia.edu/KinCheung/CurriculumVitae

Education

Ph.D., Religion, Temple University
M.A., Religion, Temple University
B.A., Philosophy, New York University

Interests

Contemporary Buddhism (Buddhism and health, Buddhist involvement in economics and capitalism), Chinese Buddhism (Chan and Huayan), Chinese Philosophical-Religious Traditions (Confucianism, Daoism), Japanese Buddhism (Zen), Buddhist Ethics, Buddhism and Science

Courses

Courses Developed

Asian American Experiences HIST/REL/WGSS 132
Asian Traditions through Film COMM/REL 128
Buddhism and Mindfulness REL 221
Death, Dying and Rebirth LinC 101
Ethics in Asian Cultures PHIL/REL 270
Healing, Health and Medicine in Asian Contexts REL 127
Humanities Seminar IDIS 192
Inequality, Climate Change Denial, and Migration IDIS 290
Murder, Mourning, and Memory IDIS 194
Religion and Capitalism REL 226
Sex and Karma REL/WGSS 269

Others Taught

Directed Study of Religion REL 385
Religions of India: Hinduism and Buddhism REL 123
Religious Thought of China and Japan REL 124

Graduate Research Supervision

精神主義 (seishinshugi) in Contemporary Japanese and American Shin Buddhism

Undergraduate Honors and Individual Studies Research Supervision

  • The Effect of a Short Mindfulness Intervention on True and False Memory Recall Using the DRM Paradigm
  • Death and Rebirth in Buddhism
  • The Value of Religious Studies for Graphic Art Design
  • Scientific Research on Buddhist Meditation
  • Neuroscience and Meditation
  • Animal Rights and Buddhism
  • Nirvana and Buddhist Conceptions of Karma
  • Mindfulness for Anxiety and Anger
  • Philosophical Analysis of Anatta

Selected Publications

Books 

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

  • 2024 Cheung, K. "'Foreign' Asia and Cultural Relativism." In Teaching Asia during a Resurgence of Anti-Asian Racism, edited by Kin Cheung. Asia Shorts open access supplement, 55-63. Association for Asian Studies, 2024. Open Access: https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/teaching-asia-during-a-resurgence-of-anti-asian-racism/ 
  • 2024 Cheung, K. "Introduction to Teaching about Asia in a Time of Anti-Asian Racism." In Teaching Asia during a Resurgence of Anti-Asian Racism, edited by Kin Cheung. Asia Shorts open access supplement, 1-4. Association for Asian Studies, 2024. Open Access: https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/teaching-asia-during-a-resurgence-of-anti-asian-racism/ 
  • 2024 Cheung, K. "Buddhist Healing in the Community: A Chinese American Healer in New York City." In Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World, edited by C. Pierce Salguero, Kin Cheung, and Susannah Deane, 153-173, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2024.
  • 2024 Cheung, K., Susannah Deane, and C. Pierce Salguero, "Introduction" In Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World, edited by C. Pierce Salguero, Kin Cheung, and Susannah Deane, 1-18. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2024
  • 2024  Cheung, K. "American Buddhism and Secularism." In The Oxford Handbook of American Buddhism, edited by Ann Gleig and Scott A. Mitchell, 377-394. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • 2023  Cheung, K. "A Chinese American Religious Healer: Toward Filial Ethnography." In The Familial Occult: Explorations at the Margins of Critical Autoethnography, edited by Alexandra Coțofană. European Association of Social Anthropologists Series 47, 17-44. Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2023.
  • 2022  Cheung, K. "Miracle as Natural: A Contemporary Chinese American Religious Healer." In Miracles: An Exercise in Comparative Philosophy of Religion, edited by Karen R. Zwier, David L. Weddle, and Timothy D. Knepper. Comparative Philosophy of Religion Series 3, 131-154. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022.
  • 2020  Cheung, K. "Mythmaking and COVID-19: Asian Alternatives to 'Warfare' Against Disease." In Teaching About Asia in a Time of Pandemic, edited by David Kenley, Asia Shorts Series 8, 61-68. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020. 
    Open Access: https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/teaching-about-asia-in-a-time-of-pandemic
  • 2019  Cheung, K. and Salguero, C.P. "Interview with a Contemporary Chinese American Healer." In Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Sources, edited by C. Pierce Salguero, 241-251. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. 
  • 2018  "Implicit and Explicit Ethics in Mindfulness-Based Programs in a Broader Context." In Handbook of Ethical Foundations of Mindfulness, edited by Steven Stanley, Ronald E. Purser, and Nirbhay N. Singh, 305-321. Springer International Publishing 2018.

Exhibition Catalog Co-Editor and Essay

  • 2022  Baxter, Kristin and K. Cheung, eds. Loving Kindness: A Children's & Teens' Art Exhibition about Mindfulness. Bethlehem: Payne Gallery, 2022.
  • 2022  Cheung, K. "Religious Literacy for Mindfulness in Classrooms and Art Spaces." In Loving Kindness: A Children's & Teens' Art Exhibition about Mindfulness, edited by Kristin Baxter and K. Cheung, 10-12. Bethlehem: Payne Gallery, 2022.

Review Essays

  • 2020  Cheung, K. "Defining Health and Religion: Mindfulness and Buddhism." Religious Studies Review 46, no. 3 (2020): 359-366.
  • 2018  Cheung, Kin. "Human Agency in Buddhism and Science." Special Issue on Religion and Science, Religious Studies Review 44, no. 4 (2018): 395-401.
  • 2016  Cheung Kin, Valerio A., Kunu, V., Bingenheimer, M. “Chinese Religion(s): A Survey of Textbooks.” Studies in Chinese Religions 2, no. 3 (2016): 315-328.

Exhibition

  • 2022  Co-Curator, "Loving Kindness: A Children's & Teen's Art Exhibition about Mindfulness," Payne Gallery, Moravian University Bethlehem, PA 2022.01.27--2022.03.13. Exhibition Catalogue (Pp. iv + 53).

Recent Presentations

Conferences, Seminars, and Invited Talks (*=Invited)

  • 2024 "Author Meets Author: Multiple Truths in Buddhist Studies" Panelist at the American Academy of Religion Annual National Meeting, San Diego, CA, November
  • 2024 "Deviation from Proper Chinese Self-Cultivation or Spiritual Practices: Interview with a Contemporary Teacher of Martial Arts, Qigong, and Buddhist Healing," to be presented at the American Academy of Religion Annual National Meeting, San Diego, CA, November
  • *2024 "A Chinese American Scholar of Religion "Correcting" His Father, A Religious Healer: Between Filial Piety and Filial Ethnography," to be presented at We Should Know Better: A Workshop of Western Scholars of Religion Involved in Asian Spiritual Practices, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, Victoria Canada, September
  • *2024 "Robots and Religion: AI and the Future of Ritual", to be presented via webcast at the East Asia through the Lens of Visual and Material Culture: A Seminar for Teachers, National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, March
  • *2024 "Why China and Asian Studies Matter" Panelist at "China Through the Looking Glass: Digital Cultures and AI Governance," an Asian Studies Development Program Workshop, Montclair State University, Montclair NJ, March
  • *2023 "Energy," Panelist at a workshop for The Chinese-English Keywords Project, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, October
  • *2023 "Buddhism and Healing in the Modern World" Presented via webcast at the College of Religious Studies Seminars, Mahidol University มหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล, Salaya, Thailand, July
  • *2023 "Placebo Effects and Qi: Incommensurable Paradigms of Healing and Mind-Body" To be presented at "Beliefs, Religious Worldviews and Public Health after Covid: Plural/Competing Epistemologies," a British Academy/Wellness Trust Conference, King's College, London, United Kingdom, May
  • *2023 "Transnationalism, Circulation, Race, Caste" Panelist at "Buddhism and Asian Cultural Connections: Bridging Local and Global," an Asian Studies / Global Asia Spring Colloquium, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA April
  • *2023 "Spirits in Chinese Contexts" Interpreter and discussant for a lecture by a Chinese American religious healer, Religions of the East: Focus on "The Self", Penn State Abington, Abington, PA, April
  • *2023 "A Chinese American Node of Healing: Taiji, Acupuncture, Qigong, and Buddhist Medical Arts" Presented at the Global Asias 6 Conference, Penn State University, University Park, PA, March
  • *2023 "Listing Chinese Buddhist Mountain Tourism Companies on the Stock Market: Investing Karma" Presented at the "China Classroom" initiative, Center for Chinese Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, March
  • *2023 "How Meditation Affects Ethical Reasoning and Ethical Behavior" Presented at the 11th International Conference of The Institute of Mind Humanities, "The Era of Mindful Practice: Implementation and Challenges in Revolutionizing the Mind, 마음인문학 국제학술대회를: 마음공부의 시대, 마음혁명의 실천과 과제, Wonkwang University 원광대학교, Iksan, South Korea, February
  • 2022 "A Chinese American Religious Healer: Transnational Religious Expression: Between Asia and North America - Special Issue Workshop" Panelist at the American Academy of Religion Annual National Meeting, Denver, CO, November
  • 2022 “How Would Buddhists Program An Autonomous Vehicle?” Presented at the 19th Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Seoul National University 서울대학교, Seoul, South Korea, August (Rescheduled from 2020 due to COVID-19)
  • *2022 "East Asian Charms and Amulets During the COVID-19 Pandemic" Presented via webcast at the East Asia through the Lens of Visual and Material Culture: A Seminar for Teachers, National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, July