The Tianzhu Book Prize for Excellence in Chan Studies is awarded to a sole-authored, peer reviewed academic book, with a copyright in the past three years (2016, 2017, or 2018), on a topic related to any Chan tradition. The publication can be in any language. Dissertations and non-academic works are not eligible. The recipient will receive $5000 and will be invited to UBC to deliver a lecture.
Please note nominations are not currently being accepted.
To submit a nomination, please use this form: Tianzhu Book Prize Nomination Form
Include the title of the work, the author’s name, reason for nomination, and one sample chapter. For publications in languages other than English and Chinese, a summary in English must be included, along with the names of two additional co-nominators that are familiar with the work. If the work is selected shortlisted, a full copy of the publication may be requested.
The adjudication committee will be comprised of scholars with broad expertise in the area, who will consider the monograph’s potential for advancing scholarly understanding of new aspects of different traditions of Chan Buddhism.
The deadline to submit nominations is June 30, 2019.
2018 recipient
We are pleased to announce the winner of the inaugural Tianzhu Book Prize for Excellence in Chan Studies.
The recipient of the 2018 award is Dr. Jiang Wu, Director of the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Arizona, for his book “Leaving for the Rising Sun: Chinese Zen Master Yinyuan and the Authenticity Crisis in Early Modern East Asia”
Dr. Wu presented a lecture at UBC on August 12, 2018. Click here for full details.
2019 recipient
We are pleased to announce the second winner of the Tianzhu Book Prize for Excellence in Chan Studies.
The recipient of the 2019 award is Dr. Sam van Schaik, Head of the Endangered Archives Programme at the British Library, for his book The Spirit of Zen (Yale University Press, 2018).
Dr. van Schaik presented a lecture at UBC on September 21, 2019. Click here for full details.