Jizhang Yi

abstract: This paper explores the possibilities for a cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue between Søren Kierkegaard and Tsongkhapa by examining whether Kierkegaard’s concept of “truth is subjectivity” parallels Tsongkhapa’s notion of “truth is śūnyatā (emptiness).” Although separated by time and cultural context, both thinkers challenge prevailing traditions and reimagine truth as a transformative, experiential process. Kierkegaard critiques intellectual elitism and classical foundationalism, emphasizing subjective engagement and personal commitment to existential truth. Tsongkhapa underscores the importance of philosophical reasoning and meditative practice in realizing the nonduality of conventional and ultimate truths. This paper argues that despite their distinct metaphysical assumptions, both view truth as dynamic and deeply connected to lived experience. In addition to a philosophical analysis of these parallels, the paper employs Conceptual Metaphor Theory to demonstrate how Kierkegaard’s “truth is subjectivity” and Tsongkhapa’s “truth is śūnyatā ” reflect shared insights into the transformative and practical realization of truth.

The poem is my image of the traditional Chinese understanding of “there is nothing new under the sun.” It was written originally in Chinese during a launch time at the South Hill School in Vancouver, where I was taking English Foundation courses in 2014. I only spent a few minutes completing the poem. The words came out of my mind naturally and smoothly. The moment for me was sacredly silent even though I was sitting in a noisy environment at Dairy Queen; as if time suddenly stopped, as if I was not a part of this world, and as if I was not who I was. It has been said that everything has its season; a time to be born, and a time to die. If everything has its time and place in which I still have the ultimate freedom to choose, I will prefer to stay where I am, letting myself be out of the circle of birth, death and rebirth, not be obsessed with either the beauty of bygones or the hope of hereafter.

Though scholars of Chinese Theology have expanded the inter-religious dialogue between Christian theology and traditional Chinese philosophy and culture from Neo-Confucianism to other fields such as Taoism, the dialogue with Chinese Buddhism, especially Chan Buddhism, has not been carried out yet. This article mainly reflects on the starting point of Leung In-sing’s Chinese Theology through the perspective of Dharma as Nonduality in Chan. Firstly, it briefly outlines the background and basic ideas of Chinese Theology formulated by Leung In- sing, focusing on discussing the two fundamental theological categories: “Relationship” and “Rapport.” Then, it annotates and analyzes Huineng’s“Dharma as Nonduality.”Finally, from the perspective of Huineng, it rethinks the starting point of Chinese Theology itself and proposes further research questions.

As more and more scholars deepened the study of the Dunhuang version of The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, many significant research questions were raised. The questions such as when the book was completed, who actually wrote the book, and the historical authenticity of Huineng’s story, especially his identity of the Sixth Patriarch, were extensively discussed and questioned by many scholars. This essay attempts to conduct a more profound analysis and thinking based on the current academic studies with respect to this historical book, and seeks to critically and profoundly rethink the methods of contemporary criticism concerning religious studies.