Body-Mind Relations and Ethical Living in Medieval Chinese Buddhism
A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Humanities/Philosophies".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 March 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: Buddhist philosophy; Chinese philosophy; history of Buddhist ideas and social life
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We invite you to submit original research articles to our Special Issue, titled “Body–Mind Relations and Ethical Living in Medieval Chinese Buddhism”. While fundamentally grounded in the doctrine of non-self (anātman), Chinese Buddhism developed a distinctive approach to mind–body unity (nāma-rūpa) through its interaction with indigenous thought. This cross-cultural synthesis transformed meditation (dhyāna) and other Buddhist traditions from purely religious practices into comprehensive disciplines that shaped both spiritual cultivation and social ethics. As a result, the concepts of mind–nature bridged the gap between the intellectual class’ inner transformation and social ethics in medieval China. It also had a profound impact on monastic disciplines, lay practices, and broader societal norms, creating a unique Buddhist paradigm where psychological insight, somatic practice, and moral transformation became inextricably linked.
This project will reveal the development and evolution of Buddhist theories on consciousness, embodiment, and spiritual cultivation, as well as their long-term interaction with Chinese social structures, moral frameworks, and institutional practices, providing insights for contemporary debates on embodied cognition, moral agency, and social relations. Furthermore, within the framework of the history of global civilization, this project examines the Sinicization of Buddhism and advocates for a holistic understanding of the religion. We invite you to submit articles for this Special Issue, which welcomes contributions examining key issues in the history of Chinese Buddhism and sociological aspects of religion pertinent to the theme, including the origins and historical development of mind–nature theory, the evolving discourse on mind–body relations, the interplay between Buddhist thought and indigenous Chinese theories of form and spirit, Vinaya reforms and its social implications, Buddhist concepts and social ethics, etc. We particularly encourage research with an interdisciplinary spirit and/or joining existing material with new theoretical developments in other academic fields to establish new understandings, including religious studies, philosophy, sociology, anthropology and art history.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Kai Sheng
Prof. Dr. Jing Guo
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Body–mind relations
- Mind–nature theory
- Embodied cognition
- History of Buddhist ideas and social life
- Morality and belief
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