Emptiness and Normativity: an Inquiry into the Ethical Implications of Three-Treatise School

The topic of this researching project, “Emptiness and Normativity: An Inquiry into the Ethical Implications of Three-Treatise School,” was the sub-project No. 4 of the integrated project of “The Religious Dimensions of Eastern and Western Philosophy II: Theology, Humanity, Praxis” put forward by the cross-school integration term hosted by Prof. Luh Jing- Jong of National Central University. The purport of this researching project is on how ethical implication can be derived from ‘emptiness’. Since there are hardly any fundamental discourses on Buddhist Ethics with the philosophy of Three-Treatise School as its' theoretical sources, with consideration of bring forth innovative ideas, project applicant chose philosophy of Three-Treatise School as the main subject of study, and from it constituted related discourses on Ethics. Specifically, project applicant anticipated three years of researching duration, with the concept of Boddhisattva of Kum?raj?va, the concept of saint of Sengzhao and the equation of Buddha-nature with the middle way of Jizang respectively as the principal axis of study in probing into the ethical implications and the origination of Normativity of philosophy of Three-Treatise School. Furthermore, consent from Professor Charles Goodman, the world-renowned research scholar of Buddhist Ethic had been currently gained, and in future, cooperation of research in international exchange of visits will proceed mutually. Professor Goodman currently hold the post of Professor in the department of Philosophy of Binghamton University, State University of New York, therefore applicant believed that future cooperation of research will enhance substantially the quality of researching. Finally, anticipated accomplishment of this researching project will be the delivering of periodical papers comprising of three Chinese and two English papers, in hope of boosting attention, discussion and interaction on related issues within the field of academic.