FGU-CBS held its first academic roundtable of the 110th academic year along this year's theme of "Theory of Buddhism, Practice of Psychotherapy" in the Yunshui Bldg. on September 24, with simultaneous webcast via Zoom. 19 members of both internal and external affiliation attended the meeting; in addition to the teachers and students of the FGU Depts. of Buddhism and Psychology, also in attendance were Prof. Li Weilun from Cheng-Chi University, Prof. Peng Rongbang of Tzu-Chi University, and Professor Weng Shiheng of Donghua University.
 
For this first roundtable, FGU-DBS Dept. Head Guo Chaoshun, the coordinator of the "Theory of Buddhism, Practice of Psychotherapy" Interdisciplinary Initiative, reported on "A Working Buddhist Model for Psychotherapeutic Healing", which attempts to formulate a theoretical framework for psychological healing from the perspective of Buddhist philosophy, in five parts:
 
(1) Buddhist ontology: Saṃsara (worldiness) and Nirvāṇa (transcendence) as two fundamentally different experiences or visions of Reality
(2) The structure of the Self: various models, such as five aggregates, eight consciousnesses, leading to Saṃsara and Nirvāṇa
(3) The First Noble Truth: the nature of the world as Suffering and Impermanence
(4) The Second Noble Truth: Ignorance as the root of illness
(5) The Fourth Noble Truth (Path): psychological treatment methods

Due to the enthusiastic discussions in this lecture, Prof. Guo was unable to explain all his content. At the request of the audience the meeting, the lecture will be completed at the next meeting, which is scheduled for the afternoon of October 16 with reports from Prof. Guo Chaoshun and Prof. Weng Shiheng.

The first academic roundtable was held in Yunshui Bldg at FGU.
 

FGU Prof. Guo Chaoshun (center) reporting "On a Working Model for Buddhist Psychotherapy". Principal investigators FGU Profs. Zeng Zhimian (right) and Lin Xinyi (left) in attendance.
 

Externally-affiliated PIs in attendance (from left to right): Prof. Weng Shiheng from the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Donghua University; Prof. Peng Rongbang from the Dept. of Human Development and Psychology at Tzu-Chi University; and Prof. Li Weilun from the Dept. of Philosophy at Cheng-Chi University.
 

Internally-affiliated PIs in attendance (from left to right): Ven. Miaoshu of CBS and FGU Dept. of Psychology Profs. Lin Weilun and Prof. Huang Guozhang.
 

Joining via Zoom were FGU Dept. of Buddhist Studies Prof. Chen I-biao and Dept. of Psychology Prof. Huang Yulian, along with several graduate student research assistants.