China's Buddhist Culture

Fang Li-tian is the director of the Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Religious Theory and a professor with the Department of \nReligious Studies in the School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China. Prof. Fang has successively held the positions of vice chairman and advisor of the Religious Society of China, standing vice-chairman of the Society for History of Chinese Philosophy, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the History of Chinese Philosophy, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Religious Study, and commissary of the Commission of Social Sciences, the Ministry of Education. Prof. Fang has relentlessly written and published numerous books since 1964. He has authored 13 monographs and 260 papers and co-authored 16 publications. These publications are considered to be representative of the best works on Buddhist philosophy in China after the 1980s. In 1986, Prof. Fang was awarded the coveted China Book Prize for his book Buddhist Philosophy, which was considered one of the most popular Buddhist readings in China during that time. In 2003, Prof. Fang received the Sixth China National Book Award for the book The Essence of Chinese Buddhist Philosophy (two volumes), which was highly praised as a new milestone in the study on Chinese Buddhist philosophy.