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Jin Y Park Professor and Department Chair, Philosophy & Religion Philosophy and Religion

Contact
Jin Y Park
(202) 885-2919 (Office)
CAS | Philosophy/Religion
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW 118
Office Hours (AY 25-26)
Tuesday 2:00-4:00 pm
Degrees
PhD, State University of New York at Stony Brook; MA, New York University; MA, Yonsei University; BA, Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea)

Bio
Jin Y. Park is the William Fraser McDowell Chair Professor of Philosophy and Religion and the Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at American University. She also served as the Founding Director of the Asian Studies Program from 2013 to 2020. Park specializes in East Asian Buddhism, Buddhist and comparative ethics, intercultural philosophy, and modern East Asian philosophy. Her research focuses on gender, violence, the politics of discrimination, and narrative philosophy. Marginality has been a consistent theme in her work, addressing the marginalization of the non-West and non-Western philosophy, women’s philosophy, and alternative forms of philosophizing. Her scholarship seeks to reveal power structures in philosophy and aims to amplify the voices of those at the margins.

Park has served as the President of the American Academy of Religion, the North American Korean Philosophy Association and  the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy.

Park’s research in Buddhism focuses on the Zen and Huayan schools of East Asian Buddhism, with particular attention to issues of language, violence, and ethics. In her comparative studies, she engages Zen and Huayan Buddhism alongside postmodern thought in Continental philosophy, with a special focus on Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction.

Park’s research on modern East Asian philosophy explores the emergence of philosophy in East Asia and the East-West encounter during this period.

In her monograph Buddhism and Postmodernity: Zen, Huayan, and the Possibility of Buddhist-Postmodern Ethics (2008), Park discusses Buddhism and continental philosophy on the topics of, among others, self, language, and violence. In this book, Park offers the "ethics of tension" as a potential ethical paradigm drawn from Buddhism and postmodern philosophy.

Reflections of a Zen Buddhist Nun (2014), is a translation of a book published in Korean in 1960 by Kim Iryŏp (1896-1971), a writer, first-generation Korean feminist, Buddhist nun, and philosopher. In this book, Kim Iryŏp offers a creative interpretation of Buddhist philosophy and practice.

In Women and Buddhist Philosophy: Engaging Zen Master Kim Iryop (2017), Park proposes a new mode of philosophizing based on the discussion of Kim Iryŏp’s life and philosophy.

Park is also the editor of volumes: Buddhisms and Deconstructions (2006), Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism (co-edited, 2009), Comparative Political Theory and Cross-Cultural Philosophy (2009), and Makers of Modern Korean Buddhism (2010).
See Also
Department of Philosophy and Religion
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Selected Publications

Books

  1. Korean Buddhism: Selected Readings from Primary Texts, eds (with Sumi Lee). Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, forthcoming, April 2026.
  2. Marginality: Solidarity and the Fight for Social Change. New York: Columbia University Press, forthcoming, 2025.
  3. Kim Iryŏp, han yŏsŏng ŭi silchŏnjŏk salm kwa Pulgyo ch’ŏrhak. (Korean translation of Women and Buddhist Philosophy). Seoul: Gimyŏngsa, 2023.    
  4. New Perspectives in Modern Korean Buddhism (co-edited with Hwansoo Ilmee Kim). Albany: State University of New York Press, 2022.
  5. Approaches to Chan, Sŏn, Zen Studies: Chinese Chan Buddhism and its Spread throughout East Asia (co-edited with Albert Welter and Steven Heine). Albany: State University of New York Press, 2022.
  6. Women and Buddhist Philosophy: Engaging Zen Master Kim Iryop.  Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai`i Press, 2017.
  7. Reflections of a Zen Buddhist Nun: Essays by Zen Master Kim Iryop (trans). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai`i Press, 2014.
  8. Makers of Modern Korean Buddhism (ed.). Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010.  
  9. Merleau-Ponty and Buddhism (co-ed.). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009.  
  10. Comparative Political Theory and Cross-Cultural Philosophy (ed.). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009.  
  11. Buddhism and Postmodernity: Zen, Huayan, and the Possibility of Buddhist Postmodern Ethics. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2008. 
  12. Buddhisms and Deconstructions (ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006.
  13. Getting Familiar with Death (trans.). Philadelphia: Won Publication, 1999. Reprint 2000.

For a comprehensive list of Book Chapters and Journal Articles, see my Academia.edu.

Selected Recent publications (Book chapters and Journal articles)

2025-2019

  1. “Han’guk Pulgyo sahoe ch’amyŏ ŭi saeroun mosŭp: Daehaeng sŏnsa ŭi siljonchŏk, sahoejŏk chonjae waŭi mannam,” Hanmaum yŏn’gu 14 (2025):59-93.       
  2. “Moral Minimalism and Engaged Global Citizenship: A Buddhist Perspective.” In Formulating a Minimalist Morality for a New Planetary Order: Alternative Cultural Perspectives, edited by Roger T. Ames, J. Y. Lim and S. Y. H Yang. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2025, 289-310.
  3. “Meditation and the Attainment of the Mind.” (trans.) In A Sourcebook in Global Philosophy, edited by Mohammed Rustom. Equinox Publishing, 2025, 359-362.
  4. “Gateless Barrier and the Locus of Truth.” In Readings of the Gateless Barrier, edited by Jimmy Yu. New York: Columbia University Press, 2025, 80-98.
  5. “Sanŭn kŏt ŭl paeundanŭn kŏt: derida wa Pulgyo” (Learning to live finally: Derrida and Buddhism). Buddhist Review 97 (Spring 2024): 20-39.   
  6. “National Master Ŭich’ŏn and Huayan Buddhism.” Collected Articles of the International Huayan Conference. Taipei: Huayan lianshe, 2024, 101-1014.
  7. “Huayan Buddhism and Nonviolence.” Collected Articles of the International Huayan Conference. Taipei: Huayan lianshe, 2023, 47-58.
  8. “Nothingness and Self Transformation: Kim Iryŏp, Tanabe Hajime, and Jacques Derrida on Religious Practice.” In Philosophy of Religion after <Religion>, edited by Michael Ch. Rodgers and Richard Amersbury. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2023, 107-12
  9. “Silchonjŏk, haech’ŏjŏk, kŭrigo, chonjaejŏk: Kim Hyŏnghyo ch’ŏrhak esŏ haech’e ŭi ŭimi” [Existential, deconstructive, and existing: meaning of deconstruction in Kim Hyŏnghyo’s philosophy]. In Simwŏn Kim Hyŏnghyo ŭi ch’ŏrhak chŏk sayu wa salm [Simwŏn Kim Hyŏnghyo’s philosophy and life], edited by Simwŏn sasan yŏn’guhoe. Seoul, Pogosa, 2023, 87-109.          
  10. “Action and Praxis.” In Key Concepts in World Philosophies: A Toolkit for Philosophers, edited by Sarah Flavel and Chiara Robbiano. London: Bloomsbury Academics, 2023, 13-19.
  11. “Nonviolence and Ethical Imagination.” World Environment and Island Studies 12, No. 4 (December 2022): 237-240.
  12. “Pojo Chinul (1158-1210) and Huayan Buddhism.” Collected Articles of the International Huayan Conference. Taipei: Huyan lianshe, 2022,  331-34
  13. “What Do Zen Masters Teach Us Today?: The Case of Sŏn Master Hyeam Sŏnggwan.” In New Perspectives in Modern Korean Buddhism: Institution, Gender, and Secular Society, edited by Hwansoo Ilmee Kim and Jin Y. Park. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2022, 21-46.
  14. “Gender and Dharma Lineage: Nuns in Korean Sŏn Buddhism.” In Approaches to Chan, Sŏn, and Zen Studies, edited by Albert Welter, Steven Heine, & Jin Y. Park. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2022, 239-262.
  15. “Synchronic and Diachronic Approaches to Korean Buddhism via Hangzhou: Ŭich’ŏn’s Hwaŏm Buddhism and Hangzhou Gaoli si.” International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture 32, no 1 (June 2022): 51-82.
  16. “Authentic Time and the Political: Steven Heine on Dōgen, Heidegger, and Bob Dylan." In The Theory and Practice of Zen Buddhism: A Festschrift in Honor of Steven Heine, edited by Charles S. Prebish, On-Cho Ng. Bloomsbury, 2022: 313-33
  17. "An Examined Life: Women, Buddhism, and Philosophy in Kim Iryŏp.” Journal of World Philosophies 5 (Winter 2020): 176-18
  18. “Hyeam Sŏnsa ŭi Sŏn sasang kwa Han’guk Pulgyo ŭi segyehwa” (Sŏn Master Hyeam’s Buddhist thoughts and the globalization of Korean Buddhism). Hyeam Sŏnsa ŭi Sŏn Sasang kwa Segyehwa (Sŏn Master Hyeam’s Buddhist thoughts and globalization). Hyeam Sŏnsa muhwa chinhŭnghoe, ed. Seoul: Sihwaŭm, 2020, 97-136.    
  19. “Doing Philosophy at the Margin.” American Philosophical Association’s Newsletter on Asian and Asian American Philosophers and Philosophies 20, no 1 (Fall 2020): 55-57.
  20. “Temporality and Non-temporality in Li Tongxuan’s Huayan Buddhism.” In Dao Companion to Chinese Buddhist Philosophy: Dharma and Dao, edited by Sandra A. Wawrytko and Youru Wang, 325-347. Springer, 2019.
  21. “Living without a Canopy: Flanagan, Derrida, and Zen Buddhism on the Production of Meaning." In Naturalism, Human Flourishing and Asian Philosophy: Owen Flanagan and Beyond, edited by Bongrae Seok, 92-110. Routledge, 2019.
  22. “Ethical Imagination: Huayan Buddhism and Postmodern Ethics.” Taipei: Huayan lianshe, 2019, 389-407.
  23. “Kyŏnghŏ Sŏngu and the Existential Dimensions of Modern Korean Buddhism." Journal of Korean Religions10, no. 2: 247-27
  24. “Law of Genre and Intercultural Philosophy: A Reading of Kwok-ying Lau’s Phenomenology and Intercultural Understanding.” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, 18(1), 119-126.

Professional Services

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Grants and Sponsored Research

  • The Uberoi Foundation Religious Studies Grant
  • Academy of Korean Studies, Laboratory for the Globalization of Korean Studies, Co-Researcher, on the project "Traces of Reason: The Korean Approach to Logic and Rationality and Its RElation to Buddhist Traditions from India and China"
  • Mellon Fellowship
  • American Academy of Religion Individual Research Grant
  • Korea Foundation Advanced Research Grant
  • Academy of Korean Studies, Translation of Korean Buddhism Grant
  • Korea University, International Center for Korean Studies, Korean Studies Publication Series Grant