Short Biography

Hello, my name is Chia-ju Chang, and I am a professor at Brooklyn College, CUNY. My research focuses on ecocriticism, critical animal studies, and contemplative studies. I hold a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Rutgers University. As an authorized Zen teacher, I lead Zen meditation courses and workshops at Brooklyn College and other venues. Within my department, I established the Chinese and Contemplative Studies Minor and have been actively developing research and pedagogy in what I term "critical meditation studies" or "Chan ecocriticism." Currently, I serve as the Convener of the Committee on Humanities, Arts, and Ethics for the UN World Meditation Day. My latest book, Thinking Like a Zen Master: The Multiverse of Zen Koans (《像禪師一樣思考：禪宗公案的多重宇宙》, 2024), explores the Zen koans as an indispensable spiritual resource for working through the uncertainties of our time, both existential and beyond.

Project

“Knowing Thyself” in the Anthropocentric End-time: A Contemplative Turn in Environmental Humanities and Zen Koan Study

While listening to the narration for the Centre for Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic Studies on YouTube, I was struck by the statement, "we hear again and again that we are at the end of history but this end drags on and even brings its enjoyment. Man in its very essence is a catastrophe." This insightful critique of apocalypticism, and its enjoyment (as so prominently embodied in the Hollywood industry) demands the need for a careful examination of the concept of apocalypse and the condition of Man/humanity in the face of climate change. We could also view the crisis of the Anthropocene end-time—the unsustainable way of living that has severely altered the composition of planetary atmospheres—as an opportunity to wake up and create a new civilization where humanity embodies wisdom and compassion, rather than instrumental and technical knowledge, and system that harm one another and other species or elements. 

Having been in the field of ecocriticism and animal studies for quite a while, I have arrived at the same realization: humans are the cause of the trouble. Repeatedly, we have been externalizing or viewing catastrophes as separate from ourselves, the notion of “living with troubles” is a good example of such sense of separation despite its well-intended call for interconectedness. I gradually realized that “Ecocriticism” as a discipline cannot provide any substantial insights or solutions to the current climate crisis as long as we continue to perceive disasters and catastrophes as events outside of ourselves. It appears that these disciplines excel at providing critiques of existing events but are lacking in their ability to foster our development as mature global and planetary citizens or eco-beings. What comes after criticism? Despite environmental humanities becoming a mainstream academic “humanities,” last year marked the hottest year on record! 

My upcoming project will likely be unpopular among most ecocritics, especially for who are materialists. To paraphrase Dogen’s famous phrase, I propose that in order to understand the catastrophic nature of the environment, we must look inward to first study the destructive human nature and beliefs. Regardless of the type of disasters or catastrophes, whether they are war, pandemics, climate change, technological advancements, religious fanaticism, and so on, they all lead back to the existential question of who we are and the fundamental question of how we understand, perceive, imagine the world. Furthermore, the the narrative of the “we” or the epistemology of self has been mainly dominated by the Western conception. Therefore, I advocate for a contemplative or deconstructive Zen approach and pedagogy to ecocriticism, or environmental humanity, which involves introspectively examining our unquestioned assumptions such as subconcious dualism, anthropocentrism, individualism, and speciesism. To tackle the crises we face today, I evoke Zen koan and koan study as the genre and practice of our time as the medicine for the so-called “impoverished Anthropocene. ”