buddhica

Dr. Taesoo Kim

Education and Academic Appointments

B.A. in Political Science, Yonsei University, and in Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanyang Institute of Technology; M.A. in Social Science, Yonsei University and University of Oxford (Swire & Cathay Pacific Fellowship); Ph.D. in Philosophy, Seoul National University [Dissertation: “Wonhyo’s Logic of Hwajaeng (Harmonizing the Disputes): As Seen in Relation with Catuṣkoṭi”].

Previously served as Visiting Professor at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Missouri (Columbia); Postdoctoral Fellow (Shengyen Buddhist Fellowship) and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, National Chengchi University; Visiting Assistant Research Professor at the Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, National Chengchi University (Ministry of Science and Technology Fellowship); and Research Professor at Daejin University (NRF Fellowship). Currently Research Professor at the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University (NRF Fellowship).

Selected Publications

Articles include “The Validity of Robinsonian Interpretation of Nāgārjuna’s Interpretation of Catuṣkoṭi: Comparing Prasaṇga with Hegel’s Dialectics” (2016; 2015 Chinese Buddhist Studies Association Excellence Award); “The Features of the Hwajaeng Discourse of ‘The Gate of Hwajaeng between Emptiness and Existence’ in The Treatise of Ten Approaches to Hwajaeng” (2020; 2025 Buli Award); “The Meaning of Identity between Nirvāṇa and Saṃsāra in Nāgārjuna” (2023); “The Common Orientation of Community Psychology and Wonhyo's Thought: ‘One Mind’, ‘Harmonizing Disputes’ and ‘Non-hindrance’ in Focus” (2024; 2025 Ministry of Education Top 50 Research Achievements); “The Layered Characteristics of Jizang’s Two Truths Theory: Focusing on Hegelian Dialectical Form and Open Dialectical Implications” (2024); “An Examination of the ‘Mind and Consciousness Debate’ in Section 10 of the Critical Discussion of Inference: A Focus on Critiques of the Dharma Characteristics School’s Interpretation” (2024); “The Characteristics of Seon-Doctrinal Unity in the Theory of Sudden Enlightenment and Gradual Cultivation as Manifested in Jinul’s Three Gates of Practice System” (2024; Myogong Academic Award); “Wonhyo's Critique of the Faxiang-Yogācāra Theory of No Buddha-nature through Contradictory Inference: Focusing on Kuiji’s Hetuvidyā Argument for Sentient Beings without Buddha-nature” (2025); “A Comparative Study of Jizang, Wonhyo, and Zhiyi on the Fourfold Dialectic and the Interpretation of the True Aspect of All Dharmas” (2025); and “A Study on Zhiyi’s Interpretations of the True Nature of All Dharmas and Four Siddhāntas” (2025).

Books include Comparative Philosophy of the Expressible and Inexpressible in East Asian Buddhism (forthcoming, 2026) and The Connecting Human: New Horizons in the Hyper-connected Society

(2025). Translations include Self and No-Self (2023) and New Horizons in Buddhist Psychology (2024; Sejong Book Award, Academic Division).