Description:

Chün-fang Yü was born in China and educated in Taiwan, graduating from Tunghai University with a major in English Literature and minor in Chinese philosophy. She came to the United States in 1959 to pursue graduate study. She received a MA degree from Smith College in English Literature and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in Religion, specializing in Chinese Buddhism. She taught at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey for 32 years. She retired from Rutgers when she was invited by Columbia University to start a PhD program in Chinese Buddhism. She retired from Columbia in 2013 after having taught there 10 years.

She is the author of The Renewal of Buddhism in China: Chu-hung and the Late Ming Synthesis, Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara, Passing the Light: The Incense Light Community and the Buddhist Nuns in Contemporary Taiwan and Chinese Buddhism: A Thematic History.