Founded in 1949, the Institute of Buddhist Studies has been dedicated to providing Buddhist education and training in the United States for more than sixty years.

We offer a number of graduate-level degree programs in general Buddhist studies, Buddhist chaplaincy, continuing Buddhist education opportunities and special events and lectures, as well as ministerial training for the Buddhist Churches of America in the Jodo Shinshu Nishi Hongwanji-ha tradition.

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Conference Announcement
Buddhism without Borders: Contemporary Buddhism in the West

Hosted by the Institute of Buddhist Studies
Berkeley, California
March 18 - 21, 2010

Keynote Address by Prof. Thomas Tweed
Following the Flows: Reframing the Study of Buddhism

How has Buddhism outside Asia been shaped by diaspora and immigration? How has the increase in global tourism, communication, and capitalism effected the way Buddhism is understood, taught and practiced?

These and other themes will be explored in a four-day conference, Buddhism without Borders: Contemporary Buddhism in the West, hosted by the Institute of Buddhists Studies, in Berkeley, California.

Many renowned scholars in the field such as Charles Prebish, Richard Hughes Seager, and Franz Metcalf will present their work along with promising new research by Jeff Wilson, Wakoh Shannon Hickey and Eve Mullen, among others.

Please visit this event’s page for more information as conference planning continutes or contact Natalie Quli or Scott Mitchell for more information.

Publication announcement:
How Much is Enough? Buddhism, Consumerism, and the Human Environment

A new volume of essays edited by IBS Dean Richard K. Payne has recently been published by Wisdom Publications.

The massive outpouring of consumer products available today might alone lead one to ask “How much is enough?” But at the same time, if we allow ourselves to see the social, political, economic and environmental consequences of the system that produces such a mass of “goods,” then the question is not simply a matter of one’s own personal choice, but points to the profound interconnectedness of our day to day decisions about How much is enough? The ease with which we can acquire massive quantities of food, clothing, kitchenware, and various electronic goods directly connects each of us with not only environmental degradation caused by strip mining in West Virginia, and with sweat shops and child labor in India or Africa, but also with the ongoing financial volatility of Western capitalist economies, and the increasing discrepancies of wealth in all countries.

This interconnectedness is the human environment, a phrase intended to point toward the deep interconnection between the immediacy of our own lives, including the question of How much is enough?, and both the social and natural worlds around us. This collection brings together essays from an international conference jointly sponsored by Ryukoku University, Kyoto, and the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley. The effects of our own decisions and actions on the human environment is examined from several different perspectives, all informed by Buddhist thought. The contributors are all simultaneously Buddhist scholars, practitioners and activists — thus the collection is not simply a conversation between these differing perspectives, but rather demonstrates the integral unity of theory and practice for Buddhism.

Learn more or purchase the book directly from the Wisdom Publications website.