Academic Programs » Distance and online learning

As part of the IBS’s mission to provide high quality Buddhist education, we offer a number of online courses and distance learning opportunities. For more information about these programs, please contact our Admissions Office.

For a complete list of our online courses, please consult the course listings page.

Please note: there are certain limits on the number of online courses students may take depending on the degree or certificate program they have enrolled in. For more information, please contact our Admissions Office with specific questions about your particular certificate or degree program.

For more information our Southern California campus, please contact our Admissions Office.

Online Courses

Below are our currently available online course offering. Choose a different semester from the drop down menu below.

Our online course are proudly co-sponsored by the Starr King School for the Ministry.

Fall 2010

Buddhist Traditions of South Asia  
HRHS 8152
Course Level: Introductory
Instructor: Grumbach

Introduces the Buddhist traditions as they originated in India and develop throughout South and Southeast Asia. First half of the required year long introductory survey of the entire Buddhist tradition. Usually offered each fall semester.
Course format: Online discussion.
Evaluation method: Participation/Term paper.

History of the Pure Land Buddhist Tradition  
HRHS 8350
Course Level: Introductory
Instructor: Amstutz

The Shin Buddhist tradition traces its origins to the works of Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, T’an-luan, Taoch’o, Shan-tao, Genshin, and Honen. This course examines their contributions to the development of Shin Buddhism. Required of ministerial aspirants.
HRPH 1614 Introduction to Shin Buddhist Thought recommended as background.
Course format: Online discussion.
Evaluation method: Participation/term paper.

Topics in Buddhist Thought: Women, Family, Dharma  
HR 8455
Course Level: Intermediate
Instructor: Grumbach

This course challenges several generalized notions about Buddhism (e.g., that it is largely male, monastic, and requires the practice of individual meditation) by examining the roles women have played in the development and spread of Buddhism and by looking at the family as the locus of practice. Women in the history of Buddhism will be a focus of the course, but we will also examine men’s issues as well as children and the Dharma.
Topics will include women’s roles in the formation and continued success of Buddhism; the relationships of nuns/monks to their families; the role of marriage in Buddhist "monasticism"; gender symbolism and gender-shifting; and practice within the family.
Prerequisites: Assumes some knowledge of Buddhism.
Course Format: Online "lecture" and online discussion.
Evaluation method: Participation/term paper.