the Institute of Buddhist Studies

Events Archive

Below is a complete list of past events from our events calendar.

Buddha Day/Vesak Celebration

Please join us for a gathering of friends from all Buddhist traditions as we commemorate the birth of Gautama Buddha, his attainment of enlightenment and his passing into Parinibbana (Nirvana). We...   [ Read more ]

Date: May 4, 2008
Type: IBS Sponsored Events

Paintings around Practice: Unflattening Kano Eitoku's Landscape Paintings at Jukuin

Presented by Prof. Gregory Levine (Art History, UC Berkeley) The Japanese Zen Buddhist subtemple Jukuin, within the Kyoto monastery Daitokuji, has long been famous for its sliding door painting...   [ Read more ]

Date: April 29, 2008
Type: Numata Lecture Series

The Mountains and Waters Sutra

Presented by Prof. Carl Bielefeld Religious Studies, Stanford University Zen is famous for its celebration of nature, but there are few premodern texts that explicitly address the Zen view of the   [ Read more ]

Date: March 11, 2008
Type: Numata Lecture Series

Shin Buddhist Thought and Issues in Contemporary Philosophy

This symposium will address the question "What contribution can Shin Buddhist thought make to the issues of contemporary philosophy?" This program intends to move beyond descriptive and comparative st...   [ Read more ]

Date: February 28, 2008
Type: IBS Sponsored Events

Forbidden Landscapes: Negotiating Sacred Space at Tateyama

Caroline Hirasawa Assistant Professor of Art History University of British Columbia In premodern Japan, women were forbidden from climbing sacred mountains and thus from performing many importa...   [ Read more ]

Date: February 14, 2008
Type: Numata Lecture Series

The Tantric Family Romance: Sex and the Construction of Social Identity in Tantric Buddhist Ritual

Beginning in the late seventh century, the "cutting edge" of Indian Buddhist scriptural production--the Mahayoga and Yogin tantras--was notorious both for descriptions of sexual practices and frequent...   [ Read more ]

Date: November 8, 2007
Type: IBS Sponsored Events

Buddhist Systems of Meditation: from Sakyamuni to early Mahayana

The Insitute of Buddhist Studies is pleased to announce the 2007 Ryukoku Lecture series held throughout the month of September. Prof. Masaki Nonin of Rykoku University, Kyoto, will be visiting and   [ Read more ]

Date: September 5, 2007
Type: Ryukoku Lecture Series

An Evening of Buddhist Chanting

Sponsored by: the Buddhist Churches of America the Center for Buddhist Education and the Institute of Buddhist Studies This event will feature different Buddhist styles of chanting from several   [ Read more ]

Date: June 9, 2007
Type: Other Buddhist Studies Events

Metaphors in Shinran

Prof. Sugioka will discuss the significance of the metaphors in the Pure Land Buddhist teaching of Shinran (1173 - 1262), the founder of the Jodo Shinshu tradition in Japan. In Shinran's writings, met...   [ Read more ]

Date: June 6, 2007
Type: Numata Lecture Series

Dogen and the Lotus Sutra: The Mahayana Worldview of Zen

Dr. Leighton will discuss the Mahayana worldview through the writings of the Zen master Eihei Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of the Japanese Soto Zen tradition. Dogen's use of the Lotus Sutra, arguabl...   [ Read more ]

Date: May 16, 2007
Type: Numata Lecture Series

Transcendence of the Body in Kukai's Shingon Buddhism

The ninth-century founder of the Japanese Shingon School, Kukai, created a unique system for classifying schools of Buddhism based on a theory about the particular Buddha Body that was the source of t...   [ Read more ]

Date: May 8, 2007
Type: Numata Lecture Series

The Importance of 'Self' in Buddhism

Dr. Kawamura begins his lecture by reiterating the usual understanding of anatman (no-self) -- that a "self" does not exist. But if a self does not exist, then there would be little or no need to be c...   [ Read more ]

Date: May 1, 2007
Type: Numata Lecture Series

Esoteric Buddhism during the Song Dynasty (960-1279)

The Tang Dynasty (618-906) is commonly depicted as the pinnacle of Buddhism in China. Likewise, the Tang is portrayed as the moment when Esoteric Buddhism briefly flourished in the court and was imbib...   [ Read more ]

Date: April 26, 2007
Type: Numata Lecture Series

Avalokitesvara is Everybody: Disguise as Skillful Means in Sanskrit Mahayana

The lecture will consider both the Lotus Sutra and the Matrix of Reliquaries Sutra, wherein Bodhisattvas use skillful means to bring sentient beings onto the Mahayana path. The Matrix of Reliquaries,   [ Read more ]

Date: April 4, 2007
Type: Numata Lecture Series

Rethinking Amida

Visiting from Tokyo, Japan, the former Dean of the Institute presents his thoughts on Amida Buddha.   [ Read more ]

Date: February 14, 2007
Type: IBS Sponsored Events