News

IBS 2014 Commencement: Four Institute of Buddhist Studies’ Buddhist Chaplaincy students received their joint Graduate Theological Union/IBS Masters Degrees at commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 23, 2014. The event was chaired by Rev. Dr. David Matsumoto. The opening service was […]

The Institute of Buddhist Studies will present the 2014 Ryukoku Lectures with Professor Nobuhiro Fukagawa, from Ryukoku University Department  of Shin Buddhist Studies.  The title of the presentation  is “The Propagation of Shin Buddhism: Challenges and Possibilities, “ in a […]

Posted on March 3, 2014 by UBC Buddhism “Buddhist Perspectives on the Work of Care” UBC’s Buddhism and Contemporary Society Program, funded by The Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation, will hold a workshop on Buddhist perspectives on the work […]

  News from the Development Corner at the IBS I have some wonderful news to share with all of you. After you read this entire article, I believe you will think this is a good thing as well. On November […]

Dr. Richard Payne, Dean of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, and the Rev. Dr. Daijaku Kinst, IBS Chaplaincy Program Director, participated in a Ryukoku University International Symposium on September 26-27, 2013, at the Omiya Campus, Kyoto, Japan. The program was […]

Two new releases in the Contemporary Issues in Buddhist Studies series are: Charles Willemen, A Collection of Important Odes of the Law: The Chinese Udānavarga The Udānavarga is a thematically organized collection of important sayings in verse form used to […]

The International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies (IASBS), the largest international organization dedicated to the scholarly study of Pure Land Buddhism, has recently become a related scholarly organization of the AAR. This means that the IASBS will be able to host meetings in conjunction with the AAR’s annual meeting, thus allowing for greater exposure of Shin and Pure Land Buddhist studies to a North American audience.

With the theme: “Dharma at Times of Need: The Interface of Chaplaincy and Ministry,” a jointly sponsored symposium by the Institute of Buddhist Studies and the Harvard Divinity School, was held on May 3-4, 2013 at the Institute of Buddhist […]

Wisdom Publications has released a new book by noted Shin Buddhist scholar Takamaro Shigaraki, Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path: A Life of Awakening.  Last last month, Prof. Shigaraki was in the San Francisco Bay Area, delivering a series of […]

A two day symposium jointly sponsored by the Institute of Buddhist Studies and Buddhist Ministry Initiative, Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, will be conducted on Friday, May 3 and Saturday, May 4, 2013 at the Jodo Shinshu Center, 2140 Durant Avenue, Berkeley, CA , with the theme “Dharma at Times of Need: The interface of Chaplaincy and Ministry.”

Dr. Takamaro Shigaraki, noted Shin Buddhist Scholar, former Professor and President of Ryukoku University, and author of A Life of Awakening: The Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path (2005) and Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path: A life of Awakening […]

We are pleased to announce the 2013 Ryukoku Lectures series with Prof. Tesshin Michimoto Mt. Hiei and the Pure Land The Development of Pure Land Teachings in Tendai Buddhism Lecture One March 13 (Wednesday) Saicho: His Life and Teachings Lecture […]

Pure Land Buddhist traditions have been some of the largest and most influential in Buddhist history, and remain so to the present day. Moreover, the very idea of a purified, perfect land of a buddha echoes throughout Buddhist text and praxis. Most often, this buddha is “Immeasurable Light” or “Immeasurable Life,” who created a pure land far to the west of our own world. But there are many others. This conference aims to examine sectarian traditions of Pure Land Buddhism as well as the “pure land” within Buddhism generally. As this conference is jointly-sponsored by associations connected to Pure Land Buddhist traditions in two countries, it is a unique chance to approach pure land expansively, in terms of its long history, global reach, and diverse regional and trans-regional expressions–whether in or across what are today known as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Canada, and so on. The hope is to increase knowledge and scholarly exchange about the multifaceted development of pure land in Buddhist cultures. Papers are welcome on any aspect of pure land, type of Pure Land Buddhism, any region or historical period, and from any methodological or disciplinary perspective.

We are pleased to announce a call for papers for the 3rd Annual Graduate Student Symposium at the Institute of Buddhist Studies.

Audio and video recordings from this fall’s symposium, Domestic Dharma: Beyond Texts, Beyond Monasteries, has been added to our podcast.

  The Institute of Buddhist Studies conducted its first Perpetual Memorial Service (Eitaikyo Service) on Thursday, November 8, 2012. The serviced honored some forty-five pioneers who gave much of their time and energy for the growth of the IBS. The […]

The Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS), seminary and graduate School, began its 2012 fall semester with a total of eighty students enrolled in its Buddhist Studies programs.

The categorization of Buddhism along geo-political lines is perhaps the most common organizing principle today. It also tends to be accepted uncritically. Thus we find, without explanation, such expressions as “Indian Buddhism,” “Tibetan Buddhism,” “Chinese Buddhism,” “Burmese Buddhism,” and so on. These categories predominate not only in popular representations of Buddhism, such as the Buddhist magazines, but also in textbooks of both “world’s religions” and of Buddhism, in academic societies, and publishing, and perhaps the most durable entrenchment, in academic appointments.

The North American District of the International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies is happy to announce that we have been accepted by the American Academy of Religion (AAR) as a Related Scholarly Organization (RSO).

Dr. Mark Blum, Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Albany, SUNY, East Asian Studies Department, will conduct an Intensive Study Program on the subject of “Shinran and the Nirvana Sutra (Mahaparinirvana Sutra)” Monday, July 9 to Thursday, July […]