Past Events

Life and Thought of Rennyo – His Propagation Skills and Influences The 2020 Ryukoku Lectures will be delivered by Kenjun Inoue, Assistant Professor of the Department of Shin Buddhist Studies, Ryukoku University. The topic of the lectures will be Rennyo (1415–1499), the 8th Monshu of Hongwanji, widely credited as making the Hongwanji-ha Japanese Buddhism’s largest sect during the 15th century. Inoue-sensei will discuss Rennyo’s propagation skills and his influences. There will be two lectures on February 25 and 27, 2020…

Life and Thought of Rennyo – His Propagation Skills and Influences The 2020 Ryukoku Lectures will be delivered by Kenjun Inoue, Assistant Professor of the Department of Shin Buddhist Studies, Ryukoku University. The topic of the lectures will be Rennyo (1415–1499), the 8th Monshu of Hongwanji, widely credited as making the Hongwanji-ha Japanese Buddhism’s largest sect during the 15th century. Inoue-sensei will discuss Rennyo’s propagation skills and his influences. There will be two lectures on February 25 and 27, 2020…

Register for this webinar here. Please join us on Friday October 9, 2020, at 1:00 p.m., Pacific time, for our first 2020 Numata Lecture. The True Teaching? Japanese Buddhists and the Quasi-Sectarian Politics of Public Schooling Secularist legal arrangements place religious organizations in a paradoxical position: they must serve the public good while simultaneously fostering private virtue. These tensions become particularly salient in situations where religious organizations must clarify their relationship to state, society, and the laity. In this lecture…

Register for this webinar here. Please join us on Friday October 23, 2020, at 1:00 p.m., Pacific time, for our second 2020 Numata Lecture. Sculpture, Time, and Materiality in a Buddhist Cave Shrine This talk examines the dialogue between architecture and sculpture in Maijishan Cave 133, located near Tianshui, Gansu Province.  Initially constructed in the sixth century, this Buddhist cave shrine continued to receive patronage from pious donors through the Ming and Qing dynasties.  Among the objects that were placed…

Views of the Human Beings in the Doctrines of the Buddhist Praxis 「仏教の修道論に見られる人間観」 Akira Yoshida, Associate Professor, Ryukoku University, Faculty of Economics How did the teaching of early Buddhism view human beings and their Buddhist praxis toward enlightenment in India? We refer to the Abhidharma literatures by the Sarvastivada and writings in the sixth century about the theory of Buddhist epistemology. 修道論(修行論)に関する仏教の教説の中に見られる人間観のうちで注目すべきいくつかの特徴を見てみたい。特に、説一切有部のアビダルマ文献における記述や、6 世紀以降の 仏教認識論における記述を中心的にあつかう予定である。 In Japanese with English translation provided by Rev. Dr. Mutsumi, Institute of Buddhist Studies and Orange…