News

2022 Ryukoku Lecture: Dr. Bunei Takada

March 14, 2022

12:00 am to 12:00 am

Ōjōyōshū- A Collection on the Essentials Concerning Birth and Shinran Shōnins 「往生要集』と親鸞聖人」  Professor Bunei Takada, Ryukoku University, Faculty of Letters: Shin Buddhist Studies Ōjōyōshū – A Collection on the Essentials Concerning Birth is the important scripture in Shin Buddhist studies. […]

Pacific World Series 4 Volume 2 Now Online

The Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies has published the second volume of its fourth series, and it is now available to view online.  This volume contains book reviews by Richard Payne, Gereon Kopf, Matt Orsborn, Ray Buckner, […]

Takashi Miyaji Named Ohtani Chair

The Institute of Buddhist Studies is pleased to announce that Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji has been appointed to the H.E. Kosho Ohtani Professor of Shin Buddhist Studies professorial chair. Rev. Dr. Miyaji has been a core faculty member of IBS […]

Annual Memorial Service

November 11, 2021

7:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Zoom Webinar

The Institute of Buddhist Studies will hold its Annual Memorial Service via Zoom on Thursday, November 11, 2021, at 7:00 pm (Pacific time). This will be an opportunity for us to remember all of the many people who have allowed […]

Virtual Open House

October 6, 2021

5:30 pm to 5:30 pm

IBS is pleased to offer this year’s first Virtual Open House. Come learn about our stackable curriculum, degree and certificate programs, financial aid and more! Sōtō Zen Buddhist Studies Certificate Program Director Rev. Dr. Daijaku Kinst, chaplaincy program coordinator Chenxing […]

Meet Chenxing Han, Our New Chaplaincy Program Coordinator

The Institute of Buddhist Studies is excited to announce our new chaplaincy program coordinator, Chenxing Han. Han is a graduate of IBS’ Buddhist chaplaincy program, and is well-known for her recent book Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian […]

Chenxing Han

GTU Welcomes Institute of Buddhist Studies as Member School

The Graduate Theological Union (GTU) and Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS) are pleased to announce the deepening connection between their scholarly communities as IBS becomes the GTU consortium’s ninth member school, following thirty-six years of collaboration as a GTU affiliate. […]

Buddhist Japanese Course Trains Beginning Students to Read Complex Texts

This fall, IBS is excited to offer Buddhist Japanese I, the first of a four-course sequence. Students will begin with basic Japanese grammar and build up their skills and knowledge of kanbun (Chinese characters) to eventually tackle more complex Buddhist […]

Secularizing Buddhism Book Event

September 10, 2021

12:00 pm to 12:00 pm

Zoom Webinar

Buddhism is both deeply personal and profoundly social. In the neutral tones of academic language, we might say that secular Buddhism, and secularized forms of Buddhist practice such as mindfulness, are simply adaptations to a new society. This picture is […]

2021 Graduate Student Symposium

October 22, 2021

12:00 am to 12:00 am

Zoom Webinar

Authority and Normativity in and Between Buddhist Traditions 9 AM – 12:30 PM PT Registration info here The question “what is Buddhism?” is deceptively uncomplicated. Scratching beneath the surface of this question presents a host of issues surrounding who has […]

Nancy Lin Joins the IBS Faculty

This fall, the Institute of Buddhist Studies is pleased to have Dr. Nancy Lin join us as full-time faculty member in support of the Buddhist chaplaincy program. Dr. Lin joins us after four years at Vanderbilt University, where she taught […]

Nancy Lin

Pacific World Publishes Special Section on Apologetics

The Pacific World, the peer-reviewed journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, has published a special section on Buddhist Apologetics, featuring essays by Charles B. Jones, Thomas Calobrisi, Kwi Jeong Lee, and Wei Wu. The articles in this issue “examine ways in […]

Call for Papers – 2021 Virtual Graduate Student Symposium

We are delighted to announce the Graduate Student Symposium at the Institute of Buddhist Studies for the fall of 2021. The Symposium will be held virtually on October 22nd, 2021. The theme of the 2021 Symposium is “Authority and Normativity […]

Rev. Dr. Yamaoka Retires From IBS

Former Bishop Rev. Dr. Seigen Haruo Yamaoka had never planned on his amazing path — which has now nearly spanned 60 years — with the Buddhist Churches of America. He wanted to become a journalist, a newspaper reporter.  But he […]

2021 Graduation and Commencement

On Friday, May 21, faculty, students, trustees, and friends of the Institute of Buddhist Studies gathered online to celebrate the graduating class of 2021, along with the class of 2020, who was not able to celebrate last year due to […]

IBS Faculty (and Alum) Thomas Calobrisi Co-Edits Journal

Current IBS adjunct faculty member and recent IBS grad Thomas Calobrisi has co-edited this autumn’s Journal of Dharma Studies. The journal’s theme is histories of science in Buddhism, and looks at how various Buddhist cultures produced knowledge. What goes into editing […]

“May We Gather” Demonstrates Communal Healing as an Act of Protest

On May 4th at 4pm, over 1700 people watched the livestream of “May We Gather,” a pan-Buddhist memorial to honor the 49th day memorial of the victims of the Atlanta shootings. At once memorial service, communal healing and protest against […]

Taigen Dan Leighton Published in Joanna Macy Volume

Environmental activists and Buddhists have admired the work of Joanna Macy for decades. We’re pleased and excited that IBS professor Dr. Taigen Dan Leighton has a new chapter published in Joanna Macy’s latest book, A Wild Love For the World: […]

2021 Graduation and Commencement

May 21, 2021

1:00 pm to 1:00 pm

Zoom Webinar

Please join us for a celebration of our students on Friday May 21 at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Register here for the Zoom meeting. Due to the covid pandemic last year, IBS was unable to host an in-person commencement ceremony […]

Statement Against Anti-Asian Violence

We at IBS are saddened and outraged by ongoing anti-Asian violence, attacks on Buddhist temples, and most recently and tragically the murder of six Asian women in Atlanta last week. Whereas these events have been receiving more and more media […]