[Blog] Karma in Chinese Buddhist Historiography

By Nelson Landry Republished with permission. In 2019, the organizers of the UBC Tianzhu-Hurvitz Lecture Series invited Prof. Robert Buswell to speak at the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver, Canada. This year, on October 9, the Lecture Series is in its second iteration, but like so many other academic conferences these days it …

[Blog] “Did Women Produce Buddhist Texts in Medieval China? And Does it Matter if they did?” Lecture by Stephanie Balkwill

By Sarah Fink Photo courtesy of Carol Lee (UBC Frogbear) On January 30, 2020, Dr. Stephanie Balkwill gave a lecture at the University of British Columbia titled, “Did Women Produce Buddhist Texts in Medieval China? And does it matter if they did?”. Dr. Balkwill is an Assistant Professor of Religion and Culture and East Asian …

[Blog] The Oriental Nun and Representation of Buddhist Female Monastics or Monasticism

By Ngoc Le On June 3, 2019 I had a chance to sit down with Elizabeth Guthrie, PhD Candidate at the University of Waterloo, to chat about her conference paper at Congress at the University of British Columbia. Titled “Jane Iwamura’s Virtual Orientalism and the Oriental “Nun,”” the paper is presented at the Canadian Society …

[Blog] Lecture Report: “Through Altruism to Ultimate Enlightenment” Lecture by Dr. Rey Sheng Her, Director of Tzu Chi Foundation and Visiting Scholar at Columbia University

Report by Sarah FinkPosted on March 5, 2020Photos by Amy Wu and Sheley Kuo On November 7, 2019, Dr. Rey-Sheng Her gave a lecture at UBC titled, “Through Altruism to Enlightenment.” Dr. Her is currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University and adjunct Associate Professor at National Chengchi University. He has served as the Spokesman …

[Blog] Lecture Report: A Place for Doubt: The Theory and Practice of “Questioning Meditation” (Kanhwa Sŏn 看話禪 ) in Korean Zen Buddhism

Report by Sarah FinkPosted on December 16, 2019Photos by Yaoyao Pei Re-posted with permission from the Tianzhu Buddhist Network and From the Ground Up: Buddhism and East Asian Religions Program Inaugural Lecture for the UBC Tianzhu-Hurvitz Lecture SeriesA Place for Doubt: The Theory and Practice of “Questioning Meditation” (Kanhwa Sŏn 看話禪) in Korean Zen BuddhismLecture …

[Blog] “All Living Beings Have Buddha-Nature”—the Genesis of the Concept of Universal Buddhahood: Report on Lecture by Dr. Michael Zimmermann at UBC

By Sarah Fink Photo courtesy of Carol Lee (UBC FROGBEAR) On October 7, 2019, Dr. Michael Zimmermann delivered a lecture at the University of British Columbia titled, “All Living Beings Have Buddha-Nature”—the Genesis of the Concept of Universal Buddhahood. Dr. Zimmermann is a Professor of Indian Buddhism at the Asien-Afrika-Institut of Hamburg University. He also …

[Blog] Autumn Canadian Conferences

A guest post by Dr. Jeffrey Kotyk This autumn I had the opportunity to attend two major conferences dealing with Buddhist Studies and more broadly Asian Studies, both of which were hosted at Canadian institutions. It is always heartening to see an international community come together at a university in Canada, much like in August …

[Blog] Religion and Politics in Bhutan: An Interview with Dagmar Schwerk

By Ngoc Le Dagmar Schwerk’s working paper “Drawing Lines in a Maṇḍala: A Sketch of Boundaries Between Religion and Politics in Bhutan” was published in August 2019. I had an opportunity to chat with her about the research, the Kolleg-Forschergruppe “Multiple Secularities - Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities” project, her upcoming monograph and more. Can …

[Blog] The Politics and Pathways of Return: Trans-regional perspectives on a Buddhist homeland (June 28-29, 2019) – A Conference Report

By Ngoc Le “The Politics and Pathways of Return: Trans-regional perspectives on a Buddhist homeland” workshop/ conference took place at the University of British Columbia from June 28 to 29, 2019. Sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhism and Contemporary Society, …

[Blog] On Chinese Qin and Chan Buddhism Literature: A Lecture by Dr. Huqun Li

By Maggie Mitchell and Sarah Fink Photo courtesy by Carol Lee (UBC FROGBEAR) On March 14, 2019, Dr. Huqun Li, associate professor at the School of Humanities at China University of Political Science and Law, delivered his lecture and performance, "On Chinese Qin and Chan Buddhism Literature: to learn from the performance of Guqin" at …