Table of Contents
- CFP> Critical Review for Buddhist Studies (CRBS)
- EXHIBITION> UNKEI: Great Master of Buddhist Scupture (Tokyo National Museum)
- CFC> Chart of Chinese Buddhist Monastic Positions
- FELLOWSHIP > The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Fellowship and Grant Competitions in Buddhist Studies
- Lecture> Numata Chair in Buddhist Studies, University of Calgary
- POSITION> Lecturer, Buddhist Studies, Mahidol University
- LECTURE SERIES> The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation lecture series in Chinese Buddhism at SOAS
- LECTURE> Dorji Wangchuk: "There is Ultimately Not Even One Truth..." at ICPBS, Oct. 10
- Re: QUERY> Meat Eating in Monastic Contexts
- PROGRAM> Buddhism and East Asian Cultures: An Intensive Winter Program at Dharma Drum
CFP> Critical Review for Buddhist Studies (CRBS)
by Juhee Jeong
Dear Colleagues,
Geumgang Center for Buddhist Studies (GCBS) is calling for papers related to studies covering Indian, Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism, to be included in the publication Critical Review for Buddhist Studies (CRBS).
This publication has been issued on a semi-annual basis since February 2006. 21 volumes have been published to date by GCBS, which is based at Geumgang University in Korea. (All papers can be downloaded free of charge at http://gcbs.ggu.ac.kr/sub04_1. An English webpage is currently under construction.)
GCBS was selected and financed by the National Research Foundation (NRF) in 2007 as a 10 year project, named the Humanities Korea Project. Our agenda being, “Inspection of the Cultural Processes of Formation, Transformation and Reception with regard to the Buddhist Classical Languages and their Texts.”
Since then, we have released a volume titled, “The Foundation for Yoga Practitioners. Buddhist Yogācārabhūmi Treatise and Its adaptation in India, East Asia, and Tibet”, which was co-published by Harvard University in the Harvard Oriental Series Vol. 75.
CRBS consists of articles that were presented at conferences, guest lectures, workshops, and colloquiums. Almost half of the articles in our journal are written in foreign languages, other than Korean, such as English, Japanese and Chinese.
Consequently, our journal (despite its short history of 11 years) was nominated as a Registered Journals of the Korean Research Foundation in July 2017. Based on this momentum, the editorial board of CRBS is calling for papers that will showcase various researchers’ remarkable academic achievements.
We cordially invite you to submit articles based on the broad field of Buddhist studies, covering Indian, Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism. In particular, textual studies on Buddhism, or a topic that is relevant to the focus area of GCBS, are welcomed. In addition, critical reviews of recent research, as well as books written in English, are welcomed.
We adopt a thorough blind peer-review system to verify submissions, and each submission is examined via the KCI (Korea Citation Index), which is supported by the NRF. Research articles will be selected for publication, from among all eligible submissions, through an impartial blind peer-review conducted by three specialists in the field.
Authors, of the papers that are selected for publication, will receive a modest remuneration.
- Submission Guideline: Concerning the style of the manuscripts, please adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style (the 15th and 16th edition). For specific exceptions, or to view a detailed guideline for our journal, please download the submission guideline of CRBS(pdf file) at http://gcbs.ggu.ac.kr/sub04_1/articles/view/tableid/sub04_1/id/744#none.
- Word count: - Research paper: 5,000 words~10,000 words (bibliography included)/ - Review: more or less 2,000 words
- Deadline: Papers, including reviews, will be received throughout the year, but for volume 22 published December 31, 2017, it will be received until October 20 at criticalreviewforbs@gmail.com.
- Language: Please note that only papers written in English will be considered for publication.
Best wishes,
Chief editor: Seongcheol Kim
Editorial members, GiPyo Choi, Jinil Chung, Ohmin Kwon, Robert H. Sharf, Seishi Karashima, Seungtaek Lim, Soonil Hwang, Yeonsik Choi, Yoonho Cho, Youngjin Lee.
EXHIBITION> UNKEI: Great Master of Buddhist Scupture (Tokyo National Museum)
by Charles Muller
Dear Colleagues,For any Buddhism scholars or art enthusiasts staying in the Kanto area, I highly recommend this exhibition, comprised mainly of pieces held at the Kohfukuji.
http://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=1861
Regards,
Chuck
CFC> Chart of Chinese Buddhist Monastic Positions
by Gregory Adam
Scott
Call for Contributions: Chart of Chinese Buddhist Monastic PositionsDear colleagues,
I've put together an H-Net page as a reference to the 48 standard monastic positions in Chinese Buddhist monasteries. I often run across these positions referenced in primary sources such as gazetteers and stele inscriptions, and wanted a quick reference guide to their meanings. I've adopted Holmes Welch's translations of the position names, but I recognize that these could be improved quite a bit. I welcome suggestions and/or corrections to the data. The page is located here:
https://networks.h-net.org/node/6060/pages/312959/chinese-buddhist-monastic-positions
and I will continue to update and revise it in the future. Please contact me off-list with any suggestions for improving this resource.
Dr. Gregory Adam Scott
Lecturer in Chinese Culture and History
University of Manchester
gregory.scott@manchester.ac.uk
FELLOWSHIP > The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Fellowship and Grant Competitions in Buddhist Studies
by Elisabeta Pop
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Fellowship and Grant
Competitions in Buddhist Studies 2017-18 Call for Applications
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) invites applications in the 2017-18 competition year of The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies. In cooperation with the Foundation, ACLS offers an integrated set of fellowship and grant competitions supporting work to expand the understanding and interpretation of Buddhist thought in scholarship and society, to strengthen international networks of Buddhist studies, and to increase the visibility of innovative currents in those studies.
- Dissertation Fellowships: one-year stipends to PhD candidates for full-time preparation of dissertations
- Postdoctoral Fellowships: two-year stipends to recent recipients of the PhD for residence at a university for research, writing, and teaching
- Research Fellowships: one-year stipends for scholars who hold a PhD degree, with no restrictions on time from the PhD
- Grants for Critical Editions and Scholarly Translations: one-year stipends for the creation of critical editions, translation of canonical texts, and translation of scholarly works
- New Professorships: multi-year grants to colleges and universities to establish or expand teaching in Buddhist studies
Deadline for submission of fellowship applications: November 15, 2017.
Deadline for institutional applications for New Professorships: January 10, 2018.
For more information, please email BuddhistStudies@acls.org.
The American Council of Learned Societies, a private, nonprofit federation of 75 national scholarly organizations, is the preeminent representative of American scholarship in the humanities and related social sciences. Advancing scholarship by awarding fellowships and strengthening relations among learned societies is central to ACLS’s work. This year, ACLS will award more than $20 million to over 300 scholars across a variety of humanistic disciplines.
Established in 2005, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation is a private philanthropic organisation based in Hong Kong. The Foundation's dual mission is to foster appreciation of Chinese arts and culture to advance global learning and to cultivate deeper understanding of Buddhism in the context of contemporary life.
The Foundation's Buddhist studies and Buddhist art programmes include the Buddhist Ministry Initiative at Harvard Divinity School; a centre and an endowed professorship in Buddhist studies at Stanford University; a centre for Buddhist studies at the University of Toronto; an endowed chair and programme in Buddhism and Contemporary Society at the University of British Columbia; a multi-year lecture series at SOAS University of London; the Centre for Buddhist Art and Conservation and MA programme at The Courtauld Institute of Art; the Galleries of Buddhist Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum; a three-year exhibition, Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia, opening in the Sackler Gallery in Washington in October 2017, and other exhibitions of Buddhist art around the world. www.rhfamilyfoundation.org.
Lecture> Numata Chair in Buddhist Studies, University of Calgary
by Wendi Adamek
“The Work of the ‘Feminine’: the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition of Chöd from
Machik Labdron to Tsultrim Allione"By Professor Michelle Sorensen (Western Carolina University)
In this talk, I will discuss my textual and ethnographic research on the transmission of Tibetan Buddhist Chöd from the eleventh through the twenty-first centuries. Chöd is a philosophy and practice developed by the Tibetan Buddhist female adept, Machik Labdrön, in the eleventh century. Chöd is considered to be the first Buddhist tradition developed by a woman in Tibet. Chöd was then transmitted to India and later became a practice integral to the main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Following an introduction to Machik Labdrön and the foundations of Buddhist Chöd, I will then consider how notions of the “feminine”—both human and supra-human/divine—may have (and may have not) contributed to the historical development and contemporary practice of Chöd in Asian and in Euro-American contexts.
Michelle J. Sorensen, Ph.D., received her BA from the University of Calgary with a double-major in Philosophy and Religious Studies, and was greatly influenced in her intellectual development by Dr. Leslie S. Kawamura. Michelle completed her doctoral degree at Columbia University under the supervision of Dr. Robert A. F. Thurman. Her dissertation entitled “Making the Old New Again and Again: Legitimation and Innovation in the Tibetan Buddhist Chöd Tradition” (2013) offers a revisionary history of the early development of Chöd. In addition to having given numerous presentations at national and international conferences, Michelle has published several articles and book chapters on historical and contemporary Chöd philosophy and practice. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Western Carolina University and is currently working on a book project about Machig Labdrön and the development of the Chöd tradition in Tibet.
Friday October 6, 3:00-4:30 pm, followed by
reception
Department of Classics and Religion
Social Sciences 541, University of Calgary
For more information call: 403-220-5886
To receive event notices, send an email to numatach@ucalgary.ca
POSITION> Lecturer, Buddhist Studies, Mahidol University
by Charles Muller
Please see:https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/discussions/314676/position-lecturer-religious-studi...
Regards,
Chuck
LECTURE SERIES> The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation lecture series in Chinese Buddhism at SOAS
by Charles DiSimone
Posting, what looks to be an excellent series, on behalf of
Vincent Tournier. Details below:
Dear colleagues,
I am delighted to announce that, thanks to the generous
support of the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation, the SOAS Centre of Buddhist
will inaugurate a dedicated lecture series in Chinese Buddhism.
The lecture series will consist of three events per year in
the upcoming five years, addressing respectively the fields of intellectual and
institutional history of Chinese Buddhism, of Buddhist art, performance, and
material culture, and of contemporary developments in Chinese Buddhism and its
global relevance. Each event will consist of a formal lecture engaging with the
broader public, followed on the following day by a seminar opened to
postgraduate students and researchers.
The launching event of the series
will take place on 6 October at 5:30pm at the
Brunei Gallery lecture theatre. You are kindly invited to the lecture ‘How to
Experience Buddhist Caves as Virtual Reality’ by Prof. Eugene Wang (Harvard
University), and to the ensuing reception.
You may find in attachment below an outline of the whole
series for the upcoming academic year. Further information about the series is
provided on our website and on our new Facebook page.
The events are free, and there is no need to register for
the lecture. For further information about the events or to sign up to our
mailing list, please contact Yael Shiri (ys13@soas.ac.uk), student assistant of the Centre of
Buddhist Studies.
Looking forward to seeing you at one or more of these
exciting events,
With kind regards,
Vincent Tournier
_______________
Chair, Centre of Buddhist Studies
SOAS, University of London
THE ROBERT H.N. HO FAMILY FOUNDATION LECTURE SERIES IN
CHINESE BUDDHISM AT SOAS
Prof. Eugene Wang (Harvard University)
6 October 2017, 5:30 - 7:00 PM, SOAS, Brunei Gallery Lecture
Theatre
‘How to Experience Buddhist Caves as Virtual Reality’
7 October 2017, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM, SOAS Main College
Building, r. 4426
‘The Heavenly Eye in Caves’ (seminar)
Prof. Funayama Toru (Kyoto University)
8 December 2017, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM, venue TBA
‘Polishing the Buddha’s Sacred Text? A Methodological
Reconsideration of the Significance of Variant Readings in the Most Popular
Mahāyāna Code in East Asia’
9 December 2017, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM, SOAS Main
College Building, r. 116.
Reading from excerpts of the Fanwang jing along
with some of its key commentaries (seminar)
Prof. Francesca Tarocco (Ca' Foscari University of Venice)
19 January 2018, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM, Brunei Gallery Lecture
Theatre
‘Altar Modern: Buddhist-inspired Artists and Visual
Practices in Contemporary China’
20 January 2018, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM, venue TBA
‘Memento Mori: On Lu Yang's Buddhist Entanglements’
(seminar)
LECTURE> Dorji Wangchuk: "There is Ultimately Not Even One Truth..." at ICPBS, Oct. 10
by Charles Muller
Posted on behalf of Akira Saito-----------------------------------------
I am pleased to announce Prof. Dorji Wangchuk's lecture as follows:
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Dorji Wangchuk, Universität Hamburg, presently Guest Professor at the University of Tsukuba.
Topic: There Is Ultimately Not Even One Truth, Let Alone Four! The Concept of One Truth/Reality (ekaṃ satyam: bden pa gcig) in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism
Date: October 10, 2017, Tuesday, from 16:00 to 18:00.
Venue: International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies (ICPBS), Lecture Hall, 2F.
Abstract:
Indian Buddhist sources allude to a number of models of truth or reality (satya: bden pa). The Bodhisattvabhūmi-—a huge compilatory work probably from the fourth century that deals with the theories and practices of a bodhisattva—for instance, allows us a rare view into the various models of truth/reality in Buddhism, some well known but some less known. Most popular are the model of the “Four Noble Truths” (or “Truths Accessible to the Noble Ones Only”) and the model of the “Twofold Truth” (or “Two Modes of Reality”). The model of a “One Truth/Reality” (ekaṃ satyam: bden pa gcig), which is also mentioned in the Bodhisattvabhūmi, seems to run like a red thread through a wide range of Buddhist literary sources and doctrinal systems. This paper will take closer look at various Buddhist models and concepts of truth/reality with special emphasis on the concept of “One Truth/Reality” in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. It will also point out the idea found in the Tathāgatajñānamudrāsamādhisūtra that there is ultimately not even one truth/reality, let alone four.
Akira Saito (ICPBS)
Re: QUERY> Meat Eating in Monastic Contexts
by Anatoliy Anshin
Dear Justin,Meat eating by an ill monk can be found in Shobo Genzo Zuimonki, a compilation of precepts attributed to Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of Soto Zen sect in Japan. I thought this episode could be of interest to you, especially if interpreted as an allegory of a psychiatric disease. Following is my translation (Gosoen-no E in the text seems to be a title of a kind of compilation of Zen sayings by Zen masters who lived before Dogen):
One day Dogen said: “Zen master Bussho had a disciple who got ill and wanted to eat meat. Bussho allowed him to do that. One night Bussho went to the Enjudo Hall and saw the ill monk eating meat in the dim light of a lantern. However, [when he looked close at the monk] he saw a devil sitting on the monk’s head and eating that meat. The monk thought that he was putting meat in his mouth, but it was the devil who was actually eating the meat, not the monk himself. Bussho realized that the monk wanted to eat meat because he was dominated by a devil, and he allowed him to do that later on. When I think about this it is necessary to be very careful about the decision to allow or not allow [to eat meat]. There is a mention of meat eating in Gosoen-no E. Whether they allow or not, there is a deep meaning in the decision of ancient [masters].”
(Shobo Genzo Zuimonki, edited by Watsuji Tetsuro, Iwanami Shoten, 1991, pp. 19-20).
All the best,
Anshin
PROGRAM> Buddhism and East Asian Cultures: An Intensive Winter Program at Dharma Drum
by Vicky Baker
Buddhism and East Asian Cultures: An Intensive Program of
Lecture Series, Conference/Forum, and FieldworkThe Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (DILA), Sheng-yen Education Foundation, the Buddhist Studies Center in the Humanities College at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou 廣州, China, and the Buddhist Studies Forum at the University of British Columbia (UBC-BSF) in Vancouver, Canada cordially invite applications for a 9-day program of lecture series, conference/forum, and fieldwork on Buddhism and East Asian Cultures (January 13-21, 2018) in DILA, Taiwan.
Deadline to appy: October 15, 2017
I. Venue: Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (DILA), Taiwan
II. Schedule: January 13-21, 2018
- January 13: Registration, Opening Ceremony, Keynote speech session for the Conference;
- January 14-15: Conference;
- January 16-18: Main Programs (Intensive lecture series);
- January 19: Young Scholars’ Forum;
- January 20: Tour of sacred sites in Northern Taiwan;
- January 21: Home-going (participants who wish to utilize the excellent collection at DILA may apply to spend 3-7 extra days with free boarding.
The program organizers have invited three international scholars to conduct, all bilingually (English and Chinese), a three-part lecture series related to Buddhism and East Asian Culture, with each part composed of four consecutive 120-minute lectures with a general theme (over four days). These three bilingual speakers and their lecture themes are:
- Professor Jinhua Chen (Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada): Knotless Net: Identity and Network in East Asian Buddhism;
- Professor James Robson (Department of East Asian Languages and Civilization, Harvard University): Buddhist Meditation: From Ideals to Realities;
- Professor Barend ter Haar (Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford): Writing, Reciting and Buddhism.
IV. Four Additional Projects:
In addition to this four-part intensive lecture series, this program also sponsors the following four projects:
- An international conference on Chan Buddhism and Dunhuang Studies, titled “From the Caoxi Creek to Mogao Cave: Interdisciplinary Studies of Chan Buddhism and the Dunhuang Cache from Multiple Sources and Perspectives,” to be held at the DILA, January 13-15, 2018 (conference information announced at http://frogbear.org/from-the-caoxi-creek-to-mogao-cave-interdisciplinary-studies-of-chan-buddhism-and-the-dunhuang-cache-from-multiple-sources-and-perspectives/);
- Young Scholars’ Forum on Buddhism and East Asian Cultures, January 19, 2018; Excellent articles may be recommended to academic journals for publication. They include the Fojiao wenxian yanjiu 佛教文獻研究 (Studies on Buddhist Texts), Foxue yanjiu 佛學研究 (Buddhist Studies), Fojiao shi yanjiu 佛教史研究(Historical Studies of Buddhism), Studies in Chinese Religions, edited by Prof. Fang Guangchang 方廣錩, Prof. Shengkai 聖凱, Prof. Sun Yinggang 孫英剛, and Prof. Jinhua Chen 陳金華, respectively.
- Taste of the Dharma: a series of 1-2 hour sessions providing monastic experiences, including seated meditation, tea-ceremony and other temple rituals；
- Tour: Occasional visits to renowned historical sites (especially Buddhist and other religious temples and shrines) in northern part of.
Participants are required to take part in all of the activities supported by this program, including the four-part lecture series, the Young Scholars’ Forum (paper presentations are optional, but attendance is compulsory), and monastic experience session, etc., with the only exception of field trips, the participation of which is optional. Graduate students specializing in any Buddhist tradition(s) or East Asian religions, and postdoctoral fellows working on relevant fields, are encouraged to apply. Please direct applications and inquiries to buddhistseminarandfieldwork@gmail.com. Please submit applications before October 15, 2017. Each application should include：
- an application form (to be provided upon request via the above email);
- an updated curriculum vitae;
- one writing sample;
- a reference letter (to be emailed by the referee directly to the above email address).
Successful candidates will be exempted from all tuition fees. Program organizers will also provide free boarding (lodging and meals) in Taiwan during the program period, although participants are expected to cover
- the costs for the transportation between their home cities and Taiwan
- an administration fee of US$150.
