Buddhist Studies

The Conference on the Study of Religions of India (CSRI) invites proposals for its Annual Meeting to be held at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, from June 17-20, 2010. The conference theme is "Arguments, Oppositions, and Conflicts.” Possible approaches to the theme include competing systems of religious authority, knowledge, or practice; divergent perceptions of truth or history; accusations of deception, concealment, or lies; religious conflict or violence, as well as the resistance to conflict and violence. Conference organizers (Corinne Dempsey, Bill Harman, Karen Pechilis, and Brian Pennington) welcome proposals that explore arguments, oppositions, and conflicts from an array of South Asian regions and contexts, contemporary and historical, practical and textual. Paper proposals of no more than 250 words should be submitted to Corinne Dempsey (cdempsey@uwsp.edu), no later than March 1, 2010.

In April 2010, the Buddhist Studies Graduate Students at U of T will be hosting the North American Graduate Student Conference in Buddhist Studies. Committee members are now soliciting proposals from graduate students in Buddhist studies and related fields on any aspect of Buddhist traditions and cultures. The conference papers presented will reflect the wide range of disciplines (religion, philosophy, history, anthropology, art history, linguistics, area studies etc.), methodologies, and geographical regions that characterize the academic study of Buddhist traditions today.

To be held in May 2010, this conference will ask how Buddhists have answered the challenges, problems, and expectations that accompany displacement and relocation. The program committee welcomes proposals for papers from academics, professionals, graduate students and others; see the conference webpage for details. The deadline for paper submissions is October 30, 2010.

The Buddhist Education Foundation for Canada has made an extraordinary $1.8 million pledge to enhance the study of Buddhism at the University of Toronto. This gift will provide financial stability to the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health Program housed at New College and will help encourage the development of new interdisciplinary teaching and research projects, conferences, faculty exchanges and an annual speakers’ series. Read more.

February and March will feature a two-week series of lectures, workshops and social events on Tibetan Buddhism, with visiting speakers Nicolas Sihle, Jeffrey Hopkins, Sarah Jacoby and Antonio Terrone. Discussing Buddhist philosophy, field research in Eastern Tibet, and new digital technologies for Tibetan Studies research, faculty, students and the public will be exposed to a range of methods and issues in this dynamic and fast-growing field. Consult our events schedule to find out how you can join us.

The Centre for the Study of Religion and its Buddhist Studies faculty and students have moved to the Jackman Humanities Building, on the corner of Bloor and St George Streets. Take note of our new address at right, and come visit us soon! 

The library has purchased a subscription to the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center’s Core Text Collections service, providing to the university community a magnificent resource of over 6000 digitized Tibetan texts. Access to this body of literature is critical for the University's growing Buddhist Studies program. With this acquisition our program joins a cohort of eighteen peer institutions around the world who are TBRC subscribers.  

We are tracking down our Buddhist Studies program graduates to see where their degrees have taken them! (If you studied Buddhism at the University of Toronto, get in touch and let us know what you are doing now...)  

A schedule of courses for students in Buddhist Studies on the downtown campus has been updated, and be sure to check our events page for upcoming lectures and conferences this year.  This page will be updated as new event schedules for the year are updated, so check back often or better yet, subscribe to our mailing list. 

Buddhist Studies students are active this summer doing research and presenting papers at the University of Virginia, Emory University, University of British Columbia, and in Mongolia, Nepal, and India. Stay tuned for pictures of their travels!

In an event co-sponsored by the Asian Institute and the Numata Buddhist Studies program, Tsering Shakya, Canadian Research Chair in Religion and Contemporary Society in Asia at the University of British Columbia, will speak at the U of T about the current situation in Tibet on April 8th. Tsering Shakya is a scholar of historic and contemporary Tibet. His The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947   was acclaimed as “the definitive history of modern Tibet” by The New York Times.

This year's Numata conference , to be held at McMaster University, focuses on what makes Buddhism tick, considering the spells, charms, diagrams, potions, and seals that Buddhists employ for every kind of goal from good health to the swift attainment of enlightenment. The conference will map these “occult technologies” and the significance that they hold for the study of Buddhism doctrine and beliefs.

An active Numata series is scheduled this year, including this Friday's double-bill of Burma scholars who will contextualize current events in Myanmar. Also coming up soon is a conference to inaugurate the Tung Lin Kok Yuen Conference at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Stay updated by subscribing to our email list.

Four Buddhist Studies graduate students won travel awards to spend this summer in Asia. See photos from their travels, and follow PhD student Ben Wood's travels over sea from Japan to Shanghai, by train from Shanghai to Lhasa, and over land to Mt. Kailash, on his Travel Blog. Undergraduate Jasmine Baetz is attending the Woodenfish Humanistic Buddhism program in Taiwan.

The Department of Humanities at the University of Toronto Scarborough has hired Professor Henry Shiu to teach courses on Buddhism at that campus for the next two years. Prof. Shiu's research covers doctrinal and historical Buddhism in India, China and Tibet, and also Socially Engaged Buddhism in the contemporary world.

Students in New College course on Buddhism and psychology participated in a pilot study on mindfulness meditation. The research study, conducted by Prof. Tony Toneatto and nursing student Linda Nguyen, was recently featured in the Toronto Star.