Tuesday, October 26, 2010
STUDY AND RESEARCH
The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies offers a variety of study and research opportunities, lectures, classes, seminars, workshops, conferences, retreats, independent study, and, in the future, a scholars-in-residence program. The study center offers research and publication facilities for Buddhist scholarship and translation. Its vision calls for dialogue between different schools of Buddhism and discussions with other religious and scientific traditions. The emphasis is always on the interrelationship between study and practice, and on exploring the relevance of classical teachings to contemporary life. The study center is located on 90 acres of wooded land in rural, central Massachusetts, one-half mile from the Insight Meditation Society. BCBS provides a peaceful and contemplative setting for the study and investigation of the Buddha's teaching.
- Hsi Lai University (USA)
Hsi Lai University, founded in 1991 by Master Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan, is located in the City of Rosemead, Los Angeles County, California, U.S.A. This is a modern University in an exquisite setting and combines the best features of Western and Asian cultures. It is open to students from the United States and countries worldwide. Hsi Lai University is well-organized, with a multi-cultural orientation, and multi-faceted objectives of education. The content of the curriculum is designed to achieve an integration of the humanities and the sciences; theory and practice, as well as the East and the West. Students are expected not merely to acquire knowledge and skills, but to develop a good personality founded on traditional virtues, so that they can embark on a bright career, on the one hand, and live a spiritually rich and peaceful life, on the other hand. Creativity, adaptability and leadership are fostered to enable students to become active and useful members of the human society. An internationally reputed faculty with excellent qualifications in their subjects provide courses of an exceedingly wide range. Hsi Lai University is a member of NAFSA: Association of International Educators member of American Association Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. We are in the Peterson's Guide to Graduate Programs in Humanities, Arts & Social Science.
- Buddhism Past and Present(Department of Asian Studies, La Trobe University, Australia)
A 13 week distance education unit taught online, or by correspondence, from La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia. It includes: lecture notes, audio recordings, readings and written assignments. For online students there are also discussion groups which act as tutorials. We explore the origins and evolution of the Buddhist tradition and its contemporary place in society and follow the progress of Buddhism through Indian history focusing on its responses to local cultural, political and economic conditions. We look at the philosophical underpinnings and practical applications of Buddhist doctrines and conclude with a study of the Buddhist Revival in the modern world.
It is the only Centre for Buddhist Studies in the UK, and as well as the usual undergraduate and research degrees offers the only taught MA in Buddhist Studies in the country. The Centre serves as a focus for the co-ordination of collaborative study and research in Buddhist Studies within the South-west of England and South Wales. Because scholars working in the study of Buddhism in the UK are spread very thinly such collaboration and consultation is unfortunately rare. The Centre for Buddhist Studies is also involved in the promotion of lecture and seminar series on Buddhism, both within the university and also for the general public. (This page of their website sets out all the course details:www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/THRS/undergraduate.html.
- International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism - The Electronic Bodhidharma
International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism (IRIZ) [Hanazono U - Kyoto JP] - an academic research institution devoted to the study of Zen Buddhism. We aim to serve the needs of researchers, students, teachers, and practitioners of Buddhism, but we also offer electronic tools -- such as a 48,000 character Chinese character database -- of interest to people involved in all fields of East Asian Studies such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean histories, literatures, and religions. This WWW site and its contents form part of the Zen KnowledgeBase project initiated and directed by Urs APP.
- International Theravada Buddhist University Myanmar (Burma)
The University was established in 1998. It is a permanent centre of higher learning of Theravada Buddhism. It is located on the beautiful site of the sacred Dhammapala hill near the Sacred Tooth Relic Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar has carefully preserved Theravada Buddhism for nearly one thousand years. Now she is sharing her knowledge of Buddhism both in theory and practice with the people of the world to promote their happiness and moral well-being. For the first time, those who wish to learn Theravada Buddhist canonical texts and insight meditation in Myanmar tradition will have a chance to study them at the same institution. Faculty members are renowned Myanmar Buddhist scholars of high academic achievements who have profound knowledge of Pali canons. In order to overcome language barriers, language teaching is included in the academic programmes. The medium of instruction will be English.
- Naropa University (USA) [1]
Naropa University formerly known as Naropa Institute, is a private, non-profit, fully accredited liberal arts college offering undergraduate and graduate degrees. The Institute is non-sectarian and characterized by its unique Buddhist educational heritage. Started by Ven. Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche. It offers Bachelors and Masters Degrees including a Bachelors Degree in Religion, and a Master's in Buddhist Studies.
This is the website is for the Religious Studies department at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. It looks like they have quite a good department where it is also possible to study Buddhism - it appears that there is more emphasis on the Mahayana, than the Theravadin tradition.
Sharpham College offers year-long residential and non-residential programmes in Buddhist Studies and Contemporary Enquiry. The education offered at Sharpham seeks to ground theoretical study in the living context of community life, meditation practice, work on the land, voluntary service and creative expression. Although inspired and informed by Buddhist teachings, the College does not adhere to any particular school, and does not require commitment to Buddhism as a religion. Buddhist Studies Web sites, CD-ROMs & ElectronicTexts
The Asian Classics Input Project (ACIP) presents a database containing texts from the Kangyur and Tengyur (classical collections of Sanskrit literature in Tibetan translation), and the Sungbum (Tibetan language commentaries on these) transliterated into roman (ASCII) characters. These texts span the time period from the Fifth Century, BCE to the twentieth Century, CE. The database has been produced primarily for scholars of classical Asian literature and other interested persons. Text entry is accomplished by Tibetan monk scholars at Sera Mey Monastic University and other nearby centers in southern India.
For more information, or a Tibetan language copy of a CD-ROM containing 100,000 pages of important scripture along with woodblock art, contact The Asian Classics Input Project at: PO Box 20373, New York, NY 10009 or (212) 475-8935. Please note that the purpose of this project is to preserve the original source material. All of the data is input and reproduced on CD-ROM in the original languages - Tibetan and Sanscrit and has not been translated into English.
- Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library (ANU, Australia)
This is the major site which keeps track of leading information facilities in the field of Buddhism and Buddhist studies around the world. Edited by Dr T.Matthew Ciolek (The Australian National University), Prof. Joe Bransford Wilson (U. of North Carolina at Wilmington) and Privat-Dozent Jerome Ducor (Ethnographic Museum, Geneva) in association with Janice Glowski, Adrian Hale, Barry Kapke, Murray Kessell, and Peter Schlenker.
Nitartha International, the home for digital Tibetan is dedicated to preserving the ancient wisdom of the arts and sciences of Tibet with modern computer technologies. Nitartha also provides the fonts required for viewing the Tibetan texts of the ACIP releases.
- Buddhist Canon Translation Project (the Numata Center, USA)
The primary mission of the Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research is to publish definitive English translations of the entire 100-volume Sino-Japanese Buddhist canon, the Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo. The Numata Center, located in Berkeley, California, works in close cooperation with the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai (BDK) (Society for the Promotion of Buddhism), founded by the late Rev. Dr. Yehan Numata.
- The Electronic Bodhidharma (ZenBase CD1 CD-ROM )
This is the site of the International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism, the research institution of Hanazono University in Kyoto, Japan. In conjunction with the opening of this site, we release the ZenBase CD1 - CD-ROM chock full of texts, bibliographies, tools, articles, and much more of interest not only to students and practicioners of Zen but to scholars of the Far East in general. In particular, the CD contains over 70 Chinese Zen texts in JIS and Big5 codes, and a 48,000 character kanji database with an innovative encoding scheme. It has a page on the Buddhist Input Project News.
- Buddhist Scripture Information Retrieval (BUDSIR CD-ROM)
The Digial Tipitaka and Atthakatha. Including the data search program on CD-ROM. The Siamratha version of the Pali Tipitaka. Mahidol University Computing Center, Faculty of Science, Rama VI Rd., Bangkok 10400, Thailand. e-mail: ">budsir@mahidol.ac.th
- Electronic Buddhadharma Society (Chinese)
This site is useful for students of Chinese Buddhism. If offers a Chinese Multimedia Buddhism CD the Diamond Sutra CD and Electronic Books in Chinese.
- Pali Language Sources Resources (Mahapirita Audio CD-ROM )
Pali Canon, Sources & Translations. Pali Course. Pali Language Online Database.
The Mahapirita Audio-CD is now available ! (Original Theravada Pali Recitation (Pirit Chanting) from Sri Lanka).
Chattha Sangayana Tipitaka CD-ROM from Vipassana Research Institute Pali version in Romanized script. For ordering information contact: Vipassana Meditation Centre Attn.: Sean Salkin PO Box 103 Blackheath NSW 2785 Fax: 4787-7221 e-mail: mailto:vmcbh@ozemail.com.au">vmcbh@ozemail.com.au]
The British Library / University of Washington Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project was founded in September 1996 in order to promote the study, editing, and publication of a unique collection of fifty-seven fragments of Buddhist manuscripts on birch bark scrolls, written in the Kharosthi script and the Gandhari (Prakrit) language that were acquired by the British Library in 1994. The manuscripts date from, most likely, the first century A.D., and as such are the oldest surviving Buddhist texts, which promise to provide unprecedented insights into the early history of Buddhism in north India and in central and east Asia.
- Tipitaka (The Pali Canon in German)
Webseite Kontent: Der Pali Kanon des Theraváda-Buddhismus in deutscher Sprache, with a few English books. Sutta Pitaka, Der Korb der Lehrsätze; Abhidhamma Pitaka, der Korb der Höheren Lehrreden; Vinaya Pitaka, Der Korb der Ordens Regeln; Kommentar Literatur; Vipassána Meditation; Buddhistische Handbibliothek.
The Society was founded in 1881 by T.W. Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pali texts ". It publishes Pali texts in roman characters, translations in English and ancillary works including dictionaries, concordances, books for students of Pali and a journal. Most of the classical texts and commentaries have now been edited and many works translated into English. The Society aims to keep almost all its publications in print and to produce at least two new books and a volume of its Journal each year.
The Research Institute for Pali Literature was established by Ven. Lee Soo-chang (Ma-sung) as its director on October 1st, 2000 in Korea. The main objectives of this Institute are to make researches into Pali Literature and to provide facilities in relevant fields of study at home and abroad. This Institute will perform the following projects in order to attain the objectives stated above:
1. Research for Pali Literature.
2. Collection and translation of Pali Literature.
3. Publication of Journals and newsletters of this Institute.
4. Academic exchanges with other relevant institutes both domestic and foreign.
5. Academic conferences, workshop, and lectures.
6. Other necessary business for the achievement of the objectives of this Institute.
To help English readers interested in learning more about Mahayana Buddhism, here is a collection of links leading to English translations of Mahayana Buddhist Sutras.
A very comprehensive listing of web sites with sutra translations in many major languages.
Treasury of Internet Sites Containing Buddhist Sutras Arranged According to Language.
Buddha Mind Rainbow Body is an educational Web site by Brett Greider, professor of Comparative Religions at the University of Wisconsin, with sections for university students, Buddhist scholars, and Buddhist students, and materials for teaching Buddhism and academic materials. Selected links are designed for rapid access to scholarly sources.
- Buddhist Studies Society of HKUSU (Chinese)
A student organization in the University of Hong Kong to introduce the wisdom of the Buddha throughout the campus. We organizes talks, seminars, cell group discussions, temple and master monks visits, and hospital services in order to bring the teachings of the Buddha to our fellows.
The Journal of Buddhist Ethics is the first Buddhist periodical established for the express purpose of furthering our understanding of the ethical concerns in Buddhism. The JBE is electronically published by Charles Prebish and Damien Keown and has an editorial board comprised of a number of established Buddhist Studies scholars from the United States, Canada, Japan, England, and elsewhere.
This site has a mass of modern literature on Buddhism - both popular and scholarly. Suggested Readings: the bibliography. Study Aids: including a Pronunciation Guide for Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, and Korean terms, and An Overview of Buddhist Scriptures in the Pali, Chinese, and Tibetan Canons.
Buddha on the Thames: Buddhist Studies in Europe and the UK
Joyful Living, BuddhistdoorRaymond Lam
2010-10-04 【Share to Friend】 【Print Friendly】
Buddhism is still very much a minority religion in London, a city whose Christian heritage is as eminent as its proud (and shadow) pasts as the centre of the world and capital of British imperialism and colonialism. Interest in Buddhism began with Wesleyan missionaries and preachers of other denominations, who sought to expand their knowledge of the Dharmic religion in order to contest and debunk it in the eyes of its believers. This desire to learn Buddhism for the sake of converting Buddhists often credited their scholarship and writing little legitimacy by modern standards. Fortunately, this sinister agenda was not successful on the whole, and does not hold water in higher studies about one of India’s greatest religions.
Academia is now different in Europe as a whole. When it comes to Buddhist Studies in the United Kingdom, the isles have produced a line of scholars who have made very important contributions. Among many are Peter Harvey, Paul Williams, Richard Gombrich, and Damien Keown. These four have produced seminal works that have been made into foundational textbooks for aspiring scholars in Buddhism. While not every Buddhist scholar is a Buddhist (to my knowledge Williams is a Catholic whilst Keown and Gombrich have disassociated themselves from formal Buddhism), contributions from many have been significant in advancing contemporary Buddhist studies for successive generations of students.
Buddhist Studies is many things. It is the critical (the application of critical theory) study of all facets of the Buddhist story, including its philosophy (epistemology and logic, metaphysics, and ethics), its teachings and doctrines, its history and languages, and its importance in contemporary debates and action about poverty, hunger, environmental degradation, human rights, bioethics, and more. Essentially, it is an extremely rich, deep, and fertile field of studies, one which is inexhaustible in the wealth of intellectual and spiritual rewards it offers its students. It is the study of the Buddha’s compassion and wisdom and his love for all beings. This is perhaps what drew scholars like Max Muller in a bygone age, who loved Buddha and admired Buddhist ethics with the critical precision of a true university scholar. This heritage persists in England through several universities (most famous amongst them the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London), where learning in languages and tireless research forms the modern British spirit of approaching Buddhism.
Thanks to critical studies in religion, a diversity and multiplicity of opinions have been able to express themselves with careful deliberation, argument, and research. This had been proliferating in England during the dominance of Christianity, with theologians at home (like William Connor Magee) as well as on the Continent (such as Bultmann and Kierkegaard) bringing new dimensions of religious thinking into the Christian story – some of which advanced its thought into the modern age whilst simultaneously challenging the old ways of thinking about God, Jesus Christ, and the Church. By the turn of the 1960’s, persuasive writers like Thomas Merton (who was baptized in the Church of England but converted to Catholicism) were passionately arguing for the unity of different religious believers and deeply interested in the moral harmony between religions. The era of interfaith dialogue has now descended from the academic level to a more practical one, but Merton’s words about the relationship between Zen and Christianity are still striking to this day:
In other words, we begin to divine that Zen is not only beyond the formulations of Buddhism but it is also in a certain way “beyond” (and even pointed to by) the revealed message of Christianity. That is to say that when one breaks through the limits of cultural and structural religion – or irreligion – one is liable to end up, by “birth in the Spirit,” or just by intellectual awakening, in a simple void where all is liberty because all is the actionless action, called by the Chinese Wu-wei and by the New Testament the “freedom of the Sons of God.” Not that they are theologically one and the same, but they have at any rate the same kind of limitlessness, the same lack of inhibition, the same psychic fullness of creativity, which mark the fully integrated maturity of the ‘enlightened self’ (Merton, Zen and the Birds of Appetite, p. 8).
Europe (and the rest of the world) has come a long way since “Sanskrit-mania” gripped the Continent, for many reasons aside from Orientalism and the obsession with linking the Vedic Aryans to Western peoples. I think London and the United Kingdom as a whole is uniquely placed to continue moving Buddhist Studies forward, because the worst is behind us for now. Perhaps this is the beautiful thing about England – that it just “gets on with it?” There is a certain nonattachment about the wounds and glories of the past here – and that is ironically very Buddhist!
do feel that religion is a deep component of British culture, but those who actually do practice (be they Buddhist or otherwise) do it relatively quietly, aside from the times they approach others to see if they're interested.
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