ICBS

The Institute of Chinese Buddhism Studies was founded at the University of the West in January, 2008, to facilitate and develop interdisciplinary research, teaching, and other activities relating to Chinese Buddhism. Within the university, the Institute works closely with other related academic departments and research centers. In addition, the Institute develops and maintains close links with local Chinese communities, research centers in other institutions, and local and international Buddhist organizations. It sponsors monthly lectures and, together with other academic departments, provides various workshops and colloquiums for the students and the public who are interested in traditional and contemporary Chinese Buddhism. The institute currently oversees the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon project and conducts two other projects about Dunhuang studies.

Buddhism in Times of Crisis: Lessons from China's Period of Disunity

What is the connection between philosophical analysis and cultural crises within the context of Buddhism? Buddhism has much to give of a mediating character to the addressing of social crises.

Is Nirvana the Same as Sentience? Chinese Struggles With an Indian Buddhist Ideal

What makes an animate thing, animate? How do we know if something is sentient? Is consciousness ultimately material or immaterial, or is it neither? What exactly is the relationship between being animate and sentience and consciousness and life?

The Timing of Yogacara Resurgence in the Ming Dynasty

With the maturation of Chinese Buddhism's characteristically sinitic doctrine of Tathāgatagarbha thought, and the revival of a "Tathāgatagarbhized" Faxiang scholarship (the Chinese version of the Indian Yogācāra) in the Ming dynasty, a conduit of inter-religious dialogue was thus opened between the two religions due to the convergence in their developed doctrines. This paper also examines a Buddhist tale recounting the occasion through which the Faxiang school was revived in that period.

The Study of Chinese Buddhism

Dr. Lewis Lancaster of UC Berkley traces the history of the study of Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism by pointing at key western figures and the impact of a continually evolving global relationship and the cultural understanding and misunderstandings between east and west.

The East Asian Context of Chinese Buddhism

In this lecture, Dr. Robert Buswell explores the problems one encounters when one tries to identify, define and isolate the study Chinese Buddhism by explaining the impact of neighboring regions and their impact on the introduction and development of Buddhism.

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