Keynote Addresses: Georgios Halkias and Masahiro Shimoda

You are cordially invited to two keynotes addresses for the conference, “The Pure Land in Buddhist Cultures: History, Image, Praxis, Thought”:

• Dr. Georgios Halkias – Pure Land in Tibet
• Dr. Masahiro Shimoda – Pure Land in Ancient India

*Please click on links above to register for each keynote lecture.

Dr. Georgios Halkias, Oxford University, will present a keynote address for the conference, “The Pure Land in Buddhist Cultures” History, Image, Praxis, Thought”:

Pure Land in Tibet

“Three Paths to Amitabha’s Pure Land: “Sutra,” “Tantra” and “Great Perfection” Interpretations of Sukhavati in Tibet”

Date: Friday, May 31, 2013
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Place: Party Room, Student Union Building, UBC
RSVP is required: Please register here. 
For information on the conference: Please click here.

Dr. Masahiro Shimoda, Oxford University, will present a keynote address for the conference, “The Pure Land in Buddhist Cultures” History, Image, Praxis, Thought”:

Pure Land in Ancient India

“Early Pure Land Buddhism Manifesting as Written Text in Ancient India: A Background for the Emergence of Buddhism of Otherness and Other Power”

Date: Saturday, June 1, 2013
Time: 6:45pm – 8:45pm
Place: Isabel MacInnes Room, Walter H. Gage Residence, UBC
RSVP is required: Please register here.  
For information on the conference: Please click here.

New Grant Programme from the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation

Please visit the page below for the official press release on the American Council of Learned Societies Buddhist Philosophy Grants Programme: http://www.rhfamilyfoundation.org/what-we-do/buddhist-learning-network/2013/american-council-learned-societies-buddhist-philosophy-gra

Upcoming Conference: The Pure Land in Buddhist Cultures

All are welcome to register and attend the conference and keynote lectures. *Registration fee includes meals and refreshments for the weekend.

The Pure Land in Buddhist Cultures: History, Image, Praxis, Thought Conference will be taking place at the Vancouver campus of University of British Columbia from May 31 to June 2, 2013. For full schedule, presenters, and papers, see the conference website at 
http://pureland2013.wordpress.com/
.

Click here to register for the conference.

Three Upcoming Lectures on Buddhism

UBC’s Buddhism and Contemporary Society Program, in conjunction with the Tzu-chi Buddhist Studies Forum, Kameyama Lecture Series, and Contemporary Tibetan Studies Program, presents three lectures on Buddhism this March:

Dr. Weirong Shen, research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University, will present his lecture:

Fiction in History and History in Fiction: “The Secret Meditation of Supreme Bliss” Represented and Interpreted in Various Contexts of Religion and Literature

Date: Monday, 4 March, 2013
Time: 4:30pm – 6:00pm 
Place: Asian Center, Room 604, UBC Point Grey Campus

In this lecture, Professor Shen reveals the complex process of how fictional stories of Tibetan tantric Buddhism became official history and how official history was again fictionalized through textual criticism. through textual criticism. Professor Shen endeavours to restore the historical fact based on the careful studies of the newly discovered Chinese translations of Tibetan tantric Buddhist texts from both the Tangut Xia and Mongol Yuan periods.

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Dr. Elisabetta Porcu, the Numata Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Hawaii, will present her lecture:

Consumerism and Popular Culture in Contemporary Japanese Buddhism

Date: Thursday, 7 March, 2013
Time: 4:00pm – 6:00pm
Place: Asian Center, Room 604, UBC Point Grey Campus

In this talk, Professor Porcu will present some results of her ongoing book project Japanese Religions, Popular Culture and the Media and focus on the ways Japanese Buddhist institutions are employing these formats for proselytization and promotional scopes together with the dynamics that lie behind and characterize such communication strategies.

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Dr. Stuart Young, Assistant Professor of East Asian religions at Bucknell University, will present his lecture:

India in the Chinese Buddhist Imagination

Date: Thursday, 28 March, 2013
Time: 4:30pm – 6:00pm
Place: Asian Center, Room 604, UBC Point Grey Campus

In this talk, Professor Young will discuss the ways in which Indian Buddhism was adduced and deployed in the context of medieval China. In particularly, Professor Young will examine medieval Chinese hagiographies of the ancient Indian Buddhist patriarchs, which show how Chinese Buddhists constructed paradigms of Buddhist sainthood for a world without a Buddha.

Talk by Professor Albert Welter on Buddhist Relic Veneration in Medieval China

UBC’s Tzu-chi Buddhist Studies Forum, together with the Buddhism and Contemporary Society Program (generously supported by the Tung Lin Kok Yuen Foundation), are pleased to invite you to a public lecture by Professor Albert Welter, University of Winnipeg.

January 24, 5:00 – 6:30pm, Asian Center 604

“Buddhist Rulers and Rulers of Buddhists: Buddhist Relic Veneration in Medieval China”

During the Five Dynasties (10^th Century), the principality of Wuyue 吳越國 distinguished itself through its peace and prosperity, and its self-avowed identity as a Buddhist kingdom. Wuyue rulers styled themselves as Buddhist monarchs modeled on the role the Indian King Aśoka played in supporting and spreading Buddhism throughout his kingdom. The stūpa allegedly housing relics of Śākyamuni at Mt. Ayuwang 阿育王山 (Aśoka) in Mingzhou 明州 served as a focal point of the Aśoka cult in Wuyue. In addition to examining the nature of Aśoka emulation in Wuyue, the presentation follows the attempt to transplant relics from the stūpa at Mt. Ayuwang to a temple at the Song court when Wuyue was reintegrated into the growing Song sphere of influence. This attempt is symbolic of the new realities facing Buddhism in the Song context, and stands in marked contrast to the favoured treatment of Buddhism in Wuyue.