Jessica L. Main
Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation Chair, Buddhism and Contemporary Society
Institute of Asian Research and
Department of Asian Studies
University of British Columbia
C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall
Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2
Tel: (604) 822-9305
Fax: (604) 822-5207
jessica.main@ubc.ca
Jessica Main began work in the summer of 2009 as the Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation Chair on Buddhism and Contemporary Society. The Chair is the steward of UBC’s Buddhism and Contemporary Society Program. Her research concerns modern Buddhist ethics, social action, and institutional life in East and Southeast Asia. She is in the process of completing her dissertation on the modern history of human rights and descent-based discrimination in Japanese True Pure Land, or Shin Buddhism at McGill University. She has had the opportunity to work with a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funded project on religion and health, investigating possible contributions of Buddhism to a physician’s ethic. She is also a member of the steering committee for the International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies (IASBS).
Research Interests:
Buddhism, Ethics, and Human Rights
Modern Buddhist Institutions, Law, and Governance
Buddhists and Buddhist Institutions Active in Modern Society: Social Welfare, Healthcare and Healing, Rehabilitation, Incarceration and Corrections
Modern Japanese Religions and Society
Japanese True Pure Land Buddhism (Jōdo Shinshū 浄土真宗)
Educational Background:
- Currently completing Ph.D. in Asian Religions at the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University
- Cert. (2006-2008) Otani University, Kyoto
- BA (1997) General Studies, University of Calgary
- Cert. (1996-1997) Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka
Teaching:
Asian Studies: Together with colleagues at Asian Studies, Jessica is working to expand the undergraduate and graduate course offerings covering Buddhism, Japanese religions, and religions in Asia. Courses currently offered and coming soon:
- ASIA 250: Introduction to Buddhism: Modernism and Other Forms
- ASIA 211 W1: Sex, Sexual Ethics, and Asian Religions
- ASIA 300x (coming soon): Mahayana Buddhist Philosophy: Emptiness, Ritual, Ethics
- ASIA 300x (coming soon): Therevada Buddhist Stories: Ancient Texts to Modern Film
- ASIA 450 (shell course): Topics in Buddhist Studies
- ASIA 468 R1: Approaches to Asian Religions
Institute of Asian Research, MAAPPS Program: Jessica is primarily involved with the MAAPPS Program in the area of religion and public policy, religions in the Asia Pacific as transnational and local actors, and the effects of media representation and soft power on policy.
- IAR 500 Media: Media Representations of Asia: Culture, Religion, Nation
- IAR 515B: Buddhism and Contemporary Society
Selected Presentations and Publications:
“A Humanistic Shinran: The Shin Buddhist Thought of Saikō Mankichi (1895-1970).” XVIth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS), Taipei, Taiwan. Jun 2011.
“Venture Capitalism or Obligatory Donations?: The Ōtani-ha’s Search for Financial Stability in the Modern Era.” 2010 American Academic of Religion Annual Meeting, Atlanta (October 30-November 1).
“To Lament the Self: The Ethical Ideology of Takeuchi Ryō’on (1891-1968) and the Ōtani-ha Movement against Buraku Discrimination.” The Social Dimension of Shin Buddhism. Ed. Ugo Dessi. Brill. 2010. 137-164.
“The Concrete Manifestations and Understandings of Buraku Discrimination within Ōtani-ha Shin Buddhism.” Asian Studies Group, Kyoto (March 31, 2009).
“The Constitution of a Religion: Ōtani-ha Shin Buddhism as Civil Society Actor.” Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia (January 9, 2009).
“The Karma of Others: Stories from the Milindapañha and the Petavatthu-atthakathā.” Online conference “Revisioning Karma.” Journal of Buddhist Ethics 12, 2005. [Published in Revisioning Karma: The eBook. 2008.]
“Other Agency in the Jōdo Shinshū: Neither Monk, Layman, Nor Conventional Moral Actor.” IASBS Conference, University of Calgary (August 3-5, 2007).
“Cultivation of Buddhist Leadership in Contemporary Japan: Principle and Policy.” Presented at Challenges for Japan: Japan as a “Normal Country,“ 2005 Shibusawa Foundation North American Seminar, Toronto (June 16-18, 2005).
