Date and Time: Monday, March 16, 2026, 15:00–16:30 (JST)
Venue: Online (https://u-tokyo-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/89221283871)
Title: The Development of Buddhist Social Welfare in Contemporary Myanmar: The Potential and Reality of Indigenous “Associations”
Speaker: KURAMOTO Ryosuke (Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo)
Discussant: Anthony Scott (JF-GJS Fellow for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo)
Chair: BABA Norihisa (Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo)
Language: English
Abstract:
The circulation of Buddhist ideas, texts, artistic forms, and individuals gave rise to—and continues to sustain—a network of interconnected yet heterogeneous spaces across Asia and beyond, conceptualized here as a “Buddhist cosmopolis.” This presentation critically explicates the concept of the Buddhist cosmopolis and examines how its circulatory processes and diverse practices may be analyzed within the emerging analytical framework of Global Asia. It focuses in particular on the transmission of knowledge, the dissemination of visual culture, and the movements of missionaries and pilgrims, in order to illuminate both the spatial and ideological linkages that connected distant regions, as well as the distinctive local traditions that emerged across multiple sites. The presentation argues that approaching the Buddhist cosmopolis through the lenses of “convergence,” “divergence,” “entanglements,” and “translocality” yields critical insights into the dynamics of mobility and connectivity central to Global Asian studies. More broadly, it suggests that the concept of the Buddhist cosmopolis enhances our understanding of transregional interactions, the transformative capacities of Buddhist circulatory networks, and the complex spatial and temporal imaginaries generated by Buddhist mobilities over the past two millennia.
About the Yin-Cheng Distinguished Lecture Series: Launched in September, 2021, the Yin-Cheng Distinguished Lecture Series (印證佛學傑出學術系列講座) is a collaborative, multi-university partnership between Peking University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Inalco (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales), Princeton University, Harvard University, the University of British Columbia, University of California, Berkeley, SOAS, University of London, University of Tokyo, and Taiwan University. The Lecture Series is established in honour of Venerable Cheng-yen 證嚴, founder of Tzu Chi, and her mentor Yinshun 印順 (1906–2005), with the goal of promoting topics in Buddhist Studies.
