June 17-20, 2025. Great Bamboo Grove Monastery 大聖竹林, Mount Wutai 五臺山, Shanxi, China
International Conference on Chinese Buddhist Rituals and Spiritual Life in Asia
August 23–26, 2024. Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery, Singapore
Microcosm Holds Mountains and Seas: The Sinicization of Buddhism in the ‘Multi-layered Contextualization’ from Local to Global History
August 18–21, 2024. Buddhist College of Minnan, South Putuo, Xiamen, China
Cross-Regional and Cross-Cultural Interaction and Integration between Buddhism and Other Asian Religions
August 16–19, 2024. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 杭州, Zhejiang, China
Canonical, Non-Canonical and Extra-Canonical: Interdisciplinary and Multi-media Studies of the Formation, Translation and Transmission of Buddhist Texts
August 11–15, 2024. Great Bamboo Grove Monastery, Mount Wutai, Shanxi, China
From the Ground to the Cloud: Insights from Seven Years of Fieldwork, Training, and Data Collection
Online, UBC, April 13-14, 20-21, 2024, 6:00-8:00am (Vancouver) | 9:00-11:00pm (Beijing)
Buddhism, Science and Technology: Challenges to Religions from a Digitalized World
August 9–12, 2023. Hong Kong, China.
Engaged Buddhism for an Engulfed World: New Perspectives on Humanistic Buddhism
August 9-12, 2023. Hong Kong, China.
Sinification, Globalization or Glocalization?: Paradigm Shifts in the Study of Transmission and Transformation of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond
August 9–12, 2023. Hong Kong, China.
International Workshop: Market, Merit, and Women in East Asian Buddhism
May 19, 2023. In person, Ewha Womans University Museum.
Monks & Literati: Cultural Ideas and Lifestyle of Chinese Buddhism
Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery 蓮山雙林禪寺, Singapore, August 12–13, 2023
Conference: Site-Image-Object: Rethinking Place in Chinese Visual and Material Culture
University of British Columbia, December 7-9, 2022
The Dharma-Ending Age: The Climate Crisis through the Lens of Buddhist Eschatology, Past and Present
October 7–9, 2022, The xʷθəθiqətəm or Place of Many Trees, Liu Institute for Global Issues
Religions and Local Society in the Historical, Comparative, and Theoretical Perspectives: A Conference in Honour of Professor Timothy Brook
August 12–14, 2022, ONLINE with University of British Columbia
How Zen Became Chan: Pre-modern and Modern Representations of a Transnational East Asian Buddhist Tradition
July 29–31, 2022, ONLINE with Yale University
Image – Text – Reality in Buddhism: Interrelation & Internegation
May 23 – 25, 2022, multiple speakers, ONLINE
From Jetavana to Jerusalem: Sacred Biography in Asian Perspectives and Beyond
November 7–9, ONLINE with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Yale University.
A Forest of Knowledge about the Texts and Images regarding Buddhist Saints, Sages, Translators, and Encyclopedists
October 14–16, 2021, ONLINE with Yale University.
East Asian Buddhist Worldmaking
August 14–16, 2021, ONLINE with Harvard FAS CAMLab.
Transmission of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond
ONLINE July 4-6, 2020 in collaboration with Princeton University
[UPDATED] Enduring Discoveries of the Cosmopolitan, Multicultural, Expansive and Relative Orthodoxies in the Study of East Asian Buddhism, History, Manuscripts, Archaeology, Literature, Art, and East-West Exchanges
July 4–6, 2020 ONLINE with Princeton University. CFP deadline May 15, 2020 | POSTPONED – Geumgang University | POSTPONED – Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”.
International Conference on “Esoteric Buddhism and East Asian Society”
March 7-8, 2020. University of British Columbia.
[POSTPONED] International Conference on the Shentong Monastery & East Asian Buddhism
Details TBA. Shentong Monastery in Shandong, Ji’nan Province.
From Tiantai to Hiei: Transborder and Transcultural Spread of Tiantai/Chontae/Tendai/ Buddhism & East Asian Societies
December 6-8, 2019, Peking University.
[POSTPONED] Historical Mirror for the Contemporary World: International Conference on the Sinification of Buddhism through the Perspective of World History and Globalization
Details TBA. University of Hong Kong and Great Bamboo Grove Monastery 大聖竹林 on Mount Wutai 五臺山.
Buddhism & Technology: Historical Background and Contemporary Challenges
September 20–22, 2019 at UBC, St. John’s College.
International Symposium on “From Medieval to Pre-Modern Times: Manuscripts and Cross-Cultural Studies”
August 24–25, 2019. School of Foreign Languages, Peking University.
International Conference on the Production, Preservation and Perusal of Buddhist Epigraphy in Central and East Asia
August 20-21, 2019; Oxford, UK.
Buddhism & Education in the Pan-East Asian Context
June 3-5, 2019. Mount Wutai.
Buddhism and East Asian Cultures Winter Lecture Series & The 4th Modern Chinese Buddhism Forum
Conference January 7-9, 2019 at DILA.
International Conference: From the Silk to the Book Road(s)
Sept 21-23, 2018 Berkeley, California
Conference: Production and Preservation of Buddhist Manuscripts in Central and East Asia
August 29-31, 2018; Cambridge, UK.
An International Conference: From Chang’an to Nālandā: The Life and Legacy of the Chinese Buddhist Monk Xuanzang (c. 602-664)
August 17-19, 2018; Xi’an, China.
Conference: Identity and Networks in Buddhism and East Asian Religions
Mount Wutai, Shanxi province, China; July 3-5, 2018.
New Horizons In Research on the Contents Inside of East Asian Statues
June 23-24, 2018. Nagoya University, Japan
Buddhist Beast: Reflections on Animals in Asian Religions and Culture
April 20-22, 2018. Vancouver, Canada.
From the Caoxi Creek to Mogao Cave: Interdisciplinary Studies of Chan Buddhism and the Dunhuang Cache from Multiple Sources and Perspectives
January 13-15, 2018 at DILA, Taiwan.
Consecrating the Buddha: On the Practice of Interring Objects in Buddhist Statues
August 11-12, 2017 at Ewha Womans University, Seoul Korea
A Conference on the Shaolin Temple and Buddhism under the Northern Dynasties
July 31 – August 2, 2017. The Shaolin Monastery 少林寺, Mount Song 嵩山, Henan 河南
The Third International Conference on the Wutai Cult
July 12-15, 2017. Great Sage Monastery of Bamboo Grove, Mount Wutai
Buddhism and Business, Market and Merit: Intersections between Buddhism and Economics Past and Present
June 16-18, 2017. Vancouver Canada.
An International Conference: From Xiangyuan to Ceylon: The Life and Legacy of the Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian (337-422)
March 25-27, 2017. Shanxi, China.
When the Himalaya Meets with Alps: International Forum on Buddhist Art & Buddhism’s Transmission to Europe
August 27, 28, 2016. Madrid, Spain.
The Second International Conference on the Wutai Cult
July 19-24, 2016. Great Sage Monastery of Bamboo Grove, Mount Wutai, China.
Located in central China, the mountain range known as Wutai 五臺 was perceived as the new Chinese abode for the famous Indian bodhisattva, Mañjuśrī. As such, it came to be widely venerated by Buddhist believers from all over East Asia. This conference explores a plethora of trans-cultural, multi-ethnic, and cross-regional factors that contributed to the formation and transformation of the cult centered on Wutai and its dwelling bodhisattva (Mañjuśrī), as well as the “international” roles (religious, political, economic, commercial, diplomatic and even military) that the Wutai-centered cult has played in Asia and beyond.
East Asian Manuscript and Print as Harbingers of the Digital Future
May 26-28, 2016. Vancouver, Canada.
While considering reading, writing, and media today alongside Asian traditions of the past, this event will also look ahead toward ways of preserving and transmitting the past, including demonstrations of digitization in the fields of education, library studies, journalism, history, literature, and religion. The roundtable will bring scholars, curators, librarians, community leaders, and policymakers into conversation to examine an array of approaches and technologies.