Buddhist Studies at The University of Chicago

Franklin Perkins lecture: The Problem of Evil beyond Theism

Franklin Perkins lecture: The Problem of Evil beyond Theism

Please join us on April 25, 2024, for a public lecture by Prof. Franklin Perkins: “The Problem of Evil beyond Theism." Perkins is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and currently Visiting Professor of the Philosophy of Religions in the...

Brook Ziporyn: Inaugural Mircea Eliade Lecture

Brook Ziporyn: Inaugural Mircea Eliade Lecture

Monday, April 3, 4:30-6:00pm, Swift Lecture Hall (3rd floor) -- A reception will follow The Divinity School is pleased to announce a public lecture by Brook A. Ziporyn entitled The Mind and the Mindlessness of Heaven and Earth: Teleology and Consciousness in Zhu Xi's...

Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan

Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan

A landmark exhibition at the Smart Museum of Art takes a fresh look at the art of Japan’s Meiji era (1868–1912), four remarkable decades that propelled the country into the modern era. See more information and visit us for Meiji Modern: 50 Years of New Japan. Learn...

Pauline Lee on Tales of a Late Ming Iconoclast

Pauline Lee on Tales of a Late Ming Iconoclast

The lecture will be November 7 at 5pm in Swift Lecture Hall (3rd floor). A reception will follow. The Divinity School is pleased to announce that Professor Pauline Lee, Visiting Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religions at The Divinity School, will give a...

The study of Buddhism enjoys a long tradition at the University of Chicago, engaging students and faculty from the Divinity School and several Departments in the Humanities and Social Sciences. (For a list of faculty whose work centrally involves Buddhism, see here.) The excellence of work at Chicago in the history, religions, and literatures of South and East Asia provides a rich contextual framework for in-depth consideration of particular developments in the Buddhist world, and the University’s strong commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship broadens the horizons for work in the area. Thus, while there is not (as at some institutions) an official degree-granting program called “Buddhist Studies,” a recent study found that Chicago had produced the greatest number of Buddhist studies scholars holding positions at North American colleges and universities.

Programs in which graduate study relating to Buddhism may be undertaken include those of the departments of AnthropologyArt HistoryHistoryEast Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC), and South Asian Languages and Civilizations (SALC), in addition to the many doctoral programs in the Divinity School in which it is possible to study topics in Buddhist studies. Other Departments have also at times hosted research relating to Buddhism, including Music and Comparative Human Development. For those pursuing studies in Buddhism under the aegis of any of these programs, there is the possibility of advanced study in many major Buddhist linguistic and textual traditions, with the University regularly offering courses in the Buddhist languages of East Asia (Chinese, Japanese, Korean), and of South Asia (Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan). Work in such textual traditions is well supported by the University’s outstanding library collections pertaining to these and other languages.

Historically strong in many of the various fields of Buddhist studies, the University is presently home to a mix of both younger and established faculty, and thus figures to be a center of gravity in these fields for a long time to come. 

The range of work encouraged in the University’s various programs relating to Buddhist studies is reflected in recent faculty publications, as well as in coursework offered in the various departments and programs that foster Buddhist studies at Chicago. 

Members of the University of Chicago community who would like to be apprised about Buddhist studies events may sign up for the University’s Buddhist Studies Listserv. You may also search the University-wide Events Calendar.