UC/Stanford Buddhist Studies Conference

The State of California, taken as a whole, has unequalled resources for the academic study of Buddhism. UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, UC Santa Barbara, and Stanford each have world-renown specialized Ph.D. programs in Buddhist Studies, as well as dedicated Centers for Buddhist Studies that promote advanced research as well as a variety of outreach programs. Together these four campuses have some two dozen faculty specialists in the art, architecture, culture, history, literature, and philosophy of Buddhism. Each of these scholars is a leader in his or her respective subfields; in addition, there are a number of eminent scholars teaching in smaller programs at UC San Diego, UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz, and the University of Santa Clara.

While these faculty members are all familiar with the research interests and published work of their peers from other programs, to date there has been little attempt to collaborate on research or coordinate teaching across institutions. The only formal effort at cross-campus collaborative teaching was a joint Buddhist studies graduate seminar between UC Berkeley and Stanford that ran through much of the 1980s and 1990s. Berkeley and Stanford recently revived this cooperative spirit, putting together a joint colloquium series as well as sponsoring an annual Berkeley-Stanford Graduate Student conference. The student conference met over the past three years, alternating between the two campuses, and was a tremendous success.

This inaugural conference provides an opportunity not only for graduate students to present their research to a broad group of specialists, but also a venue to explore possibilities for greater cooperation and collaboration among Buddhist Studies programs throughout the UC system and with other, non-UC programs in California.