Vernacular Landscapes and Global Dialogues: Understanding Buddhist Monasticism Seminar
Vernacular Landscapes and Global Dialogues: Understanding Buddhist Monasticism Seminar aims to advance the scholarly and public understandings of Buddhism monasticism beyond the textual while acknowledging the importance of monasticism as a defining aspect of Buddhist traditions across the globe. This five-year seminar will explore the intersection of Buddhism with modernity, education, gender, and social institutions, among other themes. Our inaugural gathering will chart out the lay of the land with the theme “Defining Modern Buddhist Monasticism Globally.” We invite roundtable presentations that consider the various definitions and emanations of Buddhist monasticism in today’s world, the unique challenges to the identity of Buddhist monastic communities, and the many innovative responses created by these communities. We particularly invite early-career scholars and scholars from underrepresented groups to apply.
This five-year seminar brings together the rich threads of Buddhist monasticism, especially the current changes found in Buddhist monastic communities throughout the world, to rethink scholarly definitions of Buddhism from the perspective of how it is defined, envisioned, and practiced within Buddhist monasteries. While we would welcome scholars who study the history of Buddhist monasticism, we aim to explore what Buddhist monasticism looks like today. Bringing together scholars from diverse disciplines and backgrounds, with localized expertise in Buddhist traditions, the seminar contributes to a holistic theoretical understanding of Buddhist monasticism as an embodied system of religious ideals, as well as a new vision of teaching Buddhism in the classroom.