Dear faculty, students, fellows, and friends of the Center of Buddhist Studies,
This is an exciting time for the Center for Buddhist Studies as we complete a successful year and celebrate our first anniversary. It has been an extraordinary year with the inaugural ceremony, conferences, new research initiatives, lecture series, and exceptional faculty and student achievements, all aimed at the Center’s core objective of fostering research, teaching, and outreach for Buddhist Studies locally, regionally, and globally. Highlights from 2018 include:
• The inaugural ceremony was successfully held on March 28, 2018
• Our signature project, the Hangzhou Buddhist Culture Project led by Professor Albert Welter, attracted more than half a million dollars in funding
• The Center hosted two international conferences on the UA campus, one on Chan/Zen/Son Buddhism and the other on the future digital Buddhist canon
• The Khyentse Foundation and Pu Yin Buddhist Studies Lecture Series have brought eminent scholars to campus
• After acquisition of the original translation notes on the Chinese Chan classic The Record of Linji (Rinzai Roku), the Center started to digitize this valuable collection
• Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou donated funds for the Center to establish two graduate fellowships, ten Undergraduate Study Abroad Awards, a Best Graduate Research Paper Award, and a lecture series on Hangzhou Buddhism which will be launched in the spring of 2019
• Our faculty produced award-winning research, secured grants and reached out to the community
• Our graduate students also grew remarkably by writing, presenting, and winning research grants and awards
As the Center’s founding director, it has been my very great pleasure to work with our faculty, staff, visiting scholars, fellows, and students to achieve the accomplishments we highlight in this newsletter. The past year was also full of the spirit of philanthropy due to the generosity of our donors, friends, and alumni who created new opportunities and connections. We thank them for making our Center an inspiring place to invest, engage and develop. We hope that you, too, feel inspired to join us using our online giving tools.
I am excited to announce that the Center will start a fundraising campaign in 2019 to build an endowment to support Buddhist Studies. A minimum donation of $25,000 will help us start a named fund to serve humanity through increasing knowledge about the Buddhist religion and preparing our students to become skillful, responsible and ethical professionals in all fields.
I am proud of our achievements during 2018 and look forward to working with you in the coming years.
Thank you, as always, for your support.
Jiang Wu, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Buddhist Studies
Acting Head, Department of Religious Studies and Classics
Professor, Department of East Asian Studies
College of Humanities
The University of Arizona