Dear faculty, staff, students, and friends of the Center for Buddhist Studies,
Happy New Year! On behalf of the Center’s faculty and staff, I would like to wish you a happy and prosperous 2023. It has been another year of ups and downs as we head into the third year of the pandemic. As we transition back to in-person instruction and events, I am impressed by the perseverance and resilience of our staff, students, and community members. We also continue to benefit from more frequent online interactions, which has allowed us to connect with supporters and participants from around the world.
In the past year, our Buddhist Studies lecture series continued, with the addition of a special series commemorating the 350th death anniversary of the Chinese Zen Master Yinyuan (Japanese: Ingen) who founded the Japanese Ōbaku tradition. An online exhibition of Ōbaku art was launched in May accompanied by a special tea ceremony presentation. These events were made possible thanks to the generous support from Wanfu Temple in Fuqing, Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, Pu Yin Education Center, and Matcha.com. With the assistance of Academia Sinica in Taiwan, we also successfully organized The Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC) Annual Conference and Joint Meetings with three days of lectures and presentations at UArizona from September 16-18, 2022.
Our fellowship programs continue to support the exemplary research projects of our graduate students. Awards have been given to talented students who have engaged in high-quality research, and some have already finished their dissertations and secured employment despite the pandemic.
Our faculty also conducted amazing research, published books and articles, continued to teach and mentor students, and were promoted to administrative roles in the university.
Scholars and researchers associated with the Center continued the success of the Chinese Buddhist Canon Research Newsletter (CBCRN) and the Community Wellness Newsletter. A big shout-out to our editorial teams who have made these newsletters phenomenal. We have welcomed new contributors and thank Dr. Lewis Lancaster, who retired from the CBCRN committee and celebrated his 90th birthday.
Our building project with the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine has finally entered the construction phase after pandemic-related delays. We are still looking for visionary donors to contribute to this project. If you are interested, or know anyone who might be interested in becoming a member of this distinguished group whose names will be permanently associated with the Center and Dr. Andrew Weil, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
In the new year we have lined up several exciting events and I would like to call your attention to some highlights. A special online concert for celebrating Master Yinyuan’s life will feature the Japanese monk-musician Kanho Yakushiji and will be premiered through our Center’s Youtube channel on January 20. The Ōbaku Ingen lecture series and online art exhibition will continue in the new year as well, featuring the private collections of Dr. Harald Conrad and Dr. Stuart Katz.
In addition, we are happy to partner with the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center to promote healthy aspects of Asian lifestyles through The National Institutes of Health (NIH) All of Us research program. With the support from Matcha.com, we will also launch a tea research program to investigate how East Asian ways of tea-drinking have changed American life and world culture.
We also want to thank our donors and collaborators. Our events and projects rely on your continuous support and we are looking forward to your contribution and participation in the new year.
Best wishes and Happy New Year!
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Jiang Wu
Director, Center for Buddhist Studies
Professor, Department of East Asian Studies
College of Humanities