News and Events

News and events related to Edinburgh Buddhist Studies.

Events for the 2024-2025 academic year

 

Wednesday 9th October 2024, 5.15pm, Playfair Library, Old College

“What are Stories For? Answers from the Buddha and Beyond”

Naomi Appleton’s inaugural professorial lecture. Followed by a reception.

Link to Divinity webpage for registration.

 

Thursday 10th October 2024, 5.15-6.30pm, West Court, Main Building, Edinburgh College of Art

“Disgust, Compassion, and Laughter: Excrement in the Buddhist Narratives of Medieval Japan”

Prof Raj Pandey (Goldsmiths) will give a lecture about the role of excrement in Japanese Buddhist narratives. Part of the series of lectures in Art History.

 

Tuesday 22nd October 2024, 11.10-12.30, Senate Room, New College and Hybrid via Zoom

Buddhism and Law “In Conversation”

A conversation between EBS scholars, and their audience, about the study of Buddhist law. Featuring Dr Roshan de Silva-Wijeyeratne (University of Dundee), Dr Asanga Welikala (University of Edinburgh) and Prof Richard Whitecross (Edinburgh Napier University).

There is no need to register for in-person attendance, but if you want the Zoom link please register and it will be sent out a week before the event:

Eventbrite registration page.

 

Wednesday 30th October 2024, 4-6pm, 40 George Square, Room LG.08

“Artistic Orthopraxy: Spatial Storytelling in Late Chosŏn Buddhist Architecture”

Dr Maya Stiller (University of Kansas) will give a lecture on Korean Buddhist art, as part of the Asian Studies research seminar series.

 

Tuesday 19th November 2024, 12.30-2pm, Violet Laidlaw Room, Crystal Macmillan Building

Ambedkar and Ambedkarites Beyond India

Dr Upali Sraman, Divinity, University of Edinburgh and Dr Jon Keune, Religious Studies, Michigan State University. Part of the Centre for South Asian Studies programme of events.

 

Monday 17th February 2025, 10.30-4.40, New College

Annual EBS "Works-In-Progress" Workshop

This is open to EBS members only, and details of the event, including how to book attendance, will be circulated by email. 

 

Tuesday 25th February 2025, 4.10-5.30pm, Hunter Lecture Theatre, Edinburgh College of Art

Casting a Light on the Art in the Dark: Wall Paintings of Buddhist Cave Temples of Kucha in the Archaeological Context

Dr Satomi Hiyama is an art historian specialising in the iconography of Central Asian Buddhist paintings. Her academic training in Tokyo, Beijing, Munich, and Berlin in Art History, Archaeology, Sinology, and Indology, provides the background for her unique interdisciplinary approach to Central Asian Buddhist paintings. In this lecture she explores questions of visibility in dark caves, and what this means for our understanding of the paintings therein

 

Wednesday 12th March 2025, 4-6pm, Project Room (1.06), 50 George Square

Kristina Buhrman (Binghamton University NY) will give a lecture on 

Buddhist monks as advisors in Japan’s Heian court

as part of the Asian Studies research seminar series.

 

Thursday 20th March 2025, 2.10-3.30pm, Senate Room, New College (and hybrid via Zoom)

“Animals in Ancient Religious Contexts” panel discussion

Featuring Professor Naomi Appleton and Dr Suzanna Millar from the School of Divinity, Dr Yashaswini Chandra from Edinburgh College of Art, and special guest Professor Ann Heirman from Ghent University. Join us for a discussion of how animals feature in ancient texts (Hebrew, Sanskrit and Chinese) and visual culture. 

If you cannot join us in person, register on Eventbrite to receive a Zoom link.

 

Thursday 20th March 2025, 4.10-5.30pm, Martin Hall, New College (and hybrid via Zoom)

Professor Ann Heirman (Ghent University): "Animals in Daily Monastic Life: between India and China"

Join us for our annual Khyentse Buddhist Studies Lecture.

If you cannot join us in person, register on Eventbrite to receive a Zoom link.

 

Friday 21st March 2025, 11am-3pm, Senate Room, New College (and hybrid via Zoom)

Workshop: What is Vinaya and how should we study it?

This short workshop brings together scholars from Edinburgh and beyond, including our special guest Prof Ann Heirman from Ghent University, for a discussion of the Vinaya genre. Much more than a simple collection of rules and regulations for monastic life, vinaya has many implications for the study of Buddhist text, history and practice. 

Schedule:

11.00-11.30 coffee and conversation 

11.30-12.30 Panel 1: The Vinaya Inside: Rules and Stories

Vinaya texts, especially the copious Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, are some of the best sources of early Buddhist narrative, with each rule embedded into an account of its creation, and many more stories told besides. Why does a monastic regulatory text include so much narrative? How do the rules and stories inter-relate and how might they make sense pedagogically? How can studying the stories help us better understand the vinaya genre?

Featuring reflections from Dr Yael Shiri (Bristol), Dr Upali Sraman (UoE Divinity) and Prof Naomi Appleton (UoE Divinity), with the latter chairing.

12.30-1.15 lunch

1.15-2.15 Panel 2: The Vinaya Outside: Commentaries, Handbooks and Monastic Transmission

What happens if we consider vinaya as a broader genre, including commentaries and handbooks, and the partnership between vinaya precepts and monastic transmission? What are the benefits for vinaya-studies in going beyond the narrow definition of what constitutes vinaya? 

Featuring reflections from Prof Ann Heirman (Ghent), Dr Upali Sraman (UoE Divinity), and Dr Abigail MacBain (UoE Asian Studies), with the latter chairing.

2.30-3pm Closing discussion and future prospects
 
Attendance is free but registration is required! A small number of places are available to attend in person (with vegetarian lunch provided free of charge, courtesy of the Khyentse Foundation) and hybrid participation via Zoom is also possible. Register via Eventbrite.
 

 

Wednesday 2nd April 2025, 4.10-5.30pm, Martin Hall, New College

Does Abhidhamma-based Buddhist philosophy of mind see suffering as an irreducible mental event and why does this matter for AI?

Professor David Webster, University of Liverpool. Part of the Science and Religion research seminar series.

 

Wednesday 21st May 2025, 2-4pm, 50 George Square room G02

Buddhism and Philosophy “In-Conversation” Roundtable

Featuring Dr Tina Röck (Dundee), Dr Takeshi Morisato, and others tbc. Join us for a discussion about what it could mean to consider philosophy not as a method to probe, analyse, prove or disprove views (i.e. propositions), but a form of (Buddhist) practice. 

 

Wednesday, 28 May 2025, 4.30-6pm, G.03 Doorway 6 at Teviot's Medical School

Professor Sherry Fowler: Buddhist Bells and Dragons

Professor Sherry Fowler will deliver a lecture about her new book, Buddhist Bells and Dragons: Under and Over Water, In and Out of Japan. This is an in-person event only.

News

We're delighted to announce that we have been granted the status of a University of Edinburgh Research Centre. As such, we will be changing our name to the Edinburgh Centre for Buddhist Studies (ECBS) and continuing to build upon our events programme and other activities.


Comprising of a fee-waiver by the University of Edinburgh and a stipend from the Khyentse Foundation, one lucky student will be awarded this scholarship for a full-time on-campus PhD starting September 2025.

See further details on the scholarship webpage.


EBS will launch a new taught Masters programme in Buddhist Studies in September 2025. Applications open in the autumn for this one-year (two-year part-time) on-campus programme. For details, including entry requirements and how to apply, see the Programme Webpage. 


August 2023

We are delighted to write with the good news that EBS has made an exciting hire for the Buddhist Languages & Cultures post.

This position has been made possible through generous funding from the Khyentse Foundation and Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. We had an outstanding pool of candidates, and we are pleased to welcome Upali Sraman to our team. Upali recently completed his PhD in Religion at Emory University and is an ordained Buddhist priest with an MDiv from Harvard. He brings a wealth of expertise to our program and will be teaching Sanskrit, Pali, and Tibetan, in addition to offering courses on his dissertation research on bodily practice within the Vinaya. We look forward to having him join us and make significant contributions to our community.


Thanks to a new grant from the Foundation starting in January 2022, we have been able to appoint a dedicated schools outreach officer for EBS, Dr Paul Fuller. Alongside his role teaching in the School of Divinity, Dr Fuller will work one day per week on schools outreach, including school visits, resource creation, and the organisation of our annual Discovery Day for pupils.


Past events

To see details and pictures from our past events click below.

poster for the Khyentse lecture

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