We have some exciting events planned for the coming academic year. Check back later for details of future events, or contact buddhist.studies@ed.ac.uk to be added to our mailing list or membership.
Wednesdays, starting 23rd September 2026, 12.30-1.30pm, Rainy Hall, New College
ECBS lunch
On 23rd September join us for the first ECBS lunch of the semester, when we welcome our new cohort of students and reconnect with existing members. Bring your own lunch as the Rainy Hall cafe will not reopen until the end of October. We will meet weekly during semester, for informal conversation.
Friday 6th November 2026, 11am-1pm, Evolution House Room 5.21 (Edinburgh College of Art)
Panel discussion: "Enacting the Dharma: Buddhist Writing, Ritual, and Performance in Pre-Modern Asia"
This panel brings together local scholars with visiting speaker Dr Michael Como to examine different angles in which practitioners engaged with Buddhism across pre-modern Asia.
Hybrid participation will be possible via Teams: register here and you will receive a joining link before the event starts.
Friday 6th November 2026, 4-6pm, Project Room (1.06), 50 George Square
Professor Michael I. Como (Columbia University): "What Came with Buddhism? Writing, Gods, and Religious Transformation in Ancient Japan"
The annual Khyentse Lecture in Buddhist Studies.
Abstract: The spread of Buddhism across the Japanese islands during the seventh and eighth centuries involved far more than the transmission of Buddhist doctrines, scriptures, and institutions. Accompanying the emergence of new urban centers and transportation networks were new ritual technologies, practices, and continental deities that transformed how people engaged the superhuman world. Drawing upon archaeological and textual evidence, this lecture explores how the spread of writing and new ritual media helped generate a dramatically expanded pantheon of spirits, demons, and disease deities. I argue that the diffusion of Buddhism was inseparable from a broader ritual revolution that fundamentally transformed the religious landscape of ancient Japan.
Dr Michael Como is the Tōshū Fukami Associate Professor of Shinto Studies at Columbia University in New York City. His research interests include transmission and diffusion of rituals and deities to Japan, local religious traditions, urbanization and theological innovation. His recent work has focused on the religious history of the Japanese islands from the Asuka through the early Heian periods (ca. 6th–10th centuries), with a particular focus upon the Chinese and Korean deities, rites and technological systems that were transmitted to the Japanese islands during this time.
Hybrid participation will be possible via Teams: register here and you will receive a joining link before the event starts.
Tuesday 10th November 2026, 4.10-5.30pm, Martin Hall, New College, and online via Teams
Prof Naomi Appleton: Love in the Time of the Buddha: Friendship and Devotion in early Buddhist Narrative (Religious Studies research seminar)
For hybrid participation email the series convenor, Dr Shadaab Rahemtulla: s.rahemtulla@ed.ac.uk
Wednesday 2nd December, 2-5.30pm, Martin Hall, New College, and online via Teams
"The Excremental Imagination across Buddhist Literature"
A workshop and book launch. The workshop (2-3.30pm) will feature three short papers and a discussion.
Sarah Shaw: ‘Wake up and smell the poo: how Pāli jātakas remind us we are all in samsara'
Oliver Hargrave: 'Sticks, Silk, and, Paper: Toilet Objects in Medieval Chinese Buddhism’
followed by:
3.30-4pm Coffee break in the Rainy Hall
followed by:
4.10-5.30pm Book launch for Prof Rajyashree Pandey's The Excremental Imagination: Disgust, Compassion, and Laughter in Medieval Japan
Hybrid participation will be possible via Teams: register here and you will receive a joining link.
11th January 2027
2-3pm workshop, 4-5.30pm lecture
Prof Rachel Saunders will be visiting from Princeton University
She will give a lecture on an aspect of her work as an art historian of Japan, as well as participate in a workshop with PG and ECR members. Details to follow.
3rd March 2027, Senate Room, New College, schedule tbc
Annual ECBS Works-In-Progress Workshop
Our annual sharing space for work in progress. Attendance in person only and limited to ECBS members.
10 March 2027, time and venue tbc
Kristina Buhrman (Binghamton University, State University of New York): "In and Out of Shadow: The History of Onmyōdō and the Creation of a Secular Religious Profession in Classical and Early Medieval Japan"
As part of the Asian Studies seminar series.