- UCLA Center for Studies

Woman praying in front of the Jhokang (Photo: Lyle Vincent, cropped) CC BY-ND 2.0

Welcome

The UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies trains scholars and educates members of the broader community about Buddhist religion and culture in all of their diversity. Among U.S. universities, only UCLA aspires to cover all of the major traditions in this world religion.

Upcoming Events

11/20/2024
4-5:30pm

How Japanese Buddhists Tried to Make Bad Kids Good

Prof. Jolyon Thomas (University of Pennsylvania) will speak about Japanese anxieties about youths in the 1950s and 1960s and the attempt to use Buddhist teachings in public schools to help develop a morally upright citizenry. These creative Buddhist attempts to make "bad" kids "good" utterly failed, but they spurred some of the most doctrinally innovative Buddhist thinking of the twentieth century.

Recent Events

9/20/2024 - 9/21/2024
7pm

Casual Conversation with a Zen Master

The event will feature a talk by Ven. Pomnyun, a Buddhist monk, peace activist, humanitarian assistance expert and environmentalist.

5/15/2024
4-5:30pm

TALK CANCELED: How Japanese Buddhists Tried to Make Bad Kids Good

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS TALK IS CANCELED This talk tracks how ensuing debates over patriotic ritual, moral instruction, vocational training, and sex education reflected uncertainties about the relationship between religion, democratic citizenship, and capitalist subjectivity.

News

In Memoriam: Diego Loukota, ‘Once-in-a-Generation' Intellect

Diego Loukota, a UCLA specialist in Indian and Central Asian Buddhism and assistant professor of Asian languages and cultures, died on March 17, 2024. He was 38 years old.
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Family love leads donor to create two endowed scholarships at UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies

Kyung Ki (Cindy) Min has created two endowed scholarships at the UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies that provide valuable support to students of Buddhism.
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