Explore past and upcoming conferences, lectures and seminars on Buddhist Studies.
14 April 2026
Title: Enshrined Relics, Corpse-Exposure and the Baoshan Nun Sengshun (555-639).
Title: Cream of the Crop: Sayagyi U Ba Khin’s Vipassanā and the Ten Perfections.
Speaker: Dr. Daniel M. Stuart (University of South Carolina) Chair Dr. Yael Shiri, University of Bristol
Time: 3.30-5.30pm
Location: Room G.H01, Arts Complex 3-5 Woodland Road Bristol BS8 1UJ
More information: https://buddhiststudies.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/?post_type=calendar_event&p=420
12 and 14 March 2026
Buddhist Forum | SOAS University of London
Date: 12 and 14 March 2026
Speaker: Dr Satomi Hiyama
07 March 2026
Workshop
SOAS University of London
Date & Time: 7 March 2026, 13:30-18:00
Venue: Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT), Main Building
Buddhist Inside Out
Repentance is a central concept in Buddhism. What does it consist of? Is it merely a confession? Or does it encompass broader embodied practices? Does this function only as an individual practice or a collective ritual in both monastic and lay traditions?
Both historical and contemporary materials suggest that it serves diverse functions: healing, prayers for prosperity, and the prevention of calamities. In Mahayana traditions, these practises developed into elaborate ceremonies that reflect shared concerns across monastic and lay communities throughout East Asia. Some scholarship has examined historical repentance in relation to Buddhist precepts or ordination, yet its role in monastic and lay settings has received little attention.
This workshop brings together scholars and practitioners to explore the performance of repentance in East Asian Buddhism. By centring ritual enactment, it aims to discuss how the concept of repentance is embodied and transformed across different social settings and historical periods. Through comparative discussion, the workshop reconsiders our understanding of repentance as both purification and a means of generating worldly benefits, while fostering cross-regional dialogue on Mahayana traditions. The roundtable includes both historical perspectives and contemporary case studies from practitioners’ viewpoints.
14 February 2026
Title: Smiling with the Buddha: Buddhism and Humour
Speaker: Prof Peter Harvey
Location: British MahaBodhi Society on Zoom. Meeting Registration – Zoom
Abstract: The Buddha’s teachings in the Pāli Canon are on serious matters, but that does not mean that they lack humour, amusing stories and even satire, as do the teachings of some contemporary teachers. Wise humour has an important place in Buddhist practice. Prof Peter Harvey is a long-established Buddhist scholar who has published several seminal works, including insightful studies of the Buddha’s advice on ethics and meditation techniques. We are delighted that Prof Harvey will offer a public lecture on how the Buddha articulated with humour and wit to make his teachings memorable and relatable.
10 February 2026
Title: Maitreya’s Long Bodhisattva Journey vs. Śākyamuni’s Swift Attainment: Two Ideals of the Bodhisattva Path in the Maitreyaparipṛcchā
Speaker: Dr. Channa Li (IKGA, Austrian Academy of Science)
Chair: Dr. Yael Shiri (University of Bristol)
Time: 10 February 2026, 3:30-5:00pm
Location: Room G.H01, Arts Complex, 11 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UJ
Abstract: The Inquiry of Maitreya (Maitreyaparipṛcchā, abb. Mp), a chapter within the 49-chapter ahāratnakūṭa collection, is an early Mahāyāna sūtra that presents a distinctive doctrinal configuration, contrasting the bodhisattva paths of Maitreya and Śākyamuni. The Mp reinterprets and echoes elements from the pre-existing multi-buddha framework, particularly the Bahubuddhakasūtra, to depict divergent trajectories in their bodhisattva careers. Maitreya’s path is characterized as an “Easier Path,” emphasizing skillful means yet requiring more kalpas, whereas Śākyamuni’s journey is framed as a swifter but more heroic course, marked by greater emphasis on compassion and self-sacrificial efforts. This contrast underscores the fact that Mp is more fittingly regarded as a bodhisattva-sūtra, offering perspectives on bodhisattva practice and bodhisattva path, rather than as a fully developed text on the Maitreya cult, in contrast to what is seen in the Maitreya’s Ascend/Descend texts.
Bio: Channa Li has been working since 2019 as a Post-doc at the IKGA, doing research on the transmission of Buddhism in China. She is also affiliated with the project “
Sanskrit texts from Tibet”. Li was a doctoral student at Leiden University from 2013 to 2019, under the supervision of Prof. J.A. Silk. In 2017–2018 she was awarded a Dissertation Fellowship from the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). She received her BA and MA in Sinology (Chinese History) and Tibetology from Renmin University, PR China. Li’s field of interest ranges widely from the Buddhist cultures and materials along the Silk Road (esp. Dunhuang, Kizil) to the significance of Buddhist narratives in helping to visualize the ideological history of Buddhism in ancient India, China, and Tibet. She focuses also on translations of Buddhist Mahāyāna texts of medieval Chinese and Tibetan monks, especially Tibetan translations of Chinese
sūtras.
Li is the project leader of the FWF Esprit Project “
The Future Buddha’s Past Lives – On the Maitreyaparipṛcchā” (2023–2026). The project aims to thoroughly explore the multifaceted doctrinal stances in the development of the
bodhisattva ideal and the Maitreya cult as portrayed in the scripture titled the
Maitreyaparipṛcchā. By producing critical editions and English translations of the four historical translations of the text, the project also seeks to contribute to a more complete picture of Indo-Sino-Tibetan cultural interactions between the 8th and 11th centuries, especially in relation to their impact on scriptural transmission and translation practices.
Meeting ID: 929 2346 4939
Passcode: 304543
06 February 2026
The SOAS Centre for Global and Comparative Philosophies is pleased to invite you to the 30th Lecture in the SOAS World Philosophies Lecture Series. The speaker will be Dr Rafal Stepien of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Title: Religion, Philosophy, Religiosophy: Buddhism Between Worlds of Thought
Date Friday, February 06, 2026
Time 15:00 (UK Time)
Place SWLT @ SOAS & Online (register
HERE to get the Zoom link for all events. If you are already on our mailing list, you do not need to register; join
HERE).
Summary: Are concepts such as ‘religion’ and ‘philosophy’ translatable among worlds of thought? In this lecture, I address this question via the transmission, translation, and transformation of ideas between ancient Indian and Chinese Buddhisms, and between the classical Buddhist world and the contemporary West. In so doing, I attempt to unpack the usages to which contemporary English-language scholars typically put the terms ‘religion’ and ‘philosophy’, describe the continuing segregation of Buddhist (and for that matter other non-Western, non-Christian) philosophical and religious traditions from professional Philosophy and Religious Studies, and propose some ways by which the Buddhist ‘religiosophical’ tradition may contribute to, and innovate upon, standard models of thought.
Speaker Bio:
Rafal K. Stepien is Principal Researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Buddhist Philosophy. Rafal holds degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, and Columbia, and his latest book, Buddhism Between Religion and Philosophy: Nāgārjuna and the Ethics of Emptiness (Oxford), was awarded the American Academy of Religion’s 2025 Book Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion.
22 and 24 January 2025
Date & Time: 22 January 2026, 18:00-19:30
Venue: SALT, Senate House Building
Date & Time: 24 January 2026, 10:00-13:00
Venue: G3, Main Building
About the Speaker: Andrea Schlosser is a scholar of Indic Buddhist literature specialising in early Kharoṣṭhī and Brāhmī manuscripts from Gandhāra and Central Asia. She is the author of Three Early Mahāyāna Treatises from Gandhāra (2022) and a member of the long-term project Buddhist Manuscripts from Gandhāra at LMU in Munich.
At present, she is engaged in the editing of two significant birch-bark scrolls, a lengthy Mahāyāna sūtra and an early rājanīti verse text, both of which are part of the Bajaur collection of Kharoṣṭhī manuscripts. Her research interests include Buddhist instructions on meditation and happiness, various aspects of palaeography and typography, manuscriptology and digital editions, as well as Indian art and iconography.
20 January 2026, 11-12.30pm UK time
Biography Across the Ancient World: A Panel Discussion
Special guest Prof Charles Hallisey (Harvard) on early Buddhist biography. Prof Helen Bond (Divinity, Edinburgh) on early Christian biography, Prof Joachim Gentz (Asian Studies, Edinburgh) on early Chinese biography, Dr Philippa Townsend (Divinity, Edinburgh) on the biography of Mani.
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/biography-across-the-ancient-world-tickets-1951799718499
Further information: https://buddhist-studies.ed.ac.uk/news-and-events
20 January, 2026, 4.10-5.30pm UK time
Seeing Things with Words: Relishing Beauty with Buddhist Literature and Why It Matters
Charles Hallisey (Harvard) | The Khyentse Lecture in Buddhist Studies 2026
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/charles-hallisey-seeing-things-with-words-tickets-1904432923139
Further information: https://buddhist-studies.ed.ac.uk/news-and-events
17 December
4.15 PM CET
Early Buddhism and the Origins of the Mahāyāna
Dr. Alex Wynne, Senior Academic Consultant at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies
Numata Center for Buddhist Studies, University of Hamburg
Website https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/en/veranstaltungen.html
Register: https://www.eventbrite.de/e/early-buddhism-and-the-origins-of-the-mahayana-tickets-1974642379513
03 December 2025
The Lives and Afterlives of Buddhist Icons: Deactivation and Reactivation Rituals in Medieval Japan
This lecture by Dr Benedetta Lomi will explore how Buddhist institutions of the Heian and Kamakura periods negotiated the challenges of maintaining, repairing, and reusing their icons.
01 December 2025
Humour in Premodern Buddhist Literature
A workshop hosted by ECBS / Monday 1st December, 2-5pm, Senate Room, New College, and online via Zoom
What is humour?
What makes something funny? What are the diferent types or modes of humour, such as parody
and satire, that we fnd in premodern Buddhist texts?
Is humour cross-cultural?
To what extent is humour culturally specifc? What types of humour are able to travel across
linguistic and cultural boundaries? Why do we still laugh at certain things even in texts far
distant from ourselves?
What is humour for (in Buddhist literature)?
Is there such a thing as distinctively Buddhist humour? How does humour relate to moral
teaching or monastic discipline? When does humour become transgressive or ethically difcult?
Can humour be used to explore or communicate Buddhist ideals?
Schedule:
From 2pm arrival and cofee
2.10-2.30pm Naomi Appleton:
Humour in early Indian narrative
2.30-2.50pm Upali Sraman:
Humour in the Vinaya
2.50-3.00pm cofee break
3.00-3.20pm Jan Nicol:
Humour in the Liudu ji jing
3.20-3.40pm Rajyashree Pandey:
Humour in premodern Japan
3.40-3.50pm coffee break
3.50-5.00pm roundtable discussion
To attend please sign up through the Eventbrite page and select either in-person or online attendance.
https://buddhist-studies.ed.ac.uk/news-and-events
28 and 29 November 2025
Prof Michelle C. Wang (Georgetown University)
25 November 2025
Gandhāran Buddhist Manuscripts and Inscriptions: Recent Discoveries and Field Work / Dr Stefan Baums (LMU Munich)
Meeting ID: 986 5438 2853 Passcode: 132770
Those of you in the Bristol area can join us in Room G.H01, Arts Complex, 7 Woodland Road.
Abstract:
Recent discoveries of the earliest Buddhist manuscripts from Gandhāra (modern Afghanistan and Pakistan), dating back as far as the first century BCE and written in the Gāndhārī language, are transforming our understanding of early Buddhist literature, both in terms of its content and the ways in which it was used, and in which oral and written traditions interacted. In parallel with these manuscripts’ discoveries, the available corpus of Gāndhārī inscriptions also continues to grow, shedding new light on the interface of textual and material culture in the region. In my lecture, I will introduce these discoveries, discussing the known manuscripts and their study as well as recent epigraphical fieldwork in Pakistan and its results. In the master class, we will study in greater detail Gāndhārī manuscripts containing commentaries on early Buddhist verses and the Saṃgītisūtra and their historical connections fieldwork in Pakistan and its results. In the master class, we will study in greater detail Gāndhārī manuscripts containing commentaries on early Buddhist verses and the Saṃgītisūtra and their historical connections.
Biography:
Stefan Baums teaches Sanskrit, Prakrit and Pali language and literature and Buddhist Studies at the Institute for Indology and Tibetology of the University of Munich and serves as lead researcher of the Buddhist Manuscripts from Gandhāra project at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Before joining the University of Munich, he held positions at the University of Copenhagen, the University of Washington, the University of California, Berkeley, and Leiden University. His research interests include Buddhist philology and epigraphy, classical Sanskrit court literature, the development of Buddhist hermeneutics, and the description of Gāndhārī language and literature. His current work focuses on the decipherment and edition of four Gāndhārī manuscripts containing commentaries on early Buddhist verses and the Saṃgītisūtra and a study of the historical connections and exegetical principles of this group of texts. He is editor of the Dictionary of Gāndhārī, co-editor of the Gandhāran Buddhist Texts series, academic lead of the Research Environment for Ancient Documents (READ) software development project, and epigraphist for the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A and a small reception of drinks and nibbles.
All are welcome!
The event is generously supported by the Khyentse Foundation
13 and 15 November 2025
Robert Ho Foundation Lecture Series in Chinese Buddhism
These events are free and open to all, but seminar registration is required. Please register
here
[Lecture] Chinese visitors at the navel of the world: Transregional travels to Bodhgaya in the long First Millennium
13 November 2025, 18:00-19:30
Venue: SALT, Senate house, SOAS
Bodhgayā, the place of the Buddha’s Awakening, arguably is one of the most prominent places in Buddhist history and imagination. It is one of the four ‘Great Places’ (mahāsthāna) recommended for visits by the Buddha towards the end of his life (Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra); hence it is not surprising that it very quickly became one of the major Buddhist pilgrimage places, not only visited by Indian monastics and laypeople but also, from at least the 4th century to the 12th century AD, by Chinese travelers and pilgrims. Some of these travelers wrote records or left inscriptions in situ. This lecture will give an overview of these sources and will trace the history of Bodhgayā reflected in them.
[Seminar] Chinese sources about and from Bodhgaya from the Long First Millennium
15 November 2025, 10:00-13:00
Venue: DLT, Main Building, SOAS
As a follow-up to the Lecture, we will read and discuss selected passages from the Chinese sources on Bodhgayā; these sources will comprise Faxian’s ‘Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms’ (Foguo ji), parts of Xuanzang’s ‘Record of the Western Region of the Great Tang’, and selected Chinese inscriptions from the early Song period which were found in situ at Bodhgayā, including newly found fragments from the Bihar Museum (formerly Patna Museum).
Max Deeg is Professor in Buddhist Studies at Cardiff University, Wales. His research focuses on the transmission process of Buddhism from India to China and, more specifically, on Chinese sources on India. He is preparing a new translation and commentary of Xuanzang’s Record of the Western Regions of the Great Tang (Datang Xiyu ji) and is one of the two PIs on the ongoing “Xuanzang Trail” project in Bihar, India, which explores the Buddhist sites in Bihar mentioned in Xuanzang’s ‘Record’ (supported and funded by the Bihar Heritage Development Society).
These events are kindly sponsored by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.
11 November 2025
Envisioning Kingship in Sixteenth-century Sri Lanka / Dr Sujatha Meeghama
Meeting ID: 963 6712 4532 Passcode: 208352
Abstract:
Envisioning Kingship in Sixteenth-century Sri Lanka
Little remains of the monuments, sculptures, and paintings of sixteenth century Sri Lanka following the violent destruction of temples, both Buddhist and Hindu, that took place during Sri Lanka’s first encounter with a European colonial power. To understand the visual culture of this tumultuous time, one must therefore turn to the royal gifts produced for Portuguese patrons. These ivories provide rare glimpses into the courtly and religious traditions of Sri Lankan royalty. Portraying bodhisattva-like kings seated at court, these carvings illustrate an aspect of sixteenth-century kingship that has yet to be extensively examined. This research talk locates these ivory carvings within traditions of visualising the historical Buddha, while also engaging with Sinhala poetic descriptions of kings at court, to further understand how kingship was envisioned in sixteenth-century Sri Lanka. Such visual and textual comparisons suggest the significance of the divinity of kings, invoking both Buddhist and Hindu traditions.
Biography:
Dr Sujatha Meegama (The Courtauld) works on transcultural objects and sites in the Indian Ocean world. She is the author of Temples to the Buddha and the Gods: Transnational Dravida Tradition of Architecture in Sri Lanka (2024) and the editor of Sri Lanka: Connected Art Histories (Marg, 2017). Her current research focuses on ivories commissioned for colonial and local Buddhist patrons in Sri Lanka.
03 May 2025
Temples to the Buddha & the Gods. Keynote Speaker: Dr Sujatha Meegama; Respondent: Dr Elizabeth Harris
Lecture on Buddhist Art & Architecture in Sri Lanka
On behalf of the British Mahabodhi Society / London Buddhist Vihara
Sri Lanka’s diverse and interwoven cultural heritage has led to religious art being shared by followers of Buddhism and Hinduism over millennia. Archaeological remains, inscriptions, poetry and literature provide evidence of common architectural forms, rituals and patronage that existed over centuries amongst the island’s different communities as well as in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
Dr Sujatha Meegama from the Courtauld Institute of Art will talk on her recently published book, Temples to the Buddha and the Gods: Transnational Drāviḍa Tradition of Architecture in Sri Lanka, which explores the legacy of religious art and architecure on the island. We are also delighted that Dr Elizabeth Harris (President, UK Association of Buddhist Studies) will respond to Dr Meegama’s talk and lead an audience Q&A session.
To join Dr Sujatha Meegama’s talk and discussion in-person at London Buddhist Vihara, kindly register here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dr-sujatha-meegama-temples-to-the-buddha-the-gods-tickets-1329102664849?aff=oddtdtcreator
If you prefer to join online please click on the link below to receive the Zoom link via email:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/LjcYU4Z0Q2WIkNkXsi_Rdg
