A colloquium talk by Prof. Erik Hammerstrom (Pacific Lutheran University) on the critical assessment of the common assumption that Buddhist scriptures recovered from Japan shaped the development of Chinese Buddhism during the Republican Period (1912-1949).

Friday, April 23, 2021
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM (Pacific Time)
by Zoom

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Chinese Buddhists embraced modern printing technology and established networks to disseminate its products. This development is credited with bringing back into circulation in China a number of important Buddhist scriptures recovered from Japan, and scholars argue that these texts shaped the development of Buddhist studies among Chinese Buddhist intellectuals during the Republican Period (1912-1949). In this talk, Professor Hammerstrom will critically assess this claim by looking at texts associated with the Huayan school.

Erik Hammerstrom is Chair of the Religion Department at Pacific Lutheran University, in Tacoma, Washington. He earned his B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College; his M.A. in Asian Religions from the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa; and his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Indiana University, Bloomington. A specialist in Chinese Buddhism, he has published two books with Columbia University Press: The Science of Chinese Buddhism: Early Twentieth-Century Engagements (2015) and The Huayan University Network: Avataṃsaka Buddhism in Twentieth-Century China (2020). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Tacoma Buddhist Temple.

https://ucla.in/3skGQqy

Cost : Free but RSVP required

Sponsor(s): Center for Buddhist Studies, Center for the Study of Religion