FALL 2019

The Second International Conference on Buddhism and Law

Buddhism, Law and Society: Between Text and Context.

September 26 to 28, 2019: The Second International Conference on Buddhism and Law. Hosted by the journal Buddhism, Law & Society, this conference focuses on the many legal features of Buddhism, and how law and the state relate to Buddhist actors, institutions and texts.

The conference will cover themes, such as: Buddhism and politics; current issues in implementing Buddhist religious values into legal systems; Buddhist law and constitutionalism in emerging democracies; legal aspects of different versions of the Vinaya in Sanskrit, Pali and other vernacular sources; Buddhism and social policy; the relationship of Buddhism to religious education, criminal law, and property law; colonialism and its relationship to Buddhist law; and Buddhist legal processes, among many others. The conference is free and open to the public. We invite all persons interested in the topic to attend.

Location/Days/Time

UB North Campus
509 O'Brian Hall 

September 26 to 28, 2019
Thursday to Saturday
8:30 a.m. to 6:00p.m.

Panelists

  • Gerjan Altenburg, McMaster University
  • Thomas Borchert, University of Vermont
  • Jens Wilhelm Borgland, Uppsala University
  • Shayne Clarke, McMaster University
  • Christopher Emms, McMaster University
  • Annie Heckman, University of Toronto
  • Berthe Jansen, Leipzig University
  • Petra Kieffer-Pülz, Academy of Sciences and Literature Main
  • Christian Lammerts, Rutgers University
  • Tomas Larsson, University of Cambridge
  • Cuilan Liu, University of Pittsburgh
  • Eugénie Mérieau, University of Göttingen
  • Mark Nathan, University at Buffalo, Department of History
  • Rebecca Redwood French, University at Buffalo, School of Law
  • Ben Schonthal, University of Otago
  • Vesna A. Wallace, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Richard Whitecross, Edinburgh Napier University 
  • Fumi Yao, Waseda University
About visiting UB and the Buffalo Niagara Region

Organizers

  • Rebecca Redwood French
    UB School of Law, and, Department of Anthropology
  • Christian Lammerts 
     Department of Religion, Rutgers University
  • Petra Kieffer-Pül
     Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz

Sponsors

Buddhism, Law & Society is the first interdisciplinary academic journal to focus on Buddhist law and the relationship between Buddhism, law, and society.

Schedule

THURSDAY, SEPT. 26

8:30 - BREAKFAST

9:00 - 9:15 - Introductory Remarks – Rebecca French, University at Buffalo School of Law, SUNY 

9:15 - 11:30 - Theravāda Studies

  • Petra Kieffer-Pülz, Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz
    Additional ‘Vinaya’ rules from inscriptions
  • Ben Schonthal, University of Otago
    A Contemporary Monastic Court System in Sri Lanka

11:30 - TEA

11:45 - 1:15 - Death and Property in Tibet and Burma

  • Berthe Jansen, Leipzig University
    Ambiguity and Abolishment: Tibetan Buddhists' Positions on the Death Sentence
  • Christian Lammerts, Rutgers University
    The Reception of the Verses on the Snake-Child in Manusāra

1:15 - LUNCH

2:15 - 3:45 - Law and State in Thailand and Bhutan I

  • Eugénie Mérieau, University of Göttingen
    Buddhist Constitutionalism and Sacred Kingship in Thailand and Bhutan
  • Nima Dorji, Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law
    Buddhism and the Evolution of GNH-State in Bhutan

3:45 - TEA

4:00 - 5:30 - Law and State in Thailand and Bhutan II

  • Tomas Larsson, University of Cambridge
    Royal succession and religious purification in contemporary Thailand
  • Thomas Borchert, University of Vermont
    Weak and Autocratic? Institutional Aspects of the Supreme Sangha Council in Thailand

6:00 - DINNER

 

FRIDAY, SEPT. 27

8:30 - BREAKFAST

9:00 - 9:45 

  • Richard Whitecross, Edinburgh Napier University
    Title tba

9:45 - 12:00 - Regulating Buddhism and Monks in Mongolia, China and Korea
 (Tea available after 11:15)

  • Vesna A. Wallace, University of California, Santa Barbara
    Dalai Lama’s Regulations for Mongolian Monks and Monasteries
  • Cuilan Liu, University of Toronto
    Law and State Governance of Buddhism in Modern and Contemporary China 
  • Mark Nathan, University at Buffalo SUNY
    Title tba

12:00- LUNCH

1:00-5:00 - EXCURSION
 Niagara Falls and/or Albright-Knox Museum

6:00 - DINNER



SATURDAY, SEPT. 28

8:30 - BREAKFAST

9:00 - 10:30 - Mūlasarvāstivāda Studies

  • Fumi Yao, Waseda Institute for Advanced Study
    Talking Wittily with an Ill-Behaved Monk: On a Reference to the Jetavanasūtra* in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya
  • Jens Wilhelm Borgland, Uppsala University
    Turning the bowl upside down in Mūlasarvāstivādin monastic procedural law

10:30 - TEA

10:45 - 12:30 - Roundtable Discussion

12:30 - LUNCH 

1:30 - 4:00 - Tibetan Buddhist Monastic Law at Dunhuang

  • Shayne Clarke, McMaster University
    A Brief Survey of the Manuscripts on Buddhist Monastic Law Preserved at Dunhuang
  • Christopher Emms, McMaster University 
    Śākyaprabha's Āryamūlasarvāstivādiśrāmaṇerakārikā or Verses for Novices of the Noble Mūlasarvāstivādins at Dunhuang: A Study of the Rules for Novices
  • Annie Heckman, University of Toronto
    Writing Down Law: A Study of Handwriting in Tibetan Dunhuang Vinaya Manuscripts
  • Gerjan Altenburg, McMaster University
    The Prātimokṣābhismaraṇapada and the Organizational Structure of Verses in Buddhist Monastic Legal Literature from Dunhuang

4:00 - 5:00 - CLOSING REMARKS AND REFLECTIONS

 

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Conference Poster

Zoom image: The Second International Conference on Buddhism and Law. The Second International Conference on Buddhism and Law.
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