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Goodman Lecture Series
Since June of 2021, Khyentse Foundation regularly features lectures delivered by foremost Buddhist Studies scholars from our partner institutions and universities in Asia, Europe, and North America. The program is named for long-time Khyentse Foundation friend and advisor Professor Steven D. Goodman (1945–2020), whose unique and joyful teaching style was a reflection of his great intellect, light-heartedness, humor, and deep desire to make the dharma accessible to others. Intended to create a bridge between academic and non-academic audiences, the Goodman Lectures present bold ideas and innovative research in an accessible format. All lectures are freely available online.
Upcoming
Past Lecture Series
Professor Jiang Wu
The University of ArizonaEnlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in 17th-Century China (Lecture in Chinese)
January 10, 2025
By maryann
This lecture centers on the recent translation of Professor Jiang Wu’s monograph, offering a comprehensive examination of the complex history and reinvention of the Chan Buddhist tradition in 17th-century China.
Dr. Catherine Dalton
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha and Rangjung Yeshe InstituteStudy and Translation as Buddhist Practice
October 25, 2024
By maryann
In this talk, Catherine explores how integrating the study of Buddhism and the translation of its texts with committed experiential training can lead to a more effective and fulfilling approach to both learning and translation.
Dr. Lata Deokar
Savitribai Phule Pune UniversityDoing Lexicography Religiously
August 24, 2024
By maryann
This talk discusses how ancient Buddhist authors approached words and their meanings, how they documented meanings, and whether they did conventional lexicography or did away with it.
Tung-Ming Chao
East China Normal UniversityKey Points and Characteristics of Tiantai Buddhism and the Faxiang (Chinese Yogācāra) School 天台佛學與法相唯識佛學的要點與特色
August 14, 2024
By maryann
This lecture primarily introduces the key philosophical characteristics and points of two major Buddhist schools during the Sui and Tang dynasties in China: Tiantai Buddhism and the Faxiang (Chinese Yogācāra) School.
Professor Shenghai Li
National Taiwan UniversityThe Aesthetics of Disgust in Sanskrit Buddhist Literature 梵文佛教文學中厭惡的美學
April 20, 2024
By maryann
These texts show how the Buddhist intelligentsia in late Indian Buddhism might have reflected on aesthetics and may reveal something about an emerging Buddhist approach.
Professor Georgios T. Halkias
The University of Hong KongNotes on the Earliest Tibetan Buddhist Canons
February 24, 2024
By maryann
This talk will draw from the contents of the last imperial catalogue of Buddhist works in Tibetan translation, the dkar chag ’phang thang ma, to shed light on the formation and contents of the earliest Tibetan canons.
Dr. Sangseraima Ujeed
University of MichiganLand of the Jowos: Buddhist Temples in Mongolia as the Embodiment of Statehood
January 20, 2024
By maryann
This talk takes a tour through these monasteries and temples to shed light on the interplay between Buddhism and the state, which led to the proliferation of institutionalized Buddhism in Mongolian lands, and on the impact these processes had on the disintegration of a unified Mongol state.
Albert Welter
University of ArizonaIn Search of Zen Studies: The Central Role of Chan/Zen Syncretism
November 11, 2023
By maryann
Zen enthralled the world throughout much of the twentieth century, and Zen studies became a major academic discipline in its wake.
Professor Yao Zhihua
China University of Hong KongEmptiness and Nothing in Buddhist Philosophy
July 15, 2023
By maryann
In this talk I will classify the different conceptions of emptiness in various Buddhist philosophical schools.
Erik Pema Kunsang
Key Points of Timeless Value
May 13, 2023
By maryann
"Anyone, anytime, anywhere can improve, liberate, and transcend the present state of mind. I will speak on the four timeless principles taught in the Samadhiraja-sutra (‘The King of Samadhis Sutra’)."
Dr. Gareth Sparham
A Brief History of, and Introduction to, the Śatasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā (“The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines”)
April 22, 2023
By maryann
“The Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines” is a colossal scripture. Probably the longest sacred book in existence, it comprises 12 volumes running to nearly 10,000 pages.
Professor Sheng-Hsin Hsu
National Taiwan UniversityZhuangzi and Zen
March 18, 2023
By maryann
The interpretation of some Zen masters’ verses and their analogy with Zhuangzi’s thought. (Lecture in Chinese)
Professor Seiji Kumagai
Kyoto UniversityThe Past, Present, and Future of Buddhism and Buddhology in Japan
February 18, 2023
By maryann
This talk will explore the history and current state of Buddhism and Buddhology in Japan, with an eye toward what they might aspire to become in the future.
Dr. Trent Walker and Dr. Anand Venkatkrishnan
Stanford University and University of ChicagoSinging the Dharma in Cambodia: A Conversation on Until Nirvana’s Time
January 14, 2023
By maryann
This event brings Anand Venkatkrishnan, assistant professor of the history of religion in South Asia at the University of Chicago, into dialogue with Trent Walker, postdoctoral fellow of the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford University.
Professor Mark Allon
University of SydneyBuddhism in Ancient Gandhara and Recent Manuscript Discoveries
October 22, 2022
By maryann
Several major collections of Buddhist manuscripts from ancient Gandhara (present day northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan) have come to light over the past three decades.
Professor Paul Harrison
Stanford UniversityWhat Can We Learn From the Teaching of Vimalakīrti?
September 27, 2022
By maryann
This talk takes as its point of departure a recently published English rendition of one of the most celebrated of all Mahāyāna sūtras, The Teaching of Vimalakīrti.
Professor Saerji
Peking UniversityThe Formation of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon and its Textual Value (Lecture in Chinese)
August 6, 2022
By maryann
This lecture aims to explore the history of the translation and integration of Tibetan-translated Buddhist scriptures from both diachronic and synchronic perspectives.* Lecture is in Chinese
Professor Friedrich Grohmann
Fo Guang UniversityWho can be rightly called a Bodhisattva?
June 25, 2022
By maryann
Professor Jens-Uwe Hartmann
University of MunichOut of Town, yet Bound to it: How the Early Buddhists Organized Seclusion and Survival
May 28, 2022
By maryann
In a way, early Buddhism can even be viewed as a reaction to this urbanization.
Venerable Professor K.L. Dhammajoti
Buddha Dharma Centre of Hong KongMaster Xuanzang’s Contribution to Modern Buddhist Studies | 玄奘大师对现代佛学研究的贡献
April 30, 2022
By maryann
Dr. Naomi Appleton
University of EdinburghNarrative Buddhology: Explorations of Indian Buddhist Literature
March 19, 2022
By maryann
Indian Buddhist texts contain a complex fabric of narratives interweaving the Buddha’s past lives, his final life, his encounters with others and their past-life encounters with other buddhas.
Professor Eviatar Shulman
The Hebrew University of JerusalemOn Creating the Early Discourses (Suttas) of the Buddha
February 10, 2022
By maryann
In this talk we will inquire into some of the motivations and methods behind the shaping of the early discourses, in order to obtain an improved understanding of the nature of the early Buddhist tradition.
Professor Anne C. Klein (Rigzin Drolma)
Rice UniversityBeing Human and a Buddha Too: Dialogues with Yeshe Tsogyal
January 15, 2022
By maryann
Sādhanas capture with utmost economy the essence of Buddhist logic and mythos, philosophy and poetics, sounding and silence.
Professor Peter Skilling (Bhadra Rujirathat)
Chulalongkorn UniversityThe Universe of Buddhist Canons
December 11, 2021
By maryann
There is no agreement on the definition or range of the term ‘Buddhist canon’ or ‘Buddhist canons’—to the point that we may speak of a "loose canonicity."
Professor Imre Hamar
Eötvös Loránd UniversityThe Role of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva in Buddhist Practice
November 13, 2021
By maryann
Professor Sarah H. Jacoby
Northwestern UniversityThe Relatable and Extraordinary Life of Sera Khandro Dewé Dorjé
October 21, 2021
By maryann
In this talk I will share some tastes of a project I am currently immersed in to translate the richness of both the relatable and extraordinary elements of Sera Khandro’s writing from Tibetan into English.
Professor Jacob Dalton
University of California, BerkeleyTibetan Tantra at Dunhuang
September 24, 2021
By maryann
After a brief introduction to the Dunhuang collection in general, this lecture considers what these ancient treasures tell us about the early Tibetan assimilation of tantric Buddhism in particular, from the late eighth to the late tenth centuries.
Professor Dorji Wangchuk
Univsersity of HamburgWhen Can Buddhism Be Considered Dead and When Living?
August 19, 2021
By maryann
In this talk, I wish to reflect, from an emic perspective, on what would characterize the life and vitality of Buddhism, and when can it be considered dead and when living.
Professor Shrikant Bahulkar
Savitribai Phule Pune UniversityVedism and Buddhism
July 31, 2021
By maryann
Professor Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
University of MichiganReason and Revelation in Buddhism
June 12, 2021
By maryann
