Sheng Yen Buddhist Studies Lecture Series

The Sheng Yen Buddhist Studies Lecture Series was established in 2011 in conjunction with the establishment of the Sheng Yen Professorship in Chinese Buddhist Studies. The Lecture Series supports annual lectures, workshops, and conferences by visiting scholars at the Florida State University. Sheng Yen was one of the most influential Buddhist scholars and monks in the Western world, dividing his time between the United States and Taiwan. The Lecture Series honors his work by providing opportunities in furthering academic lectures on Buddhism in the promotion of Buddhist studies.

The Tessa J. Bartholomeusz Lecture in Religion has been established by the faculty of the Department of Religion, Florida State University, in memory of our late colleague. Tessa Bartholomeusz (1958-2001) came to Florida State as assistant professor in 1993, following an appointment at Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis and the completion of a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1991. She was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1997, and to full professor in 2001. While at Florida State, Professor Bartholomeusz established a reputation as a leading interpreter of Buddhism through such works as Women Under the Bo Tree (Cambridge, 1994), Buddhist Fundamentalisms and Minority Identities in Sri Lanka (State University of New York, 1998), In Defense of Dharma (Curzon Press, 2002), and numerous articles in scholarly journals. Professor Bartholomeusz also received a number of awards for teaching at Florida State University, served as treasurer for the American Institute of Sri Lanka Studies and as the book review editor for the Journal of Asian Studies. The Tessa J. Bartholomeusz Lecture is supported by the Department of Religion through its account at the Florida State University Foundation. Anyone wishing to join in supporting this project is invited to contact the Department of Religion at 850-644-1020, or to speak with one of the faculty.

Past Lectures

March 1, 2013, Dr. Robert Gimello, Research Professor of Theology and of East Asian Languages & Cultures, University of Notre Dame, "Esoteric Buddhism in a Time of Turbulence"
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April 5, 2012, Dr.Liz Wilson, Maiami University, “The Buddha’s Mother as Feminist Conundrum: Exploring the Death of Gautami.”
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February 18, 2011, Dr. Matthew Kapstein, University of Chicago, "'Spiritual Exercise' and the Interpretation of Buddhist Philosophy in India."

March 3, 2010, Dr. Luis Gomez, the University of Michigan "Distorted Views: Buddhism with a 'Self'. The Inversion of Traditional Doctrinal Categories in the [Mahāyāna] Mahāparinirvāna Mahā Sūtra."

February 12, 2009 Dr. John Holt, Bowdoin College, Maine, "A BUDDHIST VISNU? Assimilation and Exclusivity in Sri Lanka"

April 3 , 2008 Dr. Janice Willis, Wesleyan University, "'What Caste Are You?': Reflections on a Journey East"

April 2, 2007 Dr. Jacqueline Stone, Princeton University, "Right Thoughts at the Last Moment: Deathbed Practices in Early Medieval Japan"

January 13, 2006 Dr. Phyllis Granoff, Yale University, "Just Follow the Cow Tracks: Concerns of a Medieval Jain Monastic Group"

March 3, 2005 Dr. Anne M. Blackburn, Cornell University, "Cosmopolitan Buddhism & Colonialism: A View From Colombo"

October 27, 2003 Dr. Donald Swearer, Swarthmore College, "Religion and Globalization: A View from Thailand"

April 1, 2003 Charles Hallisey, Amherst College, "The Problem of Justice for All: Buddhism, Civil Society, and the State in Contemporary Sri Lanka"

March 4, 2002 Dr. Chandra de Silva, Old Dominion University, "Crossing Boundaries: The Indo-Portuguese Religious and Cultural Encounter"