The Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg, founded in 2007,  has a unique position in the academic world of continental Europe. It aims to strengthen the study of Buddhism, promote understanding of all aspects of Buddhism among the public, and serve as a forum for discussions and other events.

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News from the Center for Buddhist Studies:

Our new address: Alsterterrasse 1, 20354 Hamburg

The Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling-Prize 2009 for outstanding academic
achievements in the field of Non-European Cultures – without Classical
Studies has been awarded by the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Bavarian Academy of Science) to Prof. em. Dr. Lambert Schmithausen, an eminent scholar in the field of Buddhist Studies at the Asia-Africa-Institute, Dept. of Indian and Tibetan Studies. The ceremonial conferment is held on 27 June 2009 at the Bavarian Academy of Science. The Prize carries a purse of EUR 25.000.
We would like to congratulate!

The symposium "Peace in the Buddhist Traditions of India and Tibet" aims at defining the concept of peace within one of the significant religious traditions in Asia. Buddhism is represented  in popular literature as the religion of peace par excellence, an image the 14th Dalai Lama, its best-known living representative, has helped to project. The focus will mainly be on the period from its beginnings in India in the 5th century BC up to its flowering in Tibet (from the 7th century AD on). The writings of diverse Buddhist traditions in India and Tibet, the biographies of spiritual and political leaders, and the rules which influenced religious and social life will form the basis for a first analysis and discussion among participating scholars. 

Sponsored by: DFG and Gustav Prietsch-Foundation

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The Center is now accepting applications for the next round of Center for Buddhist Studies fellowships. The Center offers fellowships for up to a maximum of twenty-four months to support MA and doctoral students doing research in Buddhist studies and other fields related to Buddhism. Candidates of all faculties are welcome to apply. The application deadline for Fall 2009 is 15 May 2009.

On 21/22 November 2008 the International Symposium on Buddhism and Human Rights: Theory - Practice - Outlook has taken place at the Asien-Afrika-Institut of Hamburg University. Interdisciplinary in design, the symposium brought together participants from various fields of research. The symposium was an academic initiative of the Center for Buddhist Studies, organised by Dr. Carmen Meinert and Dr. Hans-Bernd Zöllner in cooperation with the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI), Essen and the project "Humanism in the Era of Globalization" (KWI) that aimed to encourage scholarly research and discussion about the above topic through diverse perspectives.   More...

From the winter term of 1996/7 to the winter term of 2005/6, the University of Hamburg conducted a non-curricular study program titled “Buddhism in Past and Present.”  The lectures were delivered not only by teaching staff and other affiliated persons of the University of Hamburg but also by scholars from other German and European universities and representatives of various living Buddhist traditions as well. The lectures covered a broad range of topics: the historical development of Buddhism from the beginning up to the teachings of Japanese Zen and various contemporary forms of Buddhism; Buddhist ethics; women in Buddhism; meditation; and violence and non-violence from a Buddhist perspective.
The digitization of the lectures was made possible through the support of an anonymous sponsor, whom we would like to thank for this generous contribution.

Click here to view transcripts of the lectures.

This year’s Karl H. Ditze Prize for outstanding graduate work has been awarded to four young scholars, including two graduates from the Asia-Africa Institute who have been doing research in the field of Buddhist Studies: Michaela Mross for her M.A. thesis and Dorji Wangchuk for his Ph.D. thesis. Michaela Mross is a graduate in Japanese and Chinese studies. In her M.A. thesis she worked on the Rakan Kôshiki, a basic liturgical text of the Japanese school of Soto Zen. Currently she is working on her doctoral thesis under a DAAD scholarship at the renowned Komazawa University in Tokyo. Dorji Wangchuk, who also received his M.A. at the Asia-Africa Institute, specializes in the Indo-Tibetan traditions of Buddhism. His doctoral dissertation focuses on bodhicitta, a soteriological concept of fundamental importance within Mahayana Buddhism. This work reaches out in new directions, both text-historically and methodologically. Dr. Wangchuk is currently teaching and doing research in the field of Tibetan Studies at the Asien-Afrika Institut.
The Karl H. Ditze Prize carries a purse of EUR 3.000 for doctoral work, and EUR 2.000 for master’s level.
We would like to congratulate these fine alumni for their achievements.

Buddhism and Peace
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Buddhism and the Hospice Movement
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Buddhist and Christian Monastic Communities in Germany
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Buddhism and Neuroscience
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Buddhism and the stem cell debate
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Buddhism and Quantenphysics
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Our new Address: Alsterterrasse 1, 20354 Hamburg

Buddhism Encountering the Natural Sciences
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Greedy for Money or Acting out of Compassion: A Buddhist Look at the Global Economy
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Buddhism and Education: Intercultural Learning from the Point of View of Educational Science
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