Lectureships Campaign

OCBS' Lectureships Campaign aims to establish within the University of Oxford a centre of excellence for the study of Buddhism. The goal is to raise funds to endow permanently each one of three Lectureships (in Chinese and Far Eastern Buddhism, Pali and early Buddhism and Buddhist Art and Archaeology).

Thanks to the efforts of Richard Gombrich, and the generosity of a benefactor, Oxford today has the only chair in Buddhism in the whole of Europe. In order for a centre of excellence to be established we need to expand the scope of Buddhist studies at Oxford.

If you wish to make a major gift please call Richard Gombrich

on +44 (0)1865 766830 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The full endowment of a Lectureship would enable the donor to specify the title of that Lectureship.

Below are articles providing a backdrop for the various posts.  Please click on the title of the one you are interested in.

We are also collecting funding to go to the teaching of these subjects through short-term appointments.  If you would like to contribute to this please click on the Donate Button found at the bottom of each Lectureship page.

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

Lectureship in Pali Buddhist Studies

Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, known in English as the Pali Canon. This huge collection of texts is our main source for the teachings of early Buddhism, indeed of the Buddha himself. For Theravada Buddhists it is the functional equivalent of the Bible for Christians.

The Buddha lived when writing was not in use in ancient India, so we cannot precisely judge the accuracy of the claim that the texts in the Pali Canon report his very words; scholars disagree about it. However, we can be sure of two things: that those texts have a far better claim to reflect the Buddha’s ideas than any other set of texts; and that their language, Pali, while it does not exactly reflect the Buddha’s own speech, comes closer to doing so than any other language in which substantial texts survive.

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Lectureship in East Asian Buddhist Studies

East Asia has nurtured one of the three great Buddhist traditions.  Buddhism entered China very early in the Common Era and later spread from there to Korea, Japan and Vietnam.  The cultures and histories of these countries have been deeply influenced by Buddhism, and the number of Buddhist monks and nuns in China alone has far outweighed those in the rest of the world.  

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Lectureship in Buddhist Art and Archaeology

Visual culture is as important in the Buddhist tradition as in any other of mankind’s great religions. What is expressed in the texts and practices also informs rich traditions of painting, sculpture and architecture, from India to Japan. While by their nature these also form part of the local artistic traditions, it can be as valuable and enlightening to study Buddhist art as it can to study, for instance, the Christian art found down the centuries in diverse countries across the globe.

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Patrons

HH the Dalai Lama

HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand

His Majesty the 5th Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck of Bhutan

Mr Toshihide Numata, President of the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi  Hon. DCL(Oxon)