No.33 Seminar ： The Role of Buddhism in Creating Social Welfare: Learning from the Model of Bhutan
- Seiji KUMAGAI (The Hakubi Center),Sir Karma URA (Center for Bhutan Studies),Takayoshi KUSAGO (Kansai Univ.),Ryuho IKEGUCHI (Free Monks Association),Yoshiro IMAEDA (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
- 2012/01/10 3:00pm
- Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) Main Building 2F, Seminar Room
- Japanese
Summary
Bhutan attracts attention all over the world because of its promotion of the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH). Recently, the Japanese media too has noted its significance as a guiding principle for social and political prosperity. In order to understand the concept of GNH in its proper context, we must examine the Bhutanese Buddhist doctrines in which it is rooted. Although studies of Bhutanese society and its cultural strata have taken off in recent years, Bhutanese Buddhist doctrine has remained largely unexplored. It is to meet this need for academic focus on the religious roots of contemporary Bhutanese cultural trends that Dr Kumagai started the Bhutanese Buddhism Research Project (BBRP) in collaboration with the Center for Bhutan Studies, establishing its head office at Kyoto University. The BBRP, which Dr Kumagai runs along with four post-doctoral researchers, has taken as its mission as the publication of classic Bhutanese Buddhist texts, as well as philological, historical, and anthropological studies. He is further trying to apply Bhutanese Buddhist theory to social happiness in collaboration with researchers of various fields. This is the first ever full-scale research project on Bhutanese Buddhism. The following five specialists of Bhutan and Buddhism, each a member of this project, will present in this seminar:
- Seiji KUMAGAI (Assistant Professor, Kyoto University) “The Concept of the Bhutanese Buddhism Research Project”
- Sir Karma URA (President, Center for Bhutan Studies) “Buddhism, Bhutan, and GNH”
- Takayoshi KUSAGO (Professor, Kansai University) “The Possibility of Applying GNH in Japan”
- Ryuho IKEGUCHI (President, Free Monks Association) “Change of Ethos in the Japanese Buddhist Community in Recent Years”
- Yoshiro IMAEDA (Professor, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) “Bhutanese Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism”
(The last three presentations are in Japanese)