2020
February
Since February 2020 joint research is being conducted on-line. For details of our activities until Covid 19 has been brought under control and joint research is resumed, reference can be made to the performance reports on the research project funded by a Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Pioneering) for the research project "An Empirical Study of Buddhist Meditation and Mindfulness through Cooperation between Buddhism, Psychology, and Brain Science", headed by Professor Kenryō Minowa.
23-30 January
Sakuma retraced the steps of Xuanzang in Odisha, Nāgārjunakoṇḍa, and Amarāvatī in eastern India and investigated the influence of Esoteric Buddhism in this region. On the same day that he arrived back at Narita Airport a charter flight from Wuhan in China landed at Haneda Airport.
2019
4-10 November
Sakuma visited several research institutes in Vietnam and, hearing that Thích Nhất Hạnh, an important figure in the study of the psychology of mindfulness, had returned from France to his temple near Huế, visited the temple. But Thích Nhất Hạnh was in strict quarantine inside his residence and was avoiding all contact with outsiders, and this photograph was taken in front of his residence. Thích Nhất Hạnh may have already sensed the imminent spread of the current worldwide pandemic.
12-13 September
Practical training in the meditation practices of the Sōtō sect was provided at the temple Sōjiji in Tsurumi under the auspices of the Union of University Young Buddhist Associations.
9 May
Sakuma visited the University of Hamburg in Germany to observe its approach to research on manuscripts, which seeks to transcend the divide between the humanities and the sciences.
30-31 March
A symposium on "Frontier Research on Zhiguan/Shikan and Mindfulness" was held at the Nara Kasugano International Forum. A meditation workshop titled "From Theravāda Buddhism to Mahāyāna Buddhism" was held in the Meditation Room at the temple Gangōji.
19 February
Sakuma visited the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney to observe the state of research there.
17 February
Sakuma visited Nantien Institute in Unanderra, Australia, to observe the state of research there on Buddhist studies and mindfulness.
2018
5 December
Sakuma gave a lecture at Mount Emei Buddhist College in China.
2 December
Sakuma presented a paper at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, on Xuanzang in Weishi doctrine and Anhui in Hossō doctrine.
12 July
Sakuma presented a paper at the 17th World Sanskrit Conference, held at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He argued that Sthiramati of Valabhī in western India was a different person from the commentator Sthiramati and also from Anhui, mentioned in Chinese sources.
April
From April 2018 to March 2021 regular study meetings are being held for the joint research project "An Empirical Study of Buddhist Meditation and Mindfulness through Cooperation between Buddhism, Psychology, and Brain Science".
6 March
The symposium "Buddhism, Brain Science, and Mindfulness" was held by the Union of University Young Buddhist Associations in the International Academic Research Building on the University of Tokyo's Hongō Campus. For details, see here.
2017
2 December
Sakuma gave a keynote lecture on two trends in Vijñānavāda texts at Hangzhou Buddhist College in Hangzhou, China.
2 October
A study meeting on Indian and Tibetan Buddhism was held together with Professor Dorji Wangchuk and Dr. Orna Almogi of the University of Hamburg, Germany.
7-8 September
In accordance with the Institute's thinking that Buddhism should be understood on the basis of actual experience of meditative practices, we supported an event organized by the Union of University Young Buddhist Associations. In this student-led initiative, participants stayed at the Institute for one night and received practical instruction from experts (including monks) from India (Hatha Yoga), Bangladesh (walking meditation, etc.), Thailand (samatha), and Taiwan (sutra recitation) and also from a Japanese Rinzai monk in kōan Zen. The Institute hopes that Young Buddhist Associations, which tend to lean towards the academic study of Buddhism, will open up to students from a broader range of fields and will encourage interest in Buddhism in disciplines such as archaeology, history, art history, and also the natural sciences, including brain science and mindfulness, as well as among the general public.
26 June
Professor Kenryō Minowa of the Department of Indian Philosophy and Buddhist Studies at the University of Tokyo, who is also one of the Institute's researchers, gave a lecture on "Buddhist Meditation and Mindfulness."
14 April
Faculty and students from the Department of Indian Philosophy and Buddhist Studies at the University of Tokyo visited the Institute and apprised us of the current circumstances of the Department. In the future, we hope to be able to hold study meetings of the Department at the Institute.
15 March
We discussed Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda thought and the current state of Buddhist studies in Korea with Professor Choe Jongnam of Joong-Ang Sangha University, Korea.
14 February
We discussed Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda thought with Master Yuanyan and his interpreter Master Yuanhuan of Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, China.
2016
7 December
A meeting of the Kanto Sangiti Society was held at the Institute. Priests from the Kōyasan Shingon sect, the Buzan branch of the Shingon sect, the Tendai sect, and the Jōdo Shin sect, as well as researchers of Buddhist studies and cultural anthropology and also members of the general public, came from as far away as Kyoto, Hokuriku, and Tohoku, and a lively discussion on "Dying and Living" was held.
17-19 November
Sakuma conducted joint research with Professor Diwakar Acharya at All Souls College, Oxford. The photographs were taken at a Guest Night hosted by the University.
6 October
Sakuma gave a lecture at Harvard University about how we normally do not see actual things but only concepts that we ourselves have created. Money (a good example being shares), status, and fame are all concepts. This all has bearings on our mental problems, living as we do in a world of delusion in which we madly pursue these things that may be gone tomorrow.
15-16 September
We invited Dr. Anne MacDonald of the Austrian Academy of Sciences to hold a workshop on the interrelationship between the ideas of the Yogācāra and Madhyamika schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism.
5 September
We held a study meeting on beliefs related to Amitābha with Professor Chen Minling of Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan.
27 August
Sakuma conducted joint research on manas in Vijñānavāda theory at the home of Lambert Schmithausen, emeritus professor of the University of Hamburg.
2 July
We held a joint round-table discussion with the Sangiti Society in Kyoto on emptiness and other topics.
1 April
Sakuma gave a lecture on Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda thought and the scholar Sthiramati at National Chengchi University, Taiwan.
3 March
Professor Diwakar Acharya of Oxford University recited Sanskrit sutras at the Institute, which we recorded.