This volume is the fruition of The 1st International Conference on Buddhist Studies by the Four East Asian Universities, held at Doungguk University in May 9 to 10th, 2014. This conference has been held biennially in Korea, China, Japan, and Taiwan by turns. The four hosts of this conference, the Humanities Korea (HK) Project of the Institute for Buddhist Culture at Dongguk University, Philosophy Department at Peking University, Department of Indian Philosophy and Buddhist Studies at University of Tokyo, the Center for Buddhist Studies at National Taiwan University, are the major research centers of Buddhist Studies in each country. The 2nd Conference was held at Peking University in April 21 to 22, 2016, and the 3rd Conference is planned at National Taiwan University in 2018.
The HK Project of the Institute for Buddhist Culture at Dongguk University, the main host of this Conference, has been carrying out the Humanities Korea Project, the ten-year long research project since 2011, with support from National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF). Under the main theme of ‘Glocality of Korean Buddhism: Cultural expansion of Buddhist studies,’ the research has been conducted on Korean Buddhist tradition from three perspectives of locality, globality, and glo-cality. Cultural and intellectual interactions on the common ground of East Asian Buddhist tradition has been comparatively studied from a broader viewpoint. The Project ultimately aims for establishing of ‘East Asian Humanity network’ and drawing more attention from all the world on East Asian Buddhism through such discourse as ‘sphere of East Asian Buddhist culture.’
The HK Project of the Institute devotedly worked to establish the partnership between the four universities. After long-term preparation, the HK Project and the partner universities could reach the final agreement on cooperation in holding the Conference, in October, 2013. This valuable agreement was the result of previous efforts by the HK Project, dedicated to each individual agreement with Philosophy Department at Peking University in Februdary, 2013; Department of Indian Philosophy and Buddhist Studies at University of Tokyo in July, 2013; the Center for Buddhist Studies at National Taiwan University in August, 2013.
The current volume is the first outcome of the International Conference on Buddhist Studies by the Four East Asian Universities, the institutional system for establishing mutual understanding and interrelationship between scholars in East Asian Buddhist Studies. The 1st Conference held under the theme of ‘East Asian Buddhism and Modern Buddhist Studies’ provided a chance to discuss such problems as how to overcome the discontinuity between the traditional and the modern worlds and what is the common tasks given to East Asian Buddhist scholars. Essential articles regarding the topic were presented by ten scholars, two from each of the four universities and two Western scholars, and are now included in this volume except one.