Posted on Oct. 3: Scholarship offers year-long study in Japan

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Buddha_Dharma_Kyokai.jpg” caption=”Buddha Dharma Kyokai”]McMaster's School of Graduate Studies, in conjunction with the Department of Religious Studies, celebrated the establishment of the Buddha Dharma Kyokai Scholarship Fund at a recent event on campus.

Established by the Buddha Dharma Kyokai Foundation of Canada, the fund will support Buddhist Studies in Canada, which will enable advanced graduate students at McMaster and other universities to study Buddhism for one year at a university in Japan. The funds for this scholarship will be set up under the auspices of the School of Graduate Studies at McMaster and administered by a committee of scholars from across Canada.

“The study of East Asian Buddhism, and in particular Buddhism in Japan, has been a core component since the Department of Religious Studies was established in the 1960s, and one of the founding departments in the discipline in Canada and indeed in North America,” said Eileen Schuller, chair of the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster. “One of the distinctive features of our department has been, and is, the commitment to strength in the study of the religions of the East and West within a context of academic research, respect for all religious traditions, and cross-cultural and interdisciplinary study.”

Photo caption: Pictured at the announcement, in back row, left to right: Neil McMullin, University of Toronto; Yasuo Honjo, director of BDK Canada; Brian Nagata, president BDK USA; Fred L. Hall, dean of Graduate Studies at McMaster; John Scime, Graduate Registrar and Secretary at McMaster; Koichi Shinohard, professor in McMaster's Department of Religious Studies; Jinhua Chen, University of British Columbia. Front row, left to right: Ken Maruyama, former director of BDK Canada; Victor Hori, McGill University; Eileen Schuller, chair, Department of Religious Studies at McMaster; Leslie Kawamura, University of Calgary and Roy Sato, president BDK Canada.