UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies trains scholars and educates the broader community about the diversity of Buddhist religion and culture. Among U.S. universities, only UCLA covers all of the major traditions in this world religion. Today, UCLA has more faculty dedicated to Buddhist Studies than any other Western university.

Reyn Yorio Tsuru is president and director of mission at the Shingon Shu Hawaii Temple in Honolulu, Hawaii. The temple is a congregational school that studies Shingon esoteric Buddhism.

Bob Stahl is a certified mindfulness-based stress reduction teacher from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and has founded seven mindfulness-based stress reduction programs in medical centers throughout the San Francisco area. He is the guiding teacher at Insight Santa Cruz and visiting teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and Insight Meditation Society. Stahl also […]

Spirit Rock Meditation Center is a spiritual education and training institution in Woodacre, Calif. It was created to be a living mandala: a Western dharma and retreat center dedicated to discovering and establishing the dharma in life.

Robert Sharf is the D. H. Chen distinguished professor of Buddhist studies in the Department of East Asian languages and cultures at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the chair of the Center for Buddhist Studies at Berkley. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the International Association of […]

San Francisco Zen Center was established in the 1960s by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, and his American students. The center aims to make the Soto Zen tradition accessible. It is one of the largest Buddhist sanghas outside Asia, with three practice places, including the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center – the first Zen […]

Rissho Kosei-kai International of North America, located in Los Angeles, is the Rissho Kosei-kai’s regional center for North America. Originally founded in Japan in 1938, Rissho Kosei-ka shared teachings in the United States about 50 years ago. The website offers a directory for dharma centers in the U.S. and worldwide.

William Powell is an emeritus professor of Chinese religions and Buddhist studies in the department of East Asian languages and cultural studies and the department of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was trained in the philological methods of Buddhist studies. His work focuses on the relationship between Chinese Buddhism, pilgrimage […]

The Pema Chodron Foundation, based in Steamboat Springs, Colo., is dedicated to preserving and sharing the teachings of Pema Chodron, a Buddhist teacher, author and nun.