Yale receives $1 Million Gift for Buddhist Studies
Most Venerable Jinwoo
On October 10, Yale President Maurie McInnis met with Most Venerable Jinwoo of the Jogye Buddhist Order to honor a $1M gift from the order to support the Buddhist Studies Program at the MacMillan Center. The head of the Jogye Order, Most Venerable Jinwoo is the highest-ranking religious leader of the largest Buddhist group in Korea.
Led by the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at the MacMillan Center, the series of events involved additional leaders of the Jogye Buddhist Order, Dongguk University leaders, staff members, and media from Korea. With dedicated and thoughtful preparation by the CEAS team, the visit helped to forge new connections between members of the Yale community and a delegation of over 60 people from Korea.
Nearly 200 participants attended the Most Venerable Jinwoo’s public lecture, “The Meditation Journey of a Buddhist Monk.” Additional highlights from the two days included presentations by graduate and postdoctoral students, a tour of Beinecke Library’s Buddhist treasures by Korean Studies librarian Jude Yang, a lantern making workshop at the MacMillan Center, a lecture by the president of Dongguk University, and meetings with Dongguk University representatives.
“This visit speaks to Yale’s leadership on Korean Buddhist studies,” Steven Wilkinson, Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center, said. “I’m excited about the possibilities to come as Yale emerges as a leader for Buddhism studies and continues to attract the best partners from around the world.”
Hwansoo Kim, Professor of Religious Studies and one of the Coordinators of the Buddhist Studies Program, has led the effort to foster strong relationships with Buddhist monasteries in Korea. Kim’s deep cultural knowledge and regional networks helped to secure this substantial endowment that will benefit future students and scholars for many generations to come. He is the former chair of the Council on East Asian Studies and worked closely with the CEAS faculty and staff leadership to ensure the success of the visit.
Aimed at bringing together individuals and units at Yale interested in the scholarly study of Buddhism and hosting scholarly events, courses, conferences, and outreach activities, the Buddhist Studies Initiative is a Global Program under the Whitney & Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.
MacMillan’s global programs promote scholarship and exchanges across a range of thematic areas, adopting interdisciplinary, transnational lenses to generate new insights on topics of global importance.
Our thanks to Injoong Kim, the Assistant Director of the Council on East Asian Studies, for making this visit a success. “Injoong supported the planning of this visit in every detail, using her robust linguistic capacity, cultural expertise, and organizational skill to make this highly complex visit a success," said Kathy Rupp, Program Director of CEAS. “It is but one example of her sustained support of Professor Hwansoo Kim’s tireless fundraising for Buddhist and Korean Studies over the past several years.”
Yale faculty and staff posed with members of the delegation from Korea outside of Sterling Memorial Library. Photo by Daniel Vieira.
- Humanity