VOLUME 6 • ISSUE 2 • June 2026

Rethinking Buddhist Education at the 2026 BSC Summer Session

Rev. Dr. Aaron Proffitt will bring a family-centered perspective to this summer’s revised program format

Buddhist Study Center’s Summer Session will take a new approach this year, opening with a half-day, family-oriented session followed by nine seminars at all five Hawai’i districts.

Starting July 26 and continuing through Aug. 9, Rev. Dr. Aaron Proffitt of the University of Albany-SUNY faculty will lead sessions creatively delivering the Dharma.

The first session on July 26, “Buddhism and Family Culture” at Jikoen Hongwanji at 9 a.m., will draw from Rev. Dr. Proffitt’s collegiate experiences, as a professor, parent and leader of the Albany Buddhist sangha.

An ordained Jodo Shinshu minister and associate professor of Japanese Studies at the East Asian Studies Department, Rev. Dr. Proffitt will focus on his role as a parent and how the Dharma provides him with resources to build a culture rooted in Buddhist compassion.

Activities for families will be offered at the Jikoen session.

From July 27-29, hybrid seminars at BSC will be held beginning at 6 p.m. at the Center, located at 1436 University Ave.

The sessions are “Entering the Mahayana Multiverse,” “Shin Buddhism as Basic Buddhism” and “Buddhism is Simple, Buddhist Studies is Complicated.”

An online session for Kauai will follow on July 30 at 6:30 p.m.; on Hawai’i Island on Aug 2; at an Oahu District temple to be determined later on Aug. 4, and closing on Maui on Aug. 8-9.

The Big Island session on Aug. 2 will be an Obon service at Hōlualoa, a temple affiliated with Kona Hongwanji that was closed years ago but recently reopened for services.

An informal Talk Story will follow that 10 a.m. service and at 3 p.m., Rev. Dr. Proffitt will conduct a seminar at Honoka’a.

Originally from Lynchburg, Tennessee, he holds a B.A. and M.A. in religious studies from the University of Colorado and a PhD. in Buddhist studies from the University of Michigan.

From 2009-2010, he studied Japanese at the Inter- University Center in Yokohama and conducted research as a Fulbright Fellow at Otani University, Koyasan University and Ryukoku University from 2014 to 2015.

He serves as the Buddhist chaplain at the University of Albany Interfaith Center and the Buddhist Student Association.

In 2019, he co-founded the Albany Buddhist Sangha (albanybuddhist.org), a diverse, family-oriented temple serving the greater New York capital region.

Suggested tax-deductible donations for all three BSC sessions is $30; $10 for the single evening sessions.

Checks may be made out to HHMH and mailed to 1727 Pali Highway, Honolulu, HI 96813 with “Summer Session” in the memo line.

Updated information on the BSC Summer Session is available at bschawaii.org/summer-session.