BSC Summer Session with Professor Duncan Williams

Duncan Williams wearing lei gestures at the podium

Event details

  • June 22, 2020
  • 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
  • Buddhist Study Center YouTube channel
  • (808) 973-6555

“Interlinked: Understanding the Origins and Evolution of American Buddhism”

The Buddhist Study Center will offer its 46th Annual Summer Study Session as a free online class series on June 22-26, 2020 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (HST) featuring the noted scholar, Rev. Dr. Duncan Ryuken Williams, author of American Sutra, a groundbreaking book published in 2019.

The study class series will cover the Foundations of American Buddhism, Buddhism in Hawaii during World War II, Religious Freedom and Buddhism during World War II, American Buddhism and Ecology, and Buddhist Social Engagement in a series of five two-hour lecture over five nights.

YouTube logo - go to BSC YouTube channelFree via the BSC YouTube channel. Pre-registration is not required. Donations to the Buddhist Study Center are gratefully accepted.


Monday, June 22, 2020, 5-7pm (HST)
Interlinked: The Foundations of American Buddhism
We’ll explore the early history of American Buddhism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as established in Hawaii and the continental U.S. by Asian immigrants and early converts. How was American Buddhism formed during its first several decades?

Tuesday, June 23, 2020, 5-7pm (HST)
Interlinked: Buddhism in Hawaii during WWII
We’ll explore how Buddhism on the Hawaiian Islands endured and persisted during WWII after martial law was declared.

Wednesday, June 24, 2020, 5-7pm (HST)
Interlinked: Religious Freedom and Buddhism during WWII
From confinement sites in the interior during WWII, how did people turn to their faith to orient them to find a semblance of normalcy and freedom in the midst of incarceration? How was Buddhism practiced behind barbed wire surrounded by armed guards?

Thursday, June 25, 2020, 5-7pm (HST)
Interlinked: American Buddhism and Ecology
We will explore how Buddhism can offer an ecological perspective, environmentally-oriented practices, and new understandings of Sangha/community to live in a sustainable manner.

Friday, June 26, 2020, 5-7pm (HST)
Interlinked: Buddhist Social Engagement in 2020 (Tsuru for Solidarity Crane Folding)
We’ll focus on issues of immigration and diversity in this session about socially-engaged Buddhism in the year 2020. Especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, what can Buddhists do to maintain resiliency and perspective in enacting wisdom and compassion in an increasingly interconnected world?