Buddhist Studies at UCLA
“Dharma — that is, the teaching of the Buddha — brings knowledge that is useful to eliminate disturbing emotions and the subtlest forms of ignorance. Dharma leads us beyond suffering to nirvana.”
UCLA's Buddhist studies program is the largest in the Western world, with more faculty, graduate students and undergraduate courses in this field than at any other university outside Asia. We train scholars and educate the broader community about Buddhist religion and culture in all of their diversity.
UCLA offers one of the few programs in the nation granting degrees in Buddhist Studies ranging from the B.A. to the Ph.D. Every year, several hundred UCLA students, more than at any other U.S. university, enroll in more than 25 courses on Buddhism.
With five Buddhologists and two Buddhist art historians, UCLA has the largest university faculty dedicated to Buddhist studies in the Western world. Additional faculty members in anthropology, history, Indo-European Studies, and psychology pursue deep research interests in Buddhism. Scholars work in Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, and other languages of the Buddhist tradition.
UCLA libraries maintain one of the nation's largest collections of Buddhist materials, including one of the most extensive collections of Tibetan materials.
The 14th Dalai Lama Endowment will allow UCLA to enhance its programs in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies.
For more information, visit the UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies.
© 2011. The Regents of the University of California. Photography by Don Farber.