Using the work on his new book, the Blackwell Companion to Inner and East Asian Buddhism, as a starting frame of reference, Dr. Poceski’s lecture will survey some of the central issues in the contemporary study of Buddhism. He will also explore the points of intersection and the potential areas of conflict between the outsider outlooks adopted by scholars working in Buddhist studies as an academic field and the kinds of insider perspectives that are often emblematic of faith-based or religiously-oriented approaches to the study of Chinese Buddhism.

Dr. Mario Poceski is an associate professor of Buddhist studies and Chinese religions at the Religion Department, University of Florida. He received a PhD in East Asian Languages and Cultures, with specialization in Buddhist studies, from the University of California, Los Angeles (2000). He also spent extended periods as a visiting researcher at Komazawa University, Japan, Stanford University, and the National University of Singapore. A specialist in the history of Chinese Buddhism and a recipient of several prestigious fellowships, his latest books are Ordinary Mind as the Way: The Hongzhou School and the Growth of Chan Buddhism (Oxford UP 2007) and Introducing Chinese Religions (Routledge 2009). Dr. Poceski’s publications also include two other books and a number of articles and chapters on various aspects of Buddhist studies. Presently he is working on two new books: The Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism (forthcoming from Blackwell), and The Records of Mazu and the Makings of Classical Chan Literature.