Denbō- Transmitting the Dharma
A conference on Japanese Buddhism held in celebration of Prof. Ōkubo Ryōshun’s Retirement
“Thus I have heard …” As the common opening of Buddhist scriptures makes clear, concerns of communication and reception are at the core of the Buddhist tradition. This is perhaps most evident in the Tiantai/Tendai and tantric traditions of East Asian Buddhism, both of which base their teachings on the nature of the Buddha’s acts of communication.
This conference brings together young and established scholars of East Asian and specifically Japanese Buddhism, who, in their research, explore the many facets of Buddhist transmissions in and beyond the Tiantai/Tendai and Tantric schools, the Zen lineages, and the often-neglected precepts traditions.
Denbō: Transmitting the Dharma is held in honor of Professor Ōkubo Ryōshun’s distinguished role as a transmitter of the Dharma, both through his pioneering scholarship and through his mentorship of countless students in Japan and abroad.
Conference Schedule
The Denbō: Transmitting the Dharma Conference will convene in Swift Hall, located on the University of Chicago's Hyde Park Campus, on the historic main quad.
Swift Hall
1025 E. 58th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
October 6, 2025
Third Floor Lecture Hall
Delivered by: Stephan Licha, Assistant Professor of Japanese Buddhism at the University of Chicago Divinity School
Coffee will be served in the Lecture Hall foyer.
Third Floor Lecture Hall
Panelists
- Minowa Kenryō, Professor Emeritus of Buddhist Studies at the University of Tōkyō, and currently Professor of Buddhist Studies at Risshō University: "Transmission of Dharma in Japanese Buddhism: Sites of Monastic Training in Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Periods"
- Watanabe Mariko, Professor in Classical Japanese Literature at Taishō University: "The Creation and Development of Lecture Notes in the Medieval Tendai School"
- Paul Groner, Professor Emeritus of Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia: "Seizanha and Jitsudō Ninkū (1309-1388) "
Third Floor Lecture Hall
Panelists:
- Jacqueline Stone, Professor Emerita in the Religion Department of Princeton University: "In the Lineage of Eagle Peak: Time, Timelessness, and Transmission in Nichiren and Medieval Tendai"
- Tyler Neenan, PhD Candidate in the Philosophy of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School: "Contesting the Buddha Body"
Ingrid Vera Chirino, Third-year PhD Student in the Department of Religion at Princeton University: "Annen and the Making of the Tendai Model of Repentance"
*Coffee will be served in the Lecture Hall Foyer
Third Floor Lecture Hall
- Greetings from James T. Robinson, Dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School and Nathan Cumming Professor of Jewish Studies.
- Remarks from Brian Nagata, Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai America
- Introduction by Lucia Dolce, Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhism at SOAS University of London
- Keynote Speech delivered by Ōkubo Ryōshun, Professor Emeritus, Waseda University, and currently Professor at the International College of Postgraduate Buddhist Studies: "Ennin's Transmissions: From Reception to Inception"
Swift Hall Common Room
Conference Schedule
October 7, 2025
Third Floor Lecture Hall
Panelists:
- William Bodiford, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles: "Professing the True Dharma Deep in the Wilderness of Northern Japan: How Shōbōji Monastery Localized Dharma Transmission"
- Bruce Winkelman, Assistant Professor in Religious Studies at DePauw University: "Formalities Aside: Reimagining Dharma Transmission in Illustrated Hagiographies from Medieval Japan"
- Asuka Sango, John W. Nason Professor of Asian Studies and Religion at Carleton College: "Transmitting the Dharma through Buddhist Debate in Medieval Japan"
*Coffee will be served in the Lecture Hall foyer.
Third Floor Lecture Hall
Third Floor Lecture Hall
Panelists:
- Micah Auerback, Associate Professor of Japanese Religion, University of Michigan: "Locating the Lineage of the Ten Wholesome Courses of Action in Jiun Onkō (1718-1805)"
- Marta Sanvido, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University: "Equal Yet Different: Ontological Differentiation and the Transformative Power of Precepts in Early Modern Sōtō Zen"
Swift Hall Common Room
Third Floor Lecture Hall
- George Keyworth, Associate Professor in the History Department at the University of Saskatchewan: "On the Shaku makaen ron and the Denbō’e at Amanosan Kongōji: An attempt to locate the textual history of Hōtsubō Kakushin (n.d., ca. 1211-1224) in the library of Kongōji"
- Yagi Morris, Research Associate and Lecturer in the School of Religious Studies at McGill University: "Secret Biwa Transmissions: From Melody to Landscape in the Quest for Imperial Power"
Third Floor Lecture Hall
Third Floor Lecture Hall
Panelists:
- Tado Taichi, Lecturer at Waseda University, Tōyō University, and the International Institute of Advanced Buddhist Studies: "The Transmission of the Sanron School in the Middle Ages: Focusing on Its Relationship with Esoteric Buddhism"
- Eric Swanson, Assistant Professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University: "Subjugation and the Embodiment of Enlightenment: From Annen (841–915?) to Jien (1155–1225)"
University of Chicago Quad Club
Conference Schedule
October 8, 2025
Third Floor Lecture Hall
Panelists:
- Brook Ziporyn, Mircea Eliade Professor of Chinese Religion, Philosophy, and Comparative Thought in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago: "How to Bestow What Everyone Has: Spreading the Dharma of Buddha-nature in Zhanran’s Diamond Scalpel (Jin’gangpi)"
- Stephan Kigensan Licha, Assistant Professor of Japanese Buddhism and the History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School: "What the Buddhas and Ancestors Do Not Transmit: The Aporia of Transmitting the Teachings"
- Lucia Dolce, Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhism at SOAS University of London: “When the Master is not Needed: Self-Consecration, Mind Transmission and the Taimitsu Rituals of Inner Awakening”
*Coffee will be served in the Lecture Hall foyer
Third Floor Lecture Hall
Attendees may find lunch near campus before departing.
Swift Hall Common Room
Speakers and Panelists
Ōkubo Ryōshun-Professor at the International College of Postgraduate Buddhist Studies, Waseda University
Lucia Dolce- Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhism, SOAS University of London
Conference Chair
Stephan Licha-Assistant Professor of Japanese Buddhism, University of Chicago Divinity School
Conference Chair
Ingrid Vera Chirino, Third-year PhD Student in the Department of Religion at Princeton University
