A public scholarship project created at the intersection of academic inquiry and community-based engagement.

Black Buddhist Studies aims to:

  • Offer community-based Buddhist Studies courses that center Black social movements, Black poets, and Black Buddhist writers
  • Create conversations amongst Buddhist practitioners and activists, as well as scholars of Buddhism, on how Buddhism can address racialized systemic harm in bureaucracies such as the U.S. penal system
  • Think through how Buddhist-inspired anti-caste movements influence anti-racism movements, as well as speak to discrimination based on poverty, gender, and sexuality in the U.S. context
  • Co-create a dialogue between Black Buddhists and Asian and Asian American Buddhists to address issues such as cultural appropriation, cultural adaptation, and internalized racism
  • Publish literature that can be used for furthering academic and community dialogue that incorporates the study of Buddhism and Black Studies.

Learn about the founder, Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad.