Subjectivity in Pure Land Buddhism

The 17th Biennial Conference of the International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies

Studies of Pure Land Buddhism — which address the thought, practice, and iconography of Pure Land throughout the historical development of Buddhism generally — are often rooted in modern discourses of religious studies that take certain foundational concepts for granted: individuality, subjectivity, historicity. But how have the referents of these modern concepts been understood in relation to Pure Land Buddhist doctrine and praxis? How has subjectivity, the answer to the question of who “I” am or who “we” are, been understood across Buddhist cultures and histories? How does the “who” exist? How is it known? How is it experienced? The 17th Biennial Meeting of the IASBS invites individual paper and (four paper) panel proposals related to questions of subjectivity in Pure Land Buddhism.