Call for Papers:
Opening the Mind, Engaging the World: Reading as Transformative Practice
April 22 to 25, 2027
Dharma Realm Buddhist University
| Ukiah, California
| | | | In an age of fragmented attention and technological mediation, direct and embodied encounters with wisdom texts are more precious than ever. Reading today is rarely understood as an exercise in becoming fully human. As Pierre Hadot observed, “we have forgotten how to read.”
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This conference, held in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Dharma Realm Buddhist University, explores reading as a transformative encounter. How might we bridge a theoretical engagement with texts to a practical and contemplative one? Can reading itself be a transformative practice? And, if so, how ought we read?
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We welcome contributions from scholars, educators, and practitioners from diverse traditions and fields of study to share research into how our understanding of what it means to be human shapes, and is shaped by, our reading choices and practices.
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Scholars include professors and graduate students from any field connected to reading and embodying classical texts—for example, Classics, Religious Studies, Buddhist Studies, Contemplative Studies, Area Studies, Great Books, Literature, and Philosophy. Practitioners include monastics and religious leaders from all faith traditions. Papers relating to the above theme are strongly encouraged and might address: how to read, putting texts into practice, philosophy as a way of life, teaching wisdom texts, embodied learning, or translating what we read.
| | | | | | John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925), Resting, c. 1880-1890.
| | Keynote Speaker
| | Michael Nylan is Jane K. Sather History Chair at UC Berkeley. She focuses on three areas: the early empires in China, philosophy, and art/archaeology. Her many publications include The Chinese Pleasure Book (2018) and Environmental Equity in China and Beyond: Past, Present, and Future (2026; co-authored with Thomas Hahn). Her new research looks at the Four Fathers of History (Herodotus, Thucydides, Sima Qian, and Ban Gu); the distinctive sociopolitical and cultural conditions for classical learning in the two Han dynasties; and "the politics of the common good" in early China. We are excited to welcome Professor Nylan back to our campus for our 50th Anniversary to give a keynote on the topic of finding friends in history.
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| | Further Details
| For information on conference fees, accommodation, and travel information, please visit our conference website.
| | | Key Dates
| Submission Deadline: January 8, 2027
| Notification of Acceptance: February 8, 2027 (at the latest)
| Conference Registration Deadline: February 26, 2027
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About Dharma Realm Buddhist University
| Dharma Realm Buddhist University is a small private university and community dedicated to liberal education in the broad Buddhist tradition—a tradition characterized by knowledge in the arts and sciences, self-cultivation, and the pursuit of wisdom. The main campus is located within the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, a Buddhist community founded by the Venerable Master Hua. The University offers two degree programs centered around reading and discussion of classical primary texts at its Ukiah, California campus: Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Master of Arts in Buddhist Classics. Dharma Realm Buddhist University is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC).
| For more information, please visit www.drbu.edu
| | | | | Contact us
conference@drbu.edu | www.drbu.edu
| 1991 Virtue Way, Ukiah, CA, 95482
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