| DATE: | Tuesday-Wednesday, February 8-9, 2005 |
|---|---|
| PLACE: | Lipman Room, Barrows Hall, UC Berkeley |
| FORMAT: | Conference |
| SPONSOR: | Center for Buddhist Studies and Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley With the support of Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai America |
Organized in conjunction with the International Buddhist Film Festival. A presentation of the Buddhist Film Society; the Institute of East Asian Studies and the Center for Buddhist Studies, UC Berkeley.
For some two thousand years the authority to speak on behalf of Buddhism lay largely, although not exclusively, in the hands of the samgha — the community of ordained monks and nuns. Monastics held responsibility for propagating, authenticating, explicating, and translating Buddhist scriptures. Monastic authority was warranted by a complex set of institutional practices regulated, at least ideally, by the vinaya — the monastic code of conduct prescribing a lifestyle of discipline and restraint.
Perhaps the most salient aspect of what is commonly known as "Western Buddhism" is that representations of Buddhism and Buddhist teachings are no longer under the control of the ordained clergy. New generations of self-styled "Buddhists" learn their Buddhism through images and texts vetted not by the samgha but in the boardrooms of movie studios, publishing houses, and advertising agencies. The sanction of a recognized monastic order is no longer requisite to proclaim oneself a "Buddhist teacher" — media exposure alone will suffice. Even the ordained clergy find themselves succumbing to the pressures of the marketplace, resulting in an explosion of self-help books authored by Asian Buddhist teachers.
The notion of what it means to be Buddhist in America is determined not only, or even primarily, by learned monastics, but also by publishers, film producers, marketers, and entertainers. Scriptures are transformed into best-sellers, monks into media icons, media icons into spokespersons for Buddhism, and disciples into consumers. This conference brings together scholars, journalists, filmmakers, writers, and professionals from the television, movie, and publishing industries to discuss the media's role in the contemporary transformation of Buddhism.
The conference is free and open to the public, with the exception of the special screening of Kundun.
The conference is divided into four sessions.
Panel 1: "Print Media" will focus on print media and the nature of Buddhist publishing in the United States. How are book manuscripts on Buddhism reviewed, edited, and marketed? Which authors get published and why? How is Buddhism treated in US newspapers and magazines?
Tuesday, February 8, 2005, 1:30 - 3:30 pm
Panel 2: "Motion Pictures" will consider the representation of Buddhist themes in motion pictures and television. Why is Hollywood so fascinated with Buddhism? Is there any monitoring of or concern for accuracy or fairness? What is Hollywood's role in American Buddhism?
Tuesday, February 8, 2005, 4:00 - 6:00 pm
Special Screening of Kundun
Tuesday, February 8, 2005, 7:30 pm, Wheeler Auditorium
Panel 3: "Authority and Transmission" focuses on issues of authority and transmission in what has come to be known as Western Buddhism, and the media's role in the sanctioning of Buddhist teachers.
Wednesday, February 9, 2005, 1:30 - 3:30 pm
Panel 4: "Buddhism Sells - Buddhist Concepts and Images in American Advertising" explores the use of Buddhist concepts and images in American advertising. A 30-minute screening of TV commercials and print ads from the US media will be followed by a roundtable discussion.
Wednesday, February 9, 2005, 4:00 - 6:00 pm
Tuesday, February 8, 2005
Lipman Room, Barrows Hall
1:30 pm
Welcome and Introductory Remarks: Robert Sharf, UC Berkeley
1:40 - 3:30 pm
This panel focuses on print media and the nature of Buddhist publishing in the United States. How are book manuscripts on Buddhism reviewed, edited, and marketed? Which authors get published and why? How is Buddhism treated in US newspapers and magazines?
Orville Schell, UC Berkeley:
Virtual Tibet: Buddhism from the Himalayas to Hollywood
Don Lattin, San Francisco Chronicle:
Buddha and the Press: The Four Noble Facts
John Loudon, independent editor:
What Makes a Buddhist Book Succeed?
Diane Winston, Annenberg School of Communication, USC:
WWBD - What Would Buddha Do? Media Coverage of a Non-Christian Religion
Richard Jaffe, Duke University:
An Idiot's Guide to Buddhism (and the Print Media)
Charles Hallisey, University of Wisconsin, Madison
4:00 - 6:00 pm
Panelists will consider the representation of Buddhist themes in motion pictures and television. Why is Hollywood so fascinated with Buddhism? Is there any monitoring of or concern for accuracy or fairness? What is Hollywood's role in American Buddhism?
Babeth VanLoo, Buddhist Broadcasting Foundation, Holland:
Buddhist Tele-vision: A Vision for Inner Disarmament
John L. Solomon, Disney Television:
Observations
Robert Buswell, UC Los Angeles:
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: The Case For (and Against) Buddhist Movies
Nathaniel Dorsky, filmmaker:
The Problem of Idolatry
Bernard Faure, Stanford University
7:30 pm
Special Screening of Kundun
Martin Scorsese's Kundun, the story of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, will be followed by a discussion with Georges Dreyfus and Donald Lopez, moderated by Orville Schell.
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Lipman Room, Barrows Hall
1:30 - 3:30 pm
This panel focuses on issues of authority and transmission in what has come to be known as Western Buddhism, and the media's role in the sanctioning of Buddhist teachers.
Donald Lopez, University of Michigan:
Fleshing Out the Buddha: The Orientalist Legacy
Gil Fronsdal, Insight Meditation Center, Redwood City:
Buddhist Teachings Inside and Outside of the Marketplace
George Dreyfus, Williams College:
Exoticism, Commodification, Transmission and Authority in an Electronic Age: The Case of the Little Buddha
Zoketsu Norman Fischer, SF Zen Center:
Is an Undistorted Media Message Possible?
Timothy McNeill, Wisdom Publications:
Oprahfication of Buddha?
Carl W. Bielefeldt, Stanford University
4:00 - 6:00 pm
This panel explores the use of Buddhist concepts and images in American advertising. A 30-minute screening of TV commercials from the US media will be followed by a roundtable discussion.
Gregory Levine, UC Berkeley:
The Buddha Sells, or Not: Thoughts on Buddha Bodies in Consumer Culture
Alex von Rospatt, UC Berkeley:
Buddhism in Popular American Culture: Some Remarks from a Startled Outsider
Jacquelynn Baas, former Director Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive:
Artists of Life
Steven Goodman, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco:
Buddhism and Advertising - Message, Medium, and the Middle Way
Patricia Berger, UC Berkeley
