IBS Celebrating 75th Anniversary

Oldest Buddhist Seminary in Nation Began Humbly as Berkeley Study Group

FYI

Please visit www.ibs75thanniversary.com to learn more about the history of the IBS and to register for the anniversary event on Nov. 16 at the Jodo Shinshu Center in Berkeley, California.

---

On Saturday, Nov. 16, the Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS) will celebrate its 75th anniversary. 

The oldest Buddhist seminary in the country, IBS has been training Buddhist ministers since 1949. The institution is deeply rooted in the Jodo Shinshu community, but has expanded its programs to cover Buddhist chaplaincy, South Asian and East Asian Buddhist studies, a master’s of divinity program, and a wide variety of certificate programs in different Buddhist traditions. 

To mark the occasion, IBS is hosting a special ceremony featuring panels, a retrospective and a reception at its Berkeley, California, campus at the the Buddhist Churches of America’s (BCA) Jodo Shinshu Center (JSC). Community members and supporters can also watch the celebration on YouTube. 

Mrs. Matsuura’s Role

The origin of IBS and its mission to support the Buddhist community are linked to individuals like Mrs. Shinobu Matsuura, who was incarcerated in a mass incarceration camp in World War II —along with more than 120,000 other Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrant residents of the United States. 

After Mrs. Matsuura was released from the camp, she relocated to Berkeley to be closer to her daughter, Jane Imamura, who had married the minister of the Berkeley Buddhist Temple, Rev. Kanmo Imamura. 

Buddhist temples across the United States were an important place for Japanese Americans to regain a sense of community following the trauma of incarceration, and the Berkeley Buddhist Temple was no exception. 

The temple served as a repository for the internees’ personal belongings during the war and — after the war — became a hostel for the returning Japanese Americans who were looking to resettle. 

In the postwar period, Jane and Rev. Kanmo Imamura had the idea to create a space for people to study Buddhism academically. 

Mrs. Matsuura was also enthusiastic about this idea, and so, in the fall of 1949, she hosted a study group in her living room, led by her son-in-law. 

Students in the group included other Nisei, or second-generation Japanese Americans, as well as non-Japanese poets, artists and intellectuals from the burgeoning Bay Area countercultural scene. 

They discussed such topics as karma, the nature of self and the differences between Christianity and Buddhism. These study classes not only educated Japanese American Buddhists and trained future Jodo Shinshu religious leaders, but also helped introduce the broader American community to the Buddha-Dharma.  

Over time, the national leadership of the BCA recognized the value of these informal study sessions at the Berkeley Buddhist Temple. This recognition came with financial support and the establishment of the BCA Buddhist Study Center in 1955. 

Through the 1950s, the educational programming at the Berkeley temple grew and diversified. By the mid-1960s, under Rev. Imamura’s leadership, the BCA Buddhist Study Center was formally incorporated as the Institute of Buddhist Studies.

Tumultuous Period

Four tumultuous decades would follow. The institute’s programs expanded to include graduate-level courses, summer retreats and academic conferences. A dormitory was purchased. The faculty expanded and a second building was purchased. 

Following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, that building was determined seismically unsafe and was sold. The number of students, faculty and classes contracted, but because of the institute’s affiliation with the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), a toehold remained in Berkeley, allowing for the education of another generation of Buddhist ministers and scholars. 

In the early 2000s, the BCA opened a new building, giving the institute a new home and a second life at the Jodo Shinshu Center. 

Once again, faculty, students and programming increased, including the establishment of one of the country’s first programs in Buddhist chaplaincy. 

Becoming Accredited

While weathering the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the institute became an accredited school — the first non-Christian member school of the GTU. 

During this time, the IBS more than doubled its pre-pandemic enrollment. 

Today, students at the IBS are diverse in age, ethnicity and religious affiliation. They study both South and East Asian Buddhism, and write theses on a variety of topics — such as pastoral care for LGBTQ+ patients, moral injury in the military, early Buddhist nuns and Jodo Shinshu  spirituality. Many of the students become Buddhist chaplains or Jodo Shinshu ministers. 

Although the student body at IBS is quite different than the humble beginnings of those who gathered in Mrs. Matsuura’s living room in 1949, they carry on in the same spirit: studying the Buddha-Dharma to enrich not just themselves and their communities, but broader American society. 

IBS alumni make an impact on the world of art, literature, religious formation and Buddhist studies. Like their predecessors, they continue to cultivate and shape the landscape of American Buddhism.