The Real Work: Reflections on the First 100 Days as IBS President

It’s safe to say that I’ve been around the Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS) for a while now. 

I first applied to the Master of Arts program in the late 1990s.  I was fortunate to be able to study Japanese with the late IBS Executive Director Rev. Haruyoshi Kusada; take classes with Eisho Nasu and IBS President Emeritus Rev. Dr. David Matsumoto; and be mentored by retired IBS Dean Dr. Richard Payne and the late Rev. Dr. Seigen Yamaoka. I remember the first time I stepped foot in the IBS Haste Street dorm in Berkeley, California, and feeling like I’d come home.

I’ve been teaching at IBS since around the time the Jodo Shinshu Center (JSC) opened and, in 2016, was appointed to the position of Dean. Over the years, I’ve had the great pleasure of working with students studying to become effective ministers and chaplains. I’ve read dozens of student theses reflecting on how to apply the Buddha-dharma to the fundamental questions of life and death. This has always been profoundly moving and important work; but, for me, it was theoretical.

And then, in early 2022, my brother lost his battle against cancer. At the end of his life, to support him and our mother, I needed to navigate the health care system. I had to argue with hospital administrators. I coordinated and hired in-home health care and hospice services, and then, inevitably, I had to contact a mortuary and organize a memorial service.

All of this was new to me, and I reached out to people I knew I could trust, including the ministerial staff at the Buddhist Temple of San Diego — some of IBS’s graduates. In that moment, the theoretical became real. And I was made aware of just how important the work of our graduates truly is.

Many of our students become BCA ministers, responsible for organizing weekly services and rituals, attending board meetings, or giving Dharma talks. But more important, our ministerial and chaplaincy students confront suffering. They meet with families who have just lost a loved one. They sit with the dying. They are asked to answer unanswerable questions about life and death from folks who are experiencing the worst day of their lives.     

To do this work, our graduates need to be grounded in the depths of the Buddha-Dharma. And this, I believe, is what IBS is all about — preparing our students to confront suffering, to be of service to their sanghas, and to be of comfort to the most suffering of suffering sentient beings.

Now, I’ll be honest — I’m lousy at this! I know myself well enough to know that my default mode of providing emotional support tends more toward the sarcastic than the spiritual. In order to prepare folks to become ministers or chaplains, a school needs excellent teachers to serve as mentors, to help guide students in this work. But a school also needs someone to pay the bills, someone to deal with city or state regulations, file the taxes, and keep the lights on. 

Because I know how important our students’ work is, and because I know it takes a team to keep the ship afloat, I naturally applied for the position of IBS president when the opportunity came along.

One of the first things successful college presidents can do is listen. It doesn’t do anyone any good to come in and start bossing people around without a solid understanding of the school’s culture, values and mission. 

Even though I’ve been around IBS for a quarter century, I have spent the last 100 days doing just this — listening, trying to discover what I don’t know and learn what I need to learn.

I am happy to report that there have been few major surprises. There were processes I didn’t know we had in place and some of my assumptions about an individual’s workload were not entirely correct. But, by and large, what I’ve learned has only reinforced what I knew to be true. What makes IBS truly special is the Sangha.

Our students are supported by a community of brilliant and compassionate faculty and staff. I have been consistently impressed these past 100 days with everyone’s dedication and hard work. Both folks who have been around IBS as long as I as well as those who’ve joined us more recently understand the importance of our mission. I am deeply grateful for their commitment.

There are exciting things in IBS’s future. I am looking forward to working with the Board and our stakeholders in the months ahead on a revised strategic plan, one that ensures our future sustainability, enhances the quality of our educational programs, and strengthens our partnerships.

But no matter the exact shape of that plan, I know it will be formed by our community, rooted in our mission to provide education in support of Buddhist ministry and chaplaincy, and ultimately prepare our students to do the real work of confronting suffering. And I’m humbled to offer what I can to keep this ship afloat.

IBS President Dr. Scott Mitchell is the Rev. Yoshitaka Tamai Professor of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Studies.