Leadership

The Buddhist Studies Program's strength comes from a combination of diverse and highly qualified faculty, and a very low student:faculty ratio. A combination of Western and Eastern instructors is utilized in order to ensure a continuity of American educational patterns, as well as access to the indigenous philosophies in their genuine form. Western faculty are responsible for the organization and evaluation of coursework, while the Asian teachers present perspectives of the traditions being studied. This variety of intellectual and cultural viewpoints creates a stimulating milieu in which genuine inquiry occurs.

Program Director

C. Robert Pryor received a B.S. from the University of Michigan, an M.A.T. from Antioch University, and attended the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, where he studied Anthropology and South Asian religions.  After spending four years in India doing research on Buddhist history, culture, and meditation, he designed the Antioch Buddhist Studies Program and has taken groups of students to India as program director since 1979.  He founded Insight Travel in 1987, offering pilgrimages to Buddhist and Hindu sites in northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.  He served as consultant for the BBC documentary, “In the Footsteps of the Buddha”.  His interests include: South Asian cultures, pilgrimage, the history of Indian Buddhism, meditation and Buddhism in the West. 

To contact the Program Director or to receive further information about this program, you may email aea@antioch.edu or call 800-874-7986.  You may also fill out our online inquiry form.

Academic Faculty

 

Erick D. White received a B.A. in Religious Studies, summa cum laude, from Amherst College and an M.A. in Anthropology from Cornell University.  He is presently a candidate for the Ph.D. in Anthropology at Cornell University where his dissertation is titled, “Sociality, Charisma and Syncretism: The Subculture of Professional Spirit Mediums in Contemporary Thailand”.  While a student at Amherst, Erick was a participant in the 1986 program in Bodh Gaya and since 2003 he has served on the faculty.    He has been the recipient of several academic grants and awards including a Fulbright Fellowship for dissertation research in Thailand.  Erick has had considerable teaching experience as both a Teaching Assistant and Instructor in Asian Studies and Anthropology at Cornell University.

 

History of South Asian Buddhism
Dr. Nicolas M. Morrissey received a B.A. in History cum laude from UCLA, an M.A. in Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Texas, and a Ph.D. In Buddhist Studies/History of Asian Art from UCLA where his thesis was titled: “Sakyabhiksus, Palimpsests and the Art of Apostasy: The Emergence and Decline of Mahayana Buddhism in Early Medieval India”.  Among his academic honors Dr. Morrissey has received the James A. Bruton Fellowship at the University of Texas, The Edward A. Dickson Fellowship at UCLA, and an AIIS Summer Fellowship for Advanced Sanskrit Studies.  He served on the faculty of the Antioch Buddhist Studies program in 2005, and has been a Lecturer in the History of Art and Visual Culture Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, as well as the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Hindi Language
Upma Dixit received a B.A. in English (honors) and Political Science from the University of Rajasthan, Maharani College, Jaipur and an M.A. in English literature from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.  She has taught as a member of the English faculty at the Gyan Vihar School of Engineering and Technology, and as an English and computer teacher at the Jaipuria Bal Vidyalaya, Jaipur.  Upma has been a Hindi language instructor in the Intermediate and Advanced Hindi Language Programs organized by the American Institute of Indian Studies for American university students in Jaipur.  She has taught Hindi language with the Antioch Buddhist Studies program since 2006.

Punya Prasad Parajuli received a B.A. in Physics, an M.A. in Anthropology, and an M.A. in Nepalese History, Culture and Archeology from Tribhuvan University, Nepal.  He has also received an M.A. in Buddhist Studies from Magadh University, Bodh Gaya, India.  Punya is actively involved in translating Tibetan and Sanskrit texts into Nepali. He has been a Tibetan language instructor at the Center for Nepalese and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University and a Sanskrit language teacher at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling and Sechen Monasteries in Kathmandu.  Punya taught Tibetan language with the Antioch Buddhist Studies program in 2005.  He has also been a Tibetan language and culture instructor as well as a research guide for Cornell University students studying Buddhist Culture in Nepal.

 

Buddhist Meditation Traditions

Seminars in this course will be led by Robert Pryor, Program Director. Please refer to the previous page for his background.

Teaching Assistant and Dorm Advisor

Kristin Engelbrecht Bleem received a B.A. in Anthropology, Cum Laude, and a B.A. in Literary Studies, Cum Laude, from Williams College.  The primary concentration of her degree in Anthropology was a focus on Native American sacred sites and the legal and social conflicts surrounding them.  While a student at Williams, Kristin participated in the 2002 Buddhist Studies program in Bodh Gaya.  She was also a Lehman Fellow at Williams in recognition of her dedication to civic and social engagement.  She has diverse work experience as a Writing Tutor, House Painter, Design-Builder, Marine Carpenter, Local Foods Advocate and Bike Mechanic.  She served as the Teaching Assistant and Dorm Advisor on the fall 2008 Antioch Buddhist Studies program.

 

Meditation Faculty

 Vipassana

 U Hla Myint was born and educated in Myanmar (Burma).  He became a novice monk at the age of ten and a fully ordained bhikkhu at twenty.  After completing the traditional academic training for monks in Burma he practiced Vipassana meditation at the Mahasi Thathana Meditation Center in Yangon (Rangoon).  He then taught Vipassana under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pandita at this center where he was especially helpful to foreign meditators.  After twenty-two years as a monk U Hla Myint became a householder, and now has a wife and two children.  He lives in Pyin Oo Lwin near Mandalay in the Shan Hills where he primarily works on translation projects for Sayadaw U Pandita.  U Hla Myint also spends some of his time assisting Sayadaw U Pandita at Panditarama Meditation Center near Rangoon. 

                                                                                                               

 Zen

 Rev. Ekai Korematsu was born and raised in Japan, but began his formal Zen practice while a university student in California, where he was affiliated with the San Francisco Zen Center.  In 1979 he returned to Japan for formal monastic training at Eiheiji, the principal Soto Zen monastery.  Returning to America in 1983, he founded Kojin-an, which later became the Oakland Zen Center.  At the request of his teacher, Narasaki Roshi, he returned to Japan in 1987 to become the director of an International Zen monastery, Shogoji, in Kyushu.  From 1994 to 1996 he was again at Eiheiji, and was also the Practice Director at Zuigakuin Temple in Yamanashi Prefecture.  At present he lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he is the founder and Director of Jikishoan Zen Buddhist Community. 

 Vajrayana

 Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche is the abbot of Ka Nying Shedrup Ling Monastery and the founder of Rangjung Yeshe Institute, a college for Buddhist Studies in Boudhanath, Nepal.  Born in Tibet and educated at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim under the guidance of H.H. Karmapa, he is the holder of Drikung Kagyu and Nyingma lineages.  Rinpoche is a scholar and master of both Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice.  He has taught meditation and philosophy to many Western students, while also super­vising a large shedra or traditional monastic training center in Nepal.  He regularly teaches in Europe and North America where he has meditation centers in Denmark, Germany, and California.  Rinpoche is the author of several books including The Union of Dzogchen and Mahamudra, Indisputable Truth and Present Fresh Wakefulness.