Dongguk University Academy of Buddhist Studies (Director, Jung Seung-Suk) announces the publication of Korea’s first Buddhist Studies journal, the International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Culture (IJBTC) Vol. 29, No. 1 on June 30, 2019.
The IJBTC (Co-Editors-in-Chief Kim Jong-wook, Dongguk University, and Richard McBride, Brigham Young University) is Korea’s only English journal of Buddhist Studies, published twice a year, in June and December. The journal includes scholars from nine other countries, including India, the US, Thailand, Taiwan, Canada, Norway, the UK, Denmark, and Mongolia, as editors.
Korea’s first Buddhist Studies journal, the IJBTC, has been recognized for its contribution to internationalizing Korean Buddhism and for setting up an interdisciplinary platform for Buddhist studies. In 2010, the IJBTC was included in the National Research Foundation’s Korean Citation Index (KCI); it has subsequently maintained its KCI status. Since 2018, the journal has also been added to the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Thomson Reuters’s new database, and the American Theological Library Association’s Atla Religion Database (Atla RDB).
Vol. 29, No. 1 of the IJBTC, now recognized as a major journal in Korea (KCI) and worldwide (Atla RDB and ESCI), includes four special articles focusing onThe Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Madhyamaka Thought, four research articles, and two book reviews. The authors of these articles and reviews are leading, internationally diverse researchers and academic experts from Boston University, Peking University, Shanghai University, San Diego State University, and the University of Hong Kong, all of which are prestigious centers, in their respective countries, for the study of the history, philosophy, and tenets of Buddhism.
Professor Emeritus Akira Saito of the University of Tokyo participated as a visiting editor on Vol. 29, No. 1 of the IJBTC. Four articles explore the special topic of The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Madhyamaka Thought. Alongside Yogachara thought, Madhyamaka thought has developed remarkably as one of two branches of Indian Mahayana philosophy. These new articles, based on the latest research findings of international scholars, will enable academics worldwide to deepen their understanding of Madhyamaka thought.
In addition to the special articles, additional articles in this issue focus on the Sutra of the Twelve Travel, insights through Zen into the great matter of death, “Ki kang” art and the Chinese origins of Rāhula, a revered Buddhist guardian, as well as the Buddhist aesthetics of Kim Ki-duk’s Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring.
Two book reviews, which offer a serious and open-minded assessment of new and noteworthy Buddhist books, will help readers navigate the current coordinates of Buddhist Studies.
All of the articles and book reviews in this issue aim to expand the landscape of Buddhist Studies and to promote better communicate with modern society.