Launch of Jain Studies program at Virginia Commonwealth University In Richmond, VA

Friends, Jai Jinendra

For several years, we have been working with Virginia Commonwealth University ( VCU) in Richmond, VA to introduce regular Jain Studies program at VCU. During the last 2 years, VCU has had offered lectures on Jainism, four ( 3 students and one Professor) went to International Summer School for Jain Studies in India this year, and last month, Dr. Shugan Jain from ISJS India delivered 2 lectures there to nearly 220 students.

VCU is a prestigious and the second largest university in the State of Virginia with 32,000 student.

With several negotiations and discussions between ISJS and JAINA, now the time has arrived to launch a regular Jain Studies program at VCU.

This will happen on Sunday, November 13, 2011 starting at 10.00am at a beautiful historic hall on VCU campus which has been specially reserved just for this meeting. This really is an excellent opportunity that we will be starting JAIN study program there.

Jain community of Richmond, VA and VCU are hosting this meeting. Several University officials and the Jain Sangh of Richmond, VA will be there to greet the Jain community.

All Jains are invited. Hope we will have a great presence.

Please make your plans and invite as many Jains ;especially from Washington D.C and Raleigh NC areas to participate in this event.

Kindly let us know that you will be coming.

Dr. Sulekh C. Jain Past President JAINA Houston, Texas ,USA 281 494 7656 ( home) 832 594 8005 ( cell)

Dr. Sushil Jain President JAINA Washington, D.C 703 208 1861 ( home) 240 277 3039 ( cell)

Dilip v. Shah Past President JAINA Philadelphia, PA 215 561 0581 ( home) 215 868 0381 ( cell)

Jain Studies professorship in Florida University

Washington: The Florida International University (FIU) has established the Bhagwan Mahavir Professorship of Jain Studies, the first of its kind in the western world, with a $600,000-donation from the Jain Education and Research Foundation.

Nathan Katz, FIU professor who specializes in the religions of India, was named the first Bhagwan Mahavir Professor of the endowed professorship in the Department of Religious Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences, the university announced on Wednesday.

"Dr Katz is a pioneer in the field of Indo-Judaic Studies and has been involved in the Jewish-Hindu dialogue for decades, making him a great candidate for this professorship" said Kenneth G. Furton, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The endowment is part of a larger initiative by the Jain community to establish an academic education centre for Jain studies and research at FIU.

The proposed Bhagwan Mahavir Interdisciplinary Centre for Religious Pluralism would offer courses in Jainism, provide research opportunities and collaborate with universities throughout the world, the university said.

"The centre will link FIU with other universities globally in a number of projects, including study programmes in India, working with secondary schools and community organizations on religious pluralism, summer institutes, faculty and student exchanges, and lecture series, among other projects," Katz said.

The endeavor is being led by Dipak C. Jain, renowned scholar and chairman of the Jain Education and Research Foundation.

"FIU's faculty shows excellence in the dissemination and application of knowledge," said Samani Charitra Prajna, a faculty of the FIU in Department of Religious Studies.

"The diverse ethnic student body has freedom of thought and expression. This professorship will open new horizons and be a truly worlds ahead initiative for FIU."

Founded in 1965 and Miami's only public research university, the FIU has more than 38,000 students and has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a "High Research Activity University". IANS

Summer school on Jainism attracts foreign participation

VARANASI: Is the millennia-old city on verge of witnessing confluence of Jainism and Buddhism and spreading the philosophy of two old religions to other parts of the world?

While Sarnath (where Buddha preached his first sermon) has emerged as international centre for Buddhist studies, now Parshwanath Vidyapeeth (PV), an external research centre of Jain studies recognised by Banaras Hindu University (BHU), in association with International School of Jain Studies (ISJS) looks all set to promote research on various aspects of Jainism besides exposing students (research scholars) and teachers to real life experience of peaceful co-existence of various religions in the city.

"We have established ISJS-PV global centre for ahimsa (non-violence) and Indic research and special summer schools are being also hosted for foreign scholars, who get first hand experience of rituals and traditions of different religion that the city offers," said Shagun C Jain, vice-president (PV) and chairman ISJS-PV global centre, in a press conference on Sunday. "The numbers of foreign students (from under-graduate to Ph D level) visiting the PV centre during international summer school have also increased from seven (2005) to around 60 this year," he added.

It may be mentioned here that ISJS-PV global centre for ahimsa and Indic research was established in 2009 while ISJS had been conducting annual summer schools at PV centre for the last five years in the months of June and July each year.

The whole idea is to attract foreign students and teachers and give them practical inputs of various aspects of Jainism and other religions that co-exist peacefully in one of the oldest living cities of the world, said Prof SL Jain, director, PV on the occasion. The centre is also initiating efforts to link Jain philosophy with modern life style, making it relevant for addressing various issues including terrorism and environmental pollution, added Prof Jain, who was also the former dean, faculty of Arts, BHU.

As per reports of the centre, the first group of 14 scholars (under graduate level) visited the centre on June 7 while the second batch of 15 members arrived on June 14 this year. Presently, a group of 11 senior scholars that arrived on June 23 (for 10-days visit) is staying at the centre, getting practical and theoretical inputs on various aspects of Jainism.

So far, the programme has attracted around 60 foreign scholars from 11 countries in the world. "A majority of them (over 50 per cent) come from North American countries like the US and Canada, but recently scholars from Asian and European countries including Thailand, Czech republic, Slovenia, Denmark and Norway have also shown interest in summer schools," said Shagun C Jain, hinting at the popularity of summer schools.

From TOI

Parshwanath Vidyapeeth hot pick of foreign students

VARANASI: The International School for Jain Studies (ISJS), Parshwanath Vidyapeeth, Karaundi, is nowadays frequented by foreign students from various countries to study Jain philosophy.

In the recent past, two groups of foreign students from countries like the US, UK, Belgium, Japan, Thailand and Norway made visits for study purpose.

According to Dr SP Pandey, director in-charge of Parshwanath Vidyapeeth, the first group of 13 foreign students was on an education tour from June 14 to 19 while the second group of 12 students stayed for study purpose from June 30 to July 11. Lectures of noted scholars like Prof Anne Valley, department of Religious Studies, University Ottawa, Canada, Prof SN Upadhyay, director, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Prof RS Ambasht, professor emeritus at BHU, and others were organised for them.

The Parshwanath Vidyapeeth, established in 1937 as an Institute of Indology, is an institution of higher learning in Jain Studies.