Buddhist Critical-Constructive Reflection Unit

The Buddhist Critical-Constructive Reflection Unit explores how Buddhist thought and practice can address contemporary issues and, more broadly, how Buddhist modes of understanding can inform or be informed by academic study (in Religious Studies, Philosophy, Ethics, Theology, Sociology, Economics, etc.). With this dialogical approach in mind, we seek to support conversations that bring diverse perspectives to bear on the work of critical and constructive reflection.

This year, we welcome paper and panel proposals on any topic pertaining to the unit’s areas of focus. We particularly invite proposals that engage with the theme for the 2026 meeting, Future/s. The steering committee wishes to specifically encourage new and emerging scholars to submit individual paper proposals, paper session proposals, and roundtable proposals around this theme as it relates to Buddhist temporalities, whether practically, ritually, materially, politically, philosophically, or otherwise, as we look to find opportunities to support the work of scholars not already well-connected in the field of Buddhist Studies. 

We likewise invite individual paper proposals that might contribute to scholarly conversation around themes that our members have suggested, as indicated below. Where an organizer’s contact email is provided, those interested in contributing to a proposal on that theme are encouraged to contact the organizer directly regarding a possible proposal.

Innovating Tradition

Taking up the question of the future of tradition, this session seeks scholars and scholar-practitioners exploring how forms of thought and practice rooted in Buddhist tradition are being recast for the twenty-first century by Buddhist institutions and persons connected to Buddhist institutions. Working against a notion of innovation as coming from those thinkers without Buddhist commitments, it explores responses to the current moment from within Buddhist institutions and examines applications of tradition toward the future.

Contact: Rachel Pang, rhpang@davidson.edu

Buddhism, Systems Theory, and the Legacies of Joanna Macy 

2026 will mark the one-year anniversary of the passing of Joanna Macy and the fifty-year anniversary of the publication of Macy's first essay on Buddhism and systems theory. This session seeks papers exploring any aspect of Macy's work on mutual causality, identity, social and biological networks, or social action. The session is being proposed for potential co-sponsorship with the Buddhist Philosophy Unit.

Contact: Jessica Zu, xzu@usc.edu

Buddhism and Play

Following on the thoughtful and generative work done as part of a 2025 panel on Buddhism and labor, this session seeks to explore play across Buddhist worlds. Topics might include but are not limited to play and Buddhist pedagogy; games, didactic or otherwise; joking and joke work; cultures of leisure and recreation; and Buddhist theories of the ludic. Organizers are interested especially in proposals that include playful praxis as a component of the presentation.

Contact: Melissa Anne-Marie Curley, curley.32@osu.edu