BERKELEY — The Numata Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2022 Toshihide Numata Book Award in Buddhism is Professor John Strong (Emeritus Professor, Bates), for his book, The Buddha’s Tooth: Western Tales of a Sri Lankan Relic (University of Chicago Press, 2021).
The Toshihide Numata Book Award in Buddhism is presented on an annual basis to an outstanding book in the area of Buddhist studies. The selection is made by an external committee that is appointed annually. Members of this year’s committee had high praise for The Buddha’s Tooth. One called it an “outstanding piece of scholarship, exhaustively researched and beautifully written. … It is the rare book that can be read with benefit and interest by anyone working in any area of Buddhist Studies as well as by scholars of colonial-period South Asia.” Another praised the book for the manner in which it “builds on modern trends in Buddhist studies that emphasize materiality and the cross-cultural construction of modern Buddhism(s), but goes significantly beyond them.”
Professor Strong will be presented with the Toshihide Numata Book Award on Friday, February 17, 2023. The award presentation will begin at 2 pm Pacific time. Following the presentation, Professor Strong will deliver a keynote lecture, followed by a panel with three presentations by specialists in the field.
We will post another announcement with additional details closer to the time of the event.
More information about the Toshihide Numata Book Award in Buddhism, including names of past recipients of the Award, can be found here:
https://buddhiststudies.berkeley.edu/buddhist-studies/toshihide-numata-b....