The course will discuss how the teachings of the Buddha began and moved from Central Asia west to the Middle East and Europe, then east to Southeast Asia, China, and Japan...and now North America. How did different Buddhist schools develop? Discussions will consider different cultures, festivals, art, architecture, and academic studies in universities especially when European colonialism was at its peak.

Moderators: Robert Douglas has studied and attempted informally to practice Buddhism since an undergraduate student. Roger Pomplas has been a serious, lifelong practitioner of Kagyu Buddhism, now engaged in Ngondro practice.