Our History

The first meeting of a “Study Group” was held in the living room of Shinobu Matsuura in Berkeley. Mrs. Matsuura was the wife of Rev. Issei Matsuura and mother of Jane Imamura. The first session of the Study Group was attended by then-bishop Enryo Shigefuji who recognized the importance of Buddhist education in English in order to train young Buddhists for leadership in the community. Also in attendance were Rev. Kanmo Imamura, Art Takemoto, Kimi Hisatsune (neé Yonemura), and more than a dozen students from UC Berkeley, Mills College and elsewhere. A second session of the Study Group was held roughly a month later, was more well-attended, and inaugurated a regular program supported by the Berkeley Buddhist Temple.

The Berkeley Temple hosted a multi-day event that featured many prominent BCA ministers and Buddhist scholars such as Tokan Tada, Nakamura Hajime, Alan Watts, D.T. Suzuki, and other prominent figures from the growing Beat and West Coast countercultural movements. The event spoke to the growing interest in Buddhism at the time and the Berkeley Temple’s growing importance in supporting Buddhist education.

In 1955, the BCA began supporting the Study Group, and it was officially renamed the BCA Study Center. The Study Center was housed at the Berkeley Buddhist Temple, and Rev. Kanmo Imamura was assigned as the director of the program. In addition to holding study classes on a variety of topics, the Center also helped prepare people for study and ordination in Japan as Buddhist ministers.

Rev. Masami Fujitani was assigned to oversee the Berkeley Buddhist Temple and BCA Study Center.

The Study Center’s activities had grown too many to be managed by the Berkeley Temple’s minister, and Rev. Kanmo Imamura was asked to return to Berkeley to oversee the Center.

Under Rev. Imamura, the Study Center purchased a building on Haste Street (the current IBS dorm) in Berkeley and officially moved out of the Berkeley Temple. Two years later, the Center was incorporated with the State of California as the Institute of Buddhist Studies, a Buddhist graduate school and seminary.

In 1967, Rev. Imamura left Berkeley to assume the role of Bishop of the Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Mission in Hawai’i, the same position his father held. During his time in Honolulu, he established a Buddhist Studies Center near the University of Hawai’i, continuing his commitment to Buddhist education.

Rev. Haruyoshi Kusada was appointed to the position of IBS Executive Director in 1968. During the next several years, Rev. Kusada helped to develop and formalize IBS’s curriculum as a graduate school.

The Pacific Seminar- IBS also hosted summer sessions for both college students and teenagers. 

Rev. Seigen Yamaoka became BCA Bishop. Having received a degree from the Pacific School of Religion, Rev. Yamaoka knew the importance of religious education and the work of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU). 

Under the guidance of Rev. Yamaoka, IBS becomes affiliated with the Graduate Theological Seminary (GTU)

In the mid-1980s, Prof. Alfred Bloom (a noted scholar of Shin Buddhism) retired from his teaching position at the University of Hawai’i and was appointed Dean of IBS. Around the same time, Rev. Dr. Kenneth Tanaka was appointed Assistant Dean. Bloom and Tanaka were responsible for developing IBS’s curriculum and the joint MA in Buddhist Studies with the GTU.

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Around this time, the IBS moved its classes and administrative offices out of the Haste Street building to a new location on Addison Street in Downtown Berkeley. Unfortunately, this building was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and IBS eventually had to vacate the facility.

In 1991 Dr. Richard Payne, who had received his PhD from the GTU, began teaching at the IBS; he was soon appointed as an administrative assistant to Dr. Bloom.

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A few years later, Dr. Tanaka left IBS to take up a position as resident minister of the Southern Alameda Buddhist Church, and, three years later, a teaching position at Musashino University in Tokyo, Japan.

Dr. Bloom left IBS to retire in Hawai’i and Dr. Payne was appointed as Dean, a position he held until 2016.

During most of the 1990s and early 2000s, due to the closure of the Addison Street building, IBS classes were held at the Haste Street dorm or at the various schools of the GTU; meanwhile, the administrative offices for IBS were relocated to the Mountain View Buddhist Temple. 

It was during this time that the BCA began discussing plans to open a new educational center in Berkeley. These discussions would eventually lead to the opening of the Jodo Shinshu Center.

After several years of planning and construction, the Jodo Shinshu Center (JSC) opened at the corner of Fulton and Durant Streets in Berkeley. While maintaining the Haste Street dorm, IBS moved both classes and administrative offices to the JSC that year.

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The return to Berkeley reinvigorated IBS and its programming. Over the following years, several new faculty joined the IBS, student enrollment grew, and new programs were begun, supplementing our long-standing commitment to Jodo Shinshu ministerial education and training. Among the new programs were certificates in Buddhism and psychology and Soto Zen Buddhism.

In 2008, the Rev. Dr. Daijaku Kinst was recruited to the faculty, and IBS began developing a program in Buddhist chaplaincy. This program is one of the first of its kind in North America, and IBS has played an essential role in the development of Buddhist chaplaincy education.

In 2016, Dr. Payne stepped down from the position of Dean. In response, the Board of Trustees restructured the IBS administration, and Dr. Payne’s responsibilities were distributed to Rev. Dr. David Matsumoto, President, and Dr. Scott Mitchell, Dean.

Over the following several years, IBS pursued regional accreditation and continued developing its academic programs, further developing its Master of Divinity degree and inaugurating several online certificate programs.

In 2016, Dr. Payne stepped down from the position of Dean. In response, the Board of Trustees restructured the IBS administration, and Dr. Payne’s responsibilities were distributed to Rev. Dr. David Matsumoto, President, and Dr. Scott Mitchell, Dean.

Over the following several years, IBS pursued regional accreditation and continued developing its academic programs, further developing its Master of Divinity degree and inaugurating several online certificate programs.

Early in 2020, IBS was granted regional accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WSCUC).

The covid-19 pandemic brought unprecedented changes to the world and to IBS. The transition to online learning allowed for our programs to reach larger populations of students, and, at the same time, several members of the faculty retired, including Drs. Yamaoka, Kinst, and Payne. New faculty joined the IBS during this time including Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji, and Drs. Nancy Lin, Paula Arai, and Natalie Quli.

The IBS became a full member school of the GTU, the first non-Christian seminary to be included in the consortium.

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Rev. Dr. David Matsumoto formally retired; the Board of Trustees appointed Dr. Scott Mitchell to be the next president of IBS.

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