Christoph Emmrich
Associate Professor, Buddhist Studies
General Secretary, IABS

To the Members of the International Association of Buddhist Studies
Re.: Postponement of the XIXth Conference of the IABS to 2022
March 6, 2021
Dear Members of the International Association of Buddhist Studies,
Almost one entire year has passed since you received my letter announcing the postponement ofthe XIXth Conference of the IABS, from August 2020 to August 2021. The date envisaged backthen has now moved close enough for me to reach out to you again. In the last 12 months anddepending on where you may be living, you too will have seen many ups and downs and while we
now have more reason to believe that things will improve in the not too distant future, we are still
far from being able to plan our lives and our work as we used to before the world changed so
dramatically. Let me tell you that your health and well-being has continued to be of great concern
to both the IABS Board of Directors and the conference’s organizers. As have others, our academic
community too has suffered tremendously. Several of us have either lost loved ones and close
colleagues due to the virus itself or have mourned their loss under the terrible conditions createdby the disease. Our thoughts are with you in what remain very difficult times.
What we now know is that our previous assessment, that we may all meet in Seoul this summer,
turned out to be overly optimistic. After following very closely the developments throughout theworld and upon careful deliberation, the IABS Board of Directors and the conference’s convener
Professor Eun-su Cho, together with her team, have come to the conclusion, which many of you
too may have already anticipated: that the environment predicted for August of this year is still not
safe enough to hold a conference in a way that would satisfy us all. This means that the XIXth
Conference of the IABS will not be held this year either and will be postponed to August 2022.
Though the expectations of all of us have already been lowered considerably by the informationthat we keep receiving through the media and by our shared experience, this has still been no easy
decision. However, the continuing high rate of infections across the globe, the uneven pace ofvaccine distribution, the heavy restrictions on international travel, and the unpredictabilityconditioned by the advent of new variant strains - four factors that are likely to persist throughout
the summer and beyond - have left us with no other viable option.
The convener Professor Cho has decided on August 14-19, 2022 as the new date for the XIXth
Conference of the IABS. Arrangements will be made by the convener to guarantee that theconference’s programming will be sensitive to the changes to research projects and presentationplans that will inevitably have occurred since the first round of submissions roughly two years ago.
In the communication from the conference convener you will be receiving shortly, prospective
panel conveners and session presenters will be asked to either reconfirm their participation or to
notify the convener in the unfortunate case that they may decide to withdraw their submission. TheFACULTY OF ARTS & SCIENCE
Jackman Humanities Building, 170 St. George Street Toronto, Ontario, Office 203, M5R Canada
Tel: +1 416 317 2662  Fax: +1 416 978-1610  christoph.emmrich@utoronto.ca  http://www.religion.utoronto.ca/

organizers will need to receive this update by April 1, 2021. Once the situation has been assessed,the convener will send out a call for new panel and section paper proposals for a possible inclusionin the programme. Panel conveners and section paper presenters who have already been accepted
and who have reconfirmed their participation will then have the opportunity to submit changed
titles and abstracts. Both kinds of submission, the new ones and the updates of the old ones, will
be due by August 1, 2021. Please remain posted for the upcoming communications from theconvener.
We recognize that changes in research agendas or other circumstances, and the challenges posedby the unpredictable situation, might now make it difficult for some members to meet their originalcommitment to attend and present at the conference. At the same time, we would like to urge as
many members as possible to participate, in order to ensure that, conditions notwithstanding,our meeting is just as substantial and lively as ever.
Let me express, on behalf of the IABS Board of Directors, our utmost respect, admiration, andgratefulness to Professor Cho and her team. There are no words to describe the resilience, patience,strength, and forbearance it takes to sustain such a prolonged effort, to live through so much
uncertainty, and to keep the promise of hosting us all for so much longer than anyone of usexpected. The IABS Board members, including myself, would like to express their gratitude toProfessor Cho and our Korean colleagues for having managed the first postponement so
impeccably and for being willing to shoulder yet another year of delay, with all the additional
unexpected work this involves and under the harshest possible circumstances. Our Koreancolleagues’ unwavering commitment to the hospitality they are willing to offer deserves ourhighest praise.
Let me not end without expressing my deepest regrets to you for us not being able to get together
for yet another year. I truly hope that you all will do as well as circumstances allow for in themonths that lie ahead of us and that we will all be able to look back at this disconcerting periodwith a renewed sense of community when we assemble again in Seoul in 2022.
With warm regards,

General Secretary, IABS