The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Public Impact Grants in Buddhist Studies

“Breathing Through Time: Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Interactive Archive” explores the rare archives of Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh from the 1950s and 1960s—letters, writings, poetry, and journals created during the Vietnam War—to illuminate the emergence of Engaged Buddhism as a contemporary Buddhist tradition and contemplative practice for collective liberation. While his published writings in the West are mostly after his exile in 1966, this project draws on unpublished materials preserved in monastic and private collections, tracing the evolution of Thích Nhất Hạnh’s thinking and development of Engaged Buddhism amid war, education in the US and France, and exile. Through this project, Patricia Nguyen and Sister Chan Dinh Nghiem explore the afterlives of the First Indochina War, Cold War, and global peace efforts through the lens of Buddhist Studies.

“Buddhist Environmental Storytelling” is a four-day workshop on public environmental storytelling led by Natasha Heller in collaboration with Kerri Arsenault at Morven, the University of Virginia’s place-based, land-centered sustainability lab. Throughout history, Buddhists have used different storytelling forms to educate, entertain, and motivate practitioners. These stories have often been in service of cultivating an ethics of cross-species care that aligns with the ideals fostered and supported by contemporary environmentalism. The workshop asks: How can we employ the methods, practices, and goals of environmental storytelling so that Buddhist environmental perspectives reach a broad audience, while simultaneously deepening our responsibilities to the more-than-human world?

This project translates and publishes two previously untranslated foundational Huayan texts with scholarly and practice-oriented introductions, annotations, and commentary, with the aim of immediately applying them in practice settings through hybrid meditation retreats (Barre, Center 2026, San Francisco Zen Center & Tallahassee Chan Center 2027), a month-long intensive residency course (2027), at least ten Dharma talks, two mainstream Buddhist journal articles, and more than twenty pieces of digital media. The initiative aims to integrate Huayan's profound teachings on interdependence into Western Buddhist practice and scholarship, reaching numerous practitioners directly and has the potential to reach thousands of people in the broader public sector while enriching academic studies of Chinese Buddhism.

The Painted Gateway Chorten Restoration Project leads the restoration of 15 Kankani chorten (gateway stupas) in Zanskar and Changthang, Ladakh. These structures, some with sacred murals more than 800 years old, are early examples of Tibetan Buddhist architecture now at risk of deterioration. Led by project director Tenzin Nyandak, the founding principal of the multidisciplinary design firm Studio Nyandak, the project employs local craftsmen and consults an international team of scholars, engineers, and architects to research and apply vernacular restoration methods. Born and raised in Choglamsar, Ladakh, Nyandak is dedicated to mentoring Studio Nyandak’s India-based team of Tibetan and Zanskari architects and engineers and to stimulating local networks and intangible Buddhist heritage. The collaborative team includes Rob Linrothe, John Harrison, Mark Aldenderfer, Ingun B. Amundsen, Karl Ryavec, Sandeep Sikka, Paul Laroque, and Yumtsokyi Bhum.

The Treasury of Lives podcast series “Buddhism Through a Biographical Lens,” led by Alexander Gardner in collaboration with Catherine Tsuji and Will Colley, consists of five conversations between public scholars on topics relating to Buddhism in Tibet and surrounding regions. Readings of 39 related biographies already published on The Treasury of Lives accompany these discussions. The episodes, primarily in English with selected content in Tibetan, aim to address a wide range of themes and distinct geographic regions where Buddhism is practiced. Benefitting from The Treasury's high traffic and well-regarded platform, combined with the effectiveness of the podcast medium, the goal of this project is to engage scholars, practitioners and the general users with accurate, insightful content related to Buddhism in Tibet, China, Mongolia, and Bhutan.

“We the Sangha: A Podcast Series on Buddhist Asian America” is a six-episode, story-driven podcast series that explores the transformative impact of Asian American Buddhists on US society. Curated and hosted by author and scholar Chenxing Han and produced by Axis Mundi Media in partnership with the Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative (APARRI), the series features conversations with artists, activists, and scholars to illuminate the diversity of Buddhist Asian America—across ethnicities, generations, and traditions. Blending rigorous research with intimate storytelling, “We the Sangha” offers an empathetic, community-rooted lens on race, religion, and belonging, advancing public understanding of Asian American Buddhism’s contributions to America’s cultural and spiritual fabric.