Unno to Deliver 41st Annual Katharine Asher Engel Lecture

Taitetsu Unno, Jill Ker Conway Professor Emeritus of Religion and East Asian Studies, will give the 41st annual Katharine Asher Engel Lecture, "Space as Metaphor: Evolution of the Stupa from India to Japan," at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9, in Wright Hall auditorium.

Unno, who has spent part of this semester at the Buddhist Study Center in Honolulu, came to Smith as professor of world religions and director of the Ada Howe Kent Program in 1971. The Ada Howe Kent Program funds lectures, symposia, workshops and other projects that focus on world religions and cultures. Unno assumed the Conway professorship in 1988. He was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Tokyo, where he received a Ph.D. in Buddhist studies.

The author of a number of books, monographs and translations, Unno's most recent book, "Path Through Fire and Water: The Pure Land Tradition of Shin Buddhism," was published last year by Doubleday.

During his lecture, Unno will discuss the stupa, "huge mounds containing the relics of the historical Buddha, which gave rise later to miniature, votive stupa and to the five-tiered tombstone stupa found in East Asia." The five tiers symbolize earth, water, fire, air and space, Unno explains. The lecture will explore the significance of "space" that crowns the five-tiered stupa.

During the first semester this year, Unno's faculty colleagues have sponsored a number of events, including lectures and exhibits to mark his retirement from Smith after nearly 28 years of teaching.

The Engel lecture is granted annually to a Smith College faculty member who has made a significant contribution to his or her field. A reception in Wright Hall common room will follow the lecture.