<DIV align=center><STRONG><BR>Professor Charles S<BR><BR><BR>Charles Prebish<BR><BR><BR>Buddhism in the Modern World<BR><BR><BR>Buddhism--A Modern Perspective<BR><BR><BR>Historical Dictionary of Buddhism<BR><BR><BR>Introducing Buddhism<BR><BR><BR>The a to Z of Buddhism<BR><BR><BR>The Faces of Buddhism in America Edited by Charles S. Prebish and Kenneth K. Tanaka</STRONG></DIV><STRONG></STRONG>
<DIV align=left><BR><BR><SPAN lang=EN-US>By Adam Smeltz, Centre Daily Times, October 30, 2006</SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><SPAN lang=EN-US>University Park</SPAN></st1:City><SPAN lang=EN-US>, Penn (USA) -- For 35 years and thousands of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Penn</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> students, Charles Prebish has been a gateway to the Eastern world. He has been the sole professor of Buddhism here since 1971, introducing to undergraduates a religion that is fast emerging in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> and in global cultural exchanges.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>By December, though, the 62-year-old will leave <st1:place w:st="on">State College</st1:place>, he said last week. Prebish has accepted the Charles Redd Endowed Chair in religious studies at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Utah</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>He had been planning to retire soon from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Penn</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, where he witnessed the downsizing of religious studies from an entire department to the current, smaller program.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>But Prebish, a preeminent scholar in American Buddhism, said the opportunity to help develop a religious-studies program at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Utah</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> was irresistible.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>"It's an enormously exciting challenge to go to a university that is known as a Mormon-related school and open a religious-studies (program) that is open, welcome and inviting," Prebish said.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Raised as a Jew, Prebish converted to Buddhism in his college years, after his father's death. He finished an undergraduate degree in chemistry, eschewed dental school and enrolled in a Buddhism class at what is now <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Case</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Western Reserve</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cleveland</st1:place></st1:City>.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>"From the first day in that class, I knew I was home," Prebish said.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Teaching his own classes, Prebish is a lesson in motion. He darts from lectern to blackboard. He teases his students.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>"Oh, hi," he said to a guy who rolled in 25 minutes late for a 9:<st1:chmetcnv w:st="on" UnitName="a" SourceValue="45" HasSpace="True" Negative="False" NumberType="1" TCSC="0">45 a</st1:chmetcnv>.m. lecture.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Prebish turned back to the class.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>"He doesn't look awake, does he?"</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Prebish lightly chided another student for her smoking habits. A student who asked him to repeat a key point received a gentle scolding.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>"Don't flirt with him," Prebish told her, referring to a classmate. "Pay attention to the blackboard."</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Prebish, who teaches other Eastern religions in addition to Buddhism, takes his subject matter to heart. The world is home to at least 350 million Buddhists, the majority of them in <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place>, he said.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>The Buddhist population in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> is about 6 million -- up from less than a half-million in the 1970s, Prebish said.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>As <st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place> becomes a greater focus of the world, he said, an understanding of Buddhism is more and more vital in business, politics and other cultural exchanges.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Steve Ruhl, a <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Harvard</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> graduate student and a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Penn</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> alumnus, said Prebish shared not only enthusiasm and knowledge.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Prebish also shared friendship, Ruhl said.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>"That's a rare and valuable gift for a professor to offer an undergrad," Ruhl wrote in an e-mail.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Adam Leid, an undergraduate, called Prebish's instruction stimulating.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>"My first impression was that Dr. Prebish was a little quirky and not the typical professor I was accustomed to," Leid wrote in an e-mail. "He would infuse stories, personal and professional, into his lecture that would keep the mood light and sustained an environment that was conducive to not falling asleep -- normally a problem in college courses."</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Prebish, married and a father of two, has written or edited 20 books. With a colleague in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:City>, he founded in 1994 the online Journal of Buddhist Ethics, the first peer-reviewed online journal in Buddhist studies.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Prebish also is an expert in the emergence of American Buddhism. In the late '70s, he and a colleague famously unraveled the origins of the Buddhist sectarian movement in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Gary Cross, a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Penn</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> history professor, said Prebish is a feisty character known for upholding standards.</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>"He certainly has always been willing to place demands on students who don't meet standards," Cross said. "But he's always been fair and attentive."</SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US>The College of the Liberal Arts is seeking candidates to teach Buddhism after Prebish departs, religious-studies director Jonathan Brockopp said.</SPAN></P>
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