With an aim to foster the academic excellence among the scholars and admirers of Buddhist Studies and its allied disciplines, it was thought to establish a platform for the academic deliberations, discussion and debate on the teachings of the founder of Buddhism. Hence, under the able leadership and guidance of Prof. Baidyanath Labh in the year December 2000 the foundation of Indian Society for Buddhist Studies (ISBS) was laid down at Nalanda which is known as the land of wisdom. Besides, it was also taken into consideration to have a look over the relevance and compatibility of Buddhist discourses contained in various languages (like Pali, Sanskrit, Sinhalese, Burmese, Thai, Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Kuchean, Sogdian, Apbramsha etc.), philosophy, thought, history (including art, architecture, archaeology, iconography) with modern day research findings thereby bridging a link between the past and present.

  With this objective, Prof. Baidyanath Labh, Sh. Madan Mohan Sharma, Prof. Kedar Nath Sharma, Prof. Anita Billawaria, Dr. Niharika Labh, Dr. Lalit Gupta, and Sh. Jivan Nath Sharma on 02.04.2002 solemnly tightened their shoulders to give it a national shape. The efforts were made and finally the ISBS got registered under Jammu and Kashmir Societies Registration Act, VI of 1998 (1941 A.D.) vide no. 4113-S of 2002 dated 16th December, 2002 with its headquarter at Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Jammu, Jammu (J&K).

  Since its very inception, the Society has been engaged in the propagation of Buddhist Studies as an academic discipline in the Indian universities and colleges, and other research institutions, besides highlighting the significance of the Buddha’s humanistic message.

  However, with the enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, the state was reconstituted as Jammu and Kashmir (Union Territory) and under new norms, the Indian Society for Buddhist Studies get re-registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860 (Act XXI of 1860) vide no. 723-CSA of 2024 vide dated 05 November, 2024 with following members as the founder office bearers Dr. Lalit Gupta (President), Prof. Anita Billawaria (Vice President), Dr. Bharat Bhushan (Vice President), Dr. Suresh Kumar (Secretary), Shri Vijay Dev Singh Billawaria (Joint Secretary), Dr. Rajesh Sharma (Joint Secretary) and Dr. Ashwani Kumar (Treasurer) with its headquarter at 108A (Private), Gole Market, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, J&K and its academic office at Department of Buddhist Studies, Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (Deemed University), Ministry of Culture, Government of India, Nalanda, Bihar.

  Till 2024 the ISBS has successfully organized 25 annual conferences at different venues viz; Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, Nalanda, Bihar (….2001), Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Jammu, Jammu, J&K (………..March, 2003), Aligarsh Sanskrit Parishad, Aligarh, U.P. (…….February, 2004), Rajasthan Sanskrit University, Jaipur, Rajasthan (…2004), Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi (…..2005), Punjab University, Chandigarh (….2006), Kalidas Sanskrit Academy, Ujjain (…..2007), Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad (…..2008), Department of Sanskrit, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, J&K (October 5-7, 2009), Ahmedabad , Gujarat (September 17-19, 2010), Gangtok, Sikkim (September 16-18, 2011), Doon University, Dehradun (November 2-4, 2012), Agartala, Tripura (August 9-11, 2013), Iswar Saran Degree College, Allahabad, U.P. (October 10-12, 2014), Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, Ladnun, Rajasthan (December 11-13, 2015), Punjabi University, Patiala (October 21-23, 2016), Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies, Barla, Raisen, M.P. (October 13-15, 2017), University of Kalyani, Kalyani, W.B. (September 28-30, 2018), Prachya Vidya Peeth, Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh (October 11-13, 2019), Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi (December 18-20, 2020), Department of Buddhist Studies, Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, Nalanda, Bihar (October 1-3, 2021), Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Choglamsar, Leh, Ladakh (August 26-28, 2022), Jain University, Banglore (October 27-29, 2023), Kavikulguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek, Nagpur, Maharashtra (September 14-16, 2024).