Who Owns Buddha Dharma University?

I’m not sure what to do with this. After working so hard to resurrect BDU, now I find that the ownership and management of BDU is unclear and that I may be in the middle of a war. Part of me wants to have nothing to do with this battle. Part of me wants to facilitate a peaceful resolution. Part of me wants to just hand over the original BDU sites if the resolution is not peaceful. And part of me realizes that I’m not the one to be making these decisions. So on the sidelines I just sit. How appropriate. Just sitting.

FMZO Office <office@fmzo.org>
Mon, Feb 13, 9:06 AM (1 day ago)

Dear Buddha Dharma University Family,

As you may know by now, the Five Mountain Zen Order was never dissolved, and BDU was never transferred to other person or entity. BDU remains the legal property of Five Mountain, the Nevada nonprofit corporation that Ven. Wonji formed in 2012.

Last year, some well-meaning individuals removed key assets from FMZO and BDU without legal authority to do so. We are working with them to return the two BDU websites, course documents, and grade records. Having personally met the people involved, I’m optimistic that they will help us move forward.

I hope that BDU can honor the classes that were offered last Fall and this year under the BDU name. However, I cannot guarantee that until we review the course content. We already have the historic records of BDU, and as far as we can tell, we have the entire record of past grades, student records, etc. up through December 2021.

As far as possible, we will keep BDU operating without interruption. We have exciting plans for the future of BDU, including ways to transfer credits from other institutions, higher quality courses, and a simplified domain name.

On a personal note, you may be wondering how I ended up with this job. Sometime in late 2020 or early 2021, Ven. Wonji asked me to consider becoming Chancellor of BDU. At that point, I was working too many hours and didn’t have the time it would take. I declined, assuring him that I would love to do so at some future point. Finally, I have time. As for my qualifications, I’ve been a college professor since 2005 and was the Department Chairperson for Criminal Justice at UEI College. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at the Permian Basin and a Doctorate in Law from Western State University College of Law.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me via our official email address: office@fmzo.org. I’m always happy to speak with you.

Warmly,