The Stanford Center for Buddhist Studies was founded in 1997 with a gift to the university. A unit of the Division of International Comparative and Area Studies (ICA), the center maintains offices, a reference library, and a seminar room in Building 70, on the Main Quad.Since its founding, the Center has helped Stanford develop an international reputation as one of the world’s premier institutions for Buddhist Studies.

SCBS serves to coordinate, support, and develop the university's resources for Buddhist studies in four general areas: scholarly research, academic communication, teaching, and public outreach. It works closely with the Buddhist studies doctoral program of the Department of Religious Studies,and the Group in Buddhist Studies at U.C. Berkeley. SCBS administers the Tibetan Studies Initiative for the Asian Religions & Cultures Initiative, theBuddhism in the Modern World program for the Office for Religious Life and the Buddhist Community at Stanford.