New Books Network
Buddhist Studies
Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness April 14, 2021

What's Beyond Mindfulness?

Waking Up to This Precious Life

Stephen Fulder

Hosted by Yakir Englander
What is the power and significance of mindfulness and similar practices in conflict zones and conflict situations? Does a person need to challenge the norms and authority of the society …

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Southeast Asian Studies April 1, 2021

Teardrops of Time

Buddhist Aesthetics in the Poetry of Angkarn Kallayanapong

Arnika Fuhrmann

Hosted by Patrick Jory
Angkarn Kallayanapong (1926-2012) was arguably Thailand’s most famous poet of the modern period. His career spanned the era from the 1940s to the 1980s when Thai society was fundamentally transformed …
Buddhist Studies March 18, 2021

Yasodhara and the Buddha

Vanessa R. Sasson

Hosted by Luke Thompson
By combining the spirit of fiction with the fabulism of Indian mythology and in-depth academic research, Vanessa R. Sasson shares the evocative story of the Buddha from the perspective of …
Japanese Studies March 17, 2021

Shimaji Mokurai and the Reconception of Religion and the Secular in Modern Japan

Hans Martin Krämer

Hosted by Samee Siddiqui
Religion is at the heart of such ongoing political debates in Japan as the constitutionality of official government visits to Yasukuni Shrine, yet the very categories that frame these debates …
Buddhist Studies March 16, 2021

Wisdom as a Way of Life

Theravāda Buddhism Reimagined

Steven Collins

Hosted by Luke Thompson
This wide-ranging and powerful book argues that Theravāda Buddhism provides ways of thinking about the self that can reinvigorate the humanities and offer broader insights into how to learn and …
East Asian Studies February 26, 2021

The Sea and the Sacred in Japan

Aspects of Maritime Religion

Fabio Rambelli

Hosted by Daigengna Duoer
In The Sea and the Sacred in Japan: Aspects of Maritime Religion (Bloomsbury 2018), Fabio Rambelli invites various fifteen scholars of Japanese religions to reflect on a well taken-for-granted fact: although the sea …
SSEAC Stories February 25, 2021

A Thai Contemporary Artist on Identity, Power, and the Space In-Between

A Discussion with Phaptawan Suwannakudt

Phaptawan Suwannakudt

Hosted by Natali Pearson
As a Thai-Australian woman artist, Phaptawan Suwannakudt has long battled prejudice and discrimination relating to her gender. This disappointment with society’s dictates features at the heart of Phaptawan’s artistic practice …
East Asian Studies February 24, 2021

Buddhism after Mao

Negotiations, Continuities, and Reinventions

Zhe Ji, Gareth Fisher, André Laliberté

Hosted by Daigengna Duoer
With over 100 million followers, Buddhism in the People's Republic of China now fosters the largest community in the world of individuals who self-identify as Buddhists. Although Buddhism was harshly persecuted …
Japanese Studies January 29, 2021

Seeking Sakyamuni

South Asia in the Formation of Modern Japanese Buddhism

Richard M. Jaffe

Hosted by Samee Siddiqui
Though fascinated with the land of their tradition’s birth, virtually no Japanese Buddhists visited the Indian subcontinent before the nineteenth century. In the richly illustrated Seeking Śākyamuni: South Asia in the …
East Asian Studies December 22, 2020

Buddhist Tourism in Asia

Courtney Bruntz and Brooke Schedneck

Hosted by Daigengna Duoer
This edited volume is the first book-length study of Buddhist tourism in contemporary Asia in the English language. Featuring chapters from diverse contributors from religious studies, anthropology, and art history, Buddhist …
Buddhist Studies December 15, 2020

Chinese Esoteric Buddhism

Amoghavajra, the Ruling Elite, and the Emergence of a Tradition

Geoffrey C. Goble

Hosted by Luke Thompson
In his recent book, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra, the Ruling Elite, and the Emergence of a Tradition (Columbia University Press, 2019), Geoffrey Goble examines the emergence and early history of …
Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness December 14, 2020

Inward

Vipassana Meditation and the Embodiment of the Self

Michal Pagis

Hosted by Jack Petranker
There is a strong interest today in turning inward to explore the mind and body. Mindfulness meditation exemplifies this trend, and has become increasingly well-known and widely practiced. In Inward …
East Asian Studies December 9, 2020

Monks in Motion

Buddhism and Modernity Across the South China Sea

Jack Meng-Tat Chia

Hosted by Daigengna Duoer
Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity Across the South China Sea (Oxford University Press 2020) is the first monograph in the English language to explore the transnationally connected history of …
Nordic Asia Podcast November 11, 2020

American Imperialism, Thai Scholarship and Buddhist Cosmology with Matthew Phillips

Matthew Phillips

Hosted by Nordic Asia Podcast
How did American imperialism affect Thai scholarship? And what does Buddhist cosmology got to do with the Thai royal tours to Burma and the United States in the 1960s? In …
Psychology November 10, 2020

To Heal a Wounded Heart

The Transformative Power of Buddhism and Psychotherapy in Action

Pilar Jennings

Hosted by Yakir Englander
Early on in her clinical practice, psychoanalyst Pilar Jennings was presented with a particularly difficult case: a six-year-old girl who, traumatized by loss, had stopped speaking. Challenged by the limitations …
British Studies November 6, 2020

Women in British Buddhism

Commitment, Connection, Community

Caroline Starkey

Hosted by Olivia Porter
Based on detailed ethnographic research, this book explores the varied experiences of women who have converted to Buddhism in contemporary Britain and analyses the implications of their experiences for understanding …
Buddhist Studies November 3, 2020

Shinra Myojin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian 'Mediterranean'

Sujung Kim

Hosted by Trevor McManis
Shinra Myojin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian “Mediterranean” (University of Hawaii Press, 2020) is a fascinating study of the transcultural underpinnings of Medieval East Asian Buddhist traditions with …
Southeast Asian Studies October 22, 2020

Lost Temples of the Jungle

A History of Mrauk-U with Dr. Bob Hudson

Thushara Dibley

Hosted by Thushara Dibley
Deep in the jungles of Myanmar lie the remains of an ancient kingdom, the 15th-century royal city of Mrauk-U. Located in the Bay of Bengal and separated from the rest …
East Asian Studies September 30, 2020

Faith and Reason in Continental and Japanese Philosophy

Reading Tanabe Hajime and William Desmond

Takeshi Morisato

Hosted by Roman Paşca
Faith and Reason in Continental and Japanese Philosophy: Reading Tanabe Hajime and William Desmond (Bloomsbury, 2019) by Takeshi Morisato is a book that brings together the work of two significant …
East Asian Studies September 30, 2020

Buddhist Magic

Divination, Healing, and Enchantment through the Ages

Sam van Schaik

Hosted by Olivia Porter
As far back as we can see in the historical record, Buddhist monks and nuns have offered services including healing, divination, rain making, aggressive magic, and love magic to local …