Buddhist Studies

Buddhist Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Buddhism about their new books.

Stephen Harris, "Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path: Santideva on Virtue and Well-Being" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

July 20, 2024

Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path

Stephen Harris
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

An influential eighth-century Buddhist text, Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra, or Guide to the Practices of Awakening, how to become a supremely virtuous …

Stephanie Balkwill, "The Women Who Ruled China: Buddhism, Multiculturalism, and Governance in the Sixth Century" (U California Press, 2024)

July 20, 2024

The Women Who Ruled China

Stephanie Balkwill
Hosted by Jessica Zu

In the late fifth century, a girl whose name has been forgotten by history was born at the edge of the Chinese empire. By the time of her death, she h…

Rory Lindsay, "Saving the Dead: Tibetan Funerary Rituals in the Tradition of the Sarvardurgatipariśodhana Tantra" (WSTB, 2024)

July 11, 2024

Saving the Dead

Rory Lindsay
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Saving the Dead: Tibetan Funerary Rituals in the Tradition of the Sarvardurgatipariśodhana Tantra (WSTB, 2024) explores Tibetan funerary manuals based…

Neena Mahadev, "Karma and Grace: Religious Difference in Millennial Sri Lanka" (Columbia UP, 2023)

July 6, 2024

Karma and Grace

Neena Mahadev
Hosted by Jessica Zu

Around the turn of the millennium, Pentecostal churches began to pepper majority-Buddhist Sri Lanka, setting off a sense of alarm among Buddhists who …

Cameron Bailey and Aleksandra Wenta, "Tibetan Magic: Past and Present" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

June 21, 2024

Tibetan Magic

Cameron Bailey and Aleksandra Wenta
Hosted by Jue Liang

Tibetan Magic: Past and Present (Bloomsbury, 2024) focuses on the theme of magic in Tibetan contexts, encompassing both pre-modern and modern text-cul…

The Religious Landscape of Taiwan: A Discussion with Yushuang Yao

June 21, 2024

The Religious Landscape of Taiwan

Yushuang Yao

How is Buddhism seen and practiced in Taiwan? And how do neighbouring countries influence Taiwanese Buddhism? In this episode we explore the religious…

The Enlightenment of the Body, with Naomi Worth

June 9, 2024

The Enlightenment of the Body

Naomi Worth
Hosted by Pierce Salguero

In this episode, Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Naomi Worth, a scholar and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism’s postural yoga tradition. We dive into…

Benjamin Brose, "Embodying Xuanzang: The Postmortem Travels of a Buddhist Pilgrim" (U Hawaii Press, 2023)

May 23, 2024

Embodying Xuanzang

Benjamin Brose
Hosted by Jessica Zu

Xuanzang (600/602–664) was one of the most accomplished and consequential monks in the history of East Asian Buddhism. Celebrated for his sixteen-year…

Wei Wu, "Esoteric Buddhism in China:  Engaging Japanese and Tibetan Traditions, 1912–1949" (Columbia UP, 2023)

May 17, 2024

Esoteric Buddhism in China

Wei Wu
Hosted by Jessica Zu

During the Republican period (1912–1949) and after, many Chinese Buddhists sought inspiration from non-Chinese Buddhist traditions, showing a particul…

Richard M. Jaffe, "Seeking Sakyamuni: South Asia in the Formation of Modern Japanese Buddhism" (U Chicago Press, 2019)

May 5, 2024

Seeking Sakyamuni

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 cent…

Reiki and the Subtle Body, with Justin B. Stein

May 4, 2024

Reiki and the Subtle Body

Justin B. Stein
Hosted by Pierce Salguero

Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Justin B. Stein, a specialist in modern Japanese religion and the preeminent historian of Reiki. We discuss Justin’s…

Matthew Robertson, "Puruṣa: Personhood in Ancient India" (Oxford UP, 2024)

April 9, 2024

Puruṣa

Matthew I. Robertson
Hosted by Malcolm Keating

The concept of the puruṣa, or person, is implicated in a wide range of ancient texts throughout the Indian subcontinent. In Puruṣa: Personhood in Anci…

William S. Waldron, "Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters" (Wisdom Publications, 2023)

April 4, 2024

Making Sense of Mind Only

William S. Waldron
Hosted by Jessica Zu

Through engaging, contemporary examples, Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters (Wisdom Publications, 2023) reveals the Yogacara sch…

Building the Future Buddha: A Discussion with Jundo Cohen

March 31, 2024

Building the Future Buddha

Jundo Cohen

Jundo Cohen is a Zen Buddhist teacher and founder of Treeleaf Zendo, a digital Zen community with members in over 50 countries. He writes on the inter…

Making Sense of Yogacara with William Waldron

March 23, 2024

Making Sense of Yogacara with William Waldron

William Waldron

Professor William Waldron teaches courses on the South Asian religious traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, Tibetan religion and history, comparative …

Pankaj Jain and Jeffery D. Long, "Indian and Western Philosophical Concepts in Religion" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023)

March 14, 2024

Indian and Western Philosophical Concepts in Religion

Pankaj Jain and Jeffery D. Long
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Philosophical concepts are influential in the theories and methods to study the world religions. Even though the disciplines of anthropology and relig…

Charles B. Jones, "Chinese Pure Land Buddhism: Understanding a Tradition of Practice" (U Hawaii Press, 2019)

February 26, 2024

Chinese Pure Land Buddhism

Charles B. Jones
Hosted by Lina Verchery

Today’s guest is Charles B. Jones, Associate Professor and Director of the Religion and Culture graduate program in the School of Theology and Religio…

Buddhist Medicine in Contemporary Times (with Pierce Salguero)

February 9, 2024

Buddhist Medicine in Contemporary Times

Pierce Salguero
Hosted by Pierce Salguero

Dr Pierce Salguero is interviewed by James Bae on the Buddhist Medicine & Yoga Podcast. In this extensive and in-depth conversation, we talk about dif…

Jeffery D. Long, "Discovering Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu, Jain and Buddhist Thought" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

February 8, 2024

Discovering Indian Philosophy

Jeffery D. Long
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Jeffery D. Long's Indian Philosophy: An Introduction (Bloomsbury, 2023) helps readers discover how the many and varied schools of Indian thought can a…

Daniel Capper, "Roaming Free Like a Deer: Buddhism and the Natural World" (Cornell UP, 2022)

February 5, 2024

Roaming Free Like a Deer

Daniel Capper

Daniel Capper's book Roaming Free Like a Deer: Buddhism and the Natural World (Cornell UP, 2022) delves into ecological experiences in seven Buddhist …