New Books Network
Buddhist Studies
The Imperfect Buddha Podcast July 10, 2015

Imperfect Buddha Podcast: Introducing the Why, the How, the Intent of it All

Hosted by Matthew O'Connell
What is the Imperfect Buddha Podcast? Where does it come from? Why listen to it? All of these questions and more are presented in this introduction designed at clarifying for …

Buddhist Studies

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Interviews with scholars of Buddhism about their new books.

Buddhist Studies January 24, 2022

Buddhism in Five Minutes

Elizabeth J. Harris

Hosted by Olivia Porter
In Elizabeth J. Harris' Buddhism in Five Minutes (Equinox Publishing, 2021), academic specialists offer answers to 75 questions about Buddhism that people curious about Buddhism might ask. The questions cover …
Japanese Studies December 22, 2021

Pilgrims Until We Die

Unending Pilgrimage in Shikoku

Ian Reader and John Shultz

Hosted by Raditya Nuradi
Ian Reader and John Shultz's Pilgrims Until We Die: Unending Pilgrimage in Shikoku (Oxford University Press, 2021)" explores the Shikoku pilgrimage by focusing on the themes of repetition and perpetual …
Buddhist Studies January 3, 2022

A Buddhist Sensibility

Aesthetic Education at Tibet`s Mindröling Monastery

Dominique Townsend

Hosted by Jue Liang
Founded in 1676 during a cosmopolitan early modern period, Mindröling monastery became a key site for Buddhist education and a Tibetan civilizational center. Its founders sought to systematize and institutionalize …
The Imperfect Buddha Podcast December 2, 2021

Stephen Batchelor on Secularizing Buddhism

Stephen Batchelor

Hosted by Matthew O'Connell
Today I speak to Stephen Batchelor, figurehead for Secular Buddhism, well known author, and Scot. I present the lovely man some of the critique aimed at his work in the …
Systems and Cybernetics November 19, 2021

Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking

The Natural Path to Sustainable Transformation

Josep M. Coll

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
I recently sat down with Josep M. Coll to discuss his new book Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking: The Natural Path to Sustainable Transformation (Routledge, 2021). This book is the latest …
Buddhist Studies November 18, 2021

The Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje

Master of Mahamudra

Ruth Gamble

Hosted by Cuilan Liu
A scholarly yet accessible biography of the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, one of the great historical figures of Tibetan Buddhism.  Known for his mastery of teachings across sectarian lines, his …
East Asian Studies November 17, 2021

Lineages of the Literary

Tibetan Buddhist Polymaths of Socialist China

Nicole Willock

Hosted by Daigengna Duoer
What happened to the Buddhist scholars who stayed behind in Tibet and China after the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans fled from the People’s Liberation Army in 1959 …
LGBTQ+ Studies November 16, 2021

My Buddha Is Pink

Buddhism from a LGBTQI Perspective

Richard Harrold

Hosted by John Marszalek
Welcome to the Queer Voices of the South podcast on the New Books Network. In this episode, host John Marszalek interviews Richard Harrold about his book My Buddha Is Pink: Buddhism from …
Buddhist Studies November 2, 2021

I Hear Her Words

An Introduction to Women in Buddhism

Alice Collett

Hosted by Bruno Shirley
Is there gender equality in Buddhist traditions? What do Buddhist texts say about women? How have Buddhist women responded to misogyny? Alice Collett's new book, I Hear Her Words: An Introduction …
Buddhist Studies October 20, 2021

Be the Refuge

Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists

Chenxing Han

Hosted by Victoria Montrose
Despite the fact that two thirds of U.S. Buddhists identify as Asian American, mainstream perceptions about what it means to be Buddhist in America often whitewash and invisibilize the diverse …
Japanese Studies October 19, 2021

Counting Dreams

The Life and Writings of the Loyalist Nun Nomura Bōtō

Roger K. Thomas

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Counting Dreams: The Life and Writings of the Loyalist Nun Nomura Bōtō (Cornell UP, 2021) tells the story of Nomura Bōtō, a Buddhist nun, writer, poet, and activist who joined the …
Nordic Asia Podcast October 8, 2021

Sharing Scholarship

Academic Publishing and Teaching Tibetan Buddhism in Finland

Albion Butters

Hosted by Satoko Naito
How can one approach religion as both an academic researcher and a spiritual practitioner? Join us for this wide ranging talk with Dr. Albion Butters, historian of religion and a …
Ideas Roadshow Podcast October 7, 2021

Turning the Mirror

A View From the East

Pankaj Mirshra

Hosted by Howard Burton
Turning the Mirror: A View From the East is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and award-winning writer Pankaj Mishra. The conversation provides behind-the-scenes insights into several …
East Asian Studies October 6, 2021

Buddhism and Modernity

Sources from Nineteenth-Century Japan

Orion Klautau and Hans Martin Krämer

Hosted by Nathan Hopson
Buddhism and Modernity: Sources from Nineteenth-Century Japan (University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2021) is a welcome new collection of twenty sources on modern Japanese Buddhism, translated and with introductions. The editors …
Buddhist Studies September 15, 2021

Rewriting Buddhism

Pali Literature and Monastic Reform in Sri Lanka, 1157–1270

Alastair Gornall

Hosted by Bruno Shirley
Rewriting Buddhism: Pali Literature and Monastic Reform in Sri Lanka, 1157–1270 (UCL Press, 2020) is the first intellectual history of premodern Sri Lanka’s most culturally productive period. This era of …
Life Wisdom August 25, 2021

Pamela Ayo Yetunde on being Black and Buddhist

Pamela Ayo Yetunde

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
What does it mean to be black and Buddhist, and what does that have to do with Life Wisdom? This episode of Life Wisdom features the dynamic work of Pamela Ayo …
Buddhist Studies August 13, 2021

Exile and Otherness

The Ethics of Shinran and Maimonides

Ilana Maymind

Hosted by Luke Thompson
In Exile and Otherness: The Ethics of Shinran and Maimonides (Lexington Books, 2020), Ilana Maymind argues that Shinran (1173–1263), the founder of True Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo Shinshu), and Maimonides (1138–1204), a …
The Imperfect Buddha Podcast August 10, 2021

Richard K. Payne on Securalizing Buddhism

Richard K. Payne

Hosted by Matthew O'Connell
From immanent Buddhism to cruel optimism, from secular subjectivity to the unconscious material running through your personal practice, today's episode features a returning guest in the figure of Richard K …
Australian and New Zealand Studies July 29, 2021

Creating God

The Birth and Growth of Major Religions

Robin Derricourt

Hosted by Bede Haines
What do we really know about how and where religions began, and how they spread?  Robin Derricourt considers the birth and growth of several major religions, using history and archaeology …