This blog appeared on TheConversation.com. What is a bodhisattva? A scholar of Buddhism explains…. Read more…
[REPOST] There is much more to mindfulness than the popular media hype
This blog appeared on TheConversation.com. Mindfulness is seemingly everywhere these days. A Google search I conducted in January 2022 for the term “mindfulness” resulted in almost 3 billion hits. The practice is now routinely offered in workplaces, schools, psychologists’ offices
[REPOST] Buddhist Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Historical Perspective
This blog appeared on BuddhistdoorGlobal.net. With the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, and its subsequent development into a global pandemic, Buddhist organizations have sprung into action around the world. Their responses have been diverse, reflecting
[REPOST] Curing Illness with Meditation in Sixth Century China
This blog was published on BuddhistDoor Though he lived in the sixth century, Zhiyi (538–597) has a lot to teach the modern practitioner of meditation, whether Buddhist or secular. He is best known as the founding patriarch of the Tiantai
[REPOST] A Roundup of Critical Perspectives on Meditation
This blog was published in Patheos. I am not a scholar of Buddhist meditation. My own research has only touched on meditation insofar as it was claimed to have therapeutic benefits in a handful of texts in premodern Asia. But,
[REPOST] Buddhist Medicine
This blog was published in the Penn Museum Blog and the Penn Press Log. Knowledge about healing and disease has held a central place within Buddhist thought since the earliest times. Taken collectively, Buddhist perspectives on health, disease, healers, patients, therapies,
[REPOST] What is Buddhist Medicine?
This blog was published at Patheos.com. Recently, I invited my Facebook friends to submit questions on the topic of Buddhism and medicine. I collated the questions together, and wrote the brief responses below…. Is there such a thing as “Buddhist medicine”?
[REPOST] Is Yoga Cultural Appropriation?
This post appeared on Patheos.com While I am not a historian of yoga per se, my academic research focuses on the crosscultural exchange of Buddhist ideas about health globally, and I specifically focus a great amount of attention on the many acts
[REPOST] Translating Meditation in Popular American Media
This blog appeared on Patheos.com TIME magazine’s 2 Feb 2014 cover announces the arrival of the “Mindful Revolution.” The publication joins a flurry of recent examples confirming that a shift is taking place in the representation of meditation in American popular media. The