The Center for Buddhist Studies Weblog

News: Support the Monks in Myanmar

There have been a few inquiries about the protests in Myanmar, and how to support the monks there. For those of you following this story, you may want to join the following group in Facebook:
"Support the Monks' protest in Burma."

They've the latest news on the protests both in Myanmar and North America, as well as a number of valuable links to digital resources.

UPDATE

Sept 30
If you are on campus, or in the New York area, click here to find details about local protests. See also the NY-Burma roundtable blog

Oct 1
Add your name to this petition

Oct 4
Click here to read an important letter from Janet Gyatso and Charlie Hallisey (Co-Chairs for the Buddhism section of the American Academy of Religion)

Notes: The Tibet Connection

I discovered this new radio program while trying to locate a recent NPR interview with Bob Thurman. It's called the Tibet Connection, and it airs monthly episodes on Tibetan politics, philosophy, and culture. The production team includes a variety of extremely talented individuals with intimate ties to Tibet and Tibetan culture. You can listen via their website (http://www.thetibetconnection.org), or tune into KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles.

"Such a program is very, very useful...I very much appreciate all the people who organize and carry out this work."   -H.H. The Dalai Lama-Tenzin Gyatso

Ironically I did manage to find an interview with Thurman in their archives. As well as a host of other podcasts that would have appeal to anyone with an interest in Tibetan studies.

Book Review:Wendi Adamek's The Mystique of Transmission

The Mystique of Transmission: On an Early Chan History and its Contexts. By Wendi L. Adamek. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. Pp. xv+578.

 

As the depth and complexity of Western studies of Buddhism has improved, scholars are slowly penetrating the mystery of religious traditions such as the Chan school, in which a certain mystique is embraced as both a sign of the possession the true Dharma, and a barrier to the easy attainment of this knowledge by outsiders. Building upon the work of Bernard Faure among others, Wendi Adamek's The Mystique of Transmission tackles the mystique of Chan Buddhism by placing the now canonical mythology of patriarchs and transmission into a historical context that is sensitive both to religious belief and to the realpolitik of medieval China. This book not only achieves a penetrating analysis of a single text, the Lidai fabao ji (Record of the Dharma Jewel Through the Generations), but also draws together the historical and doctrinal contexts surrounding the 8^th century text, so that many major facets of medieval East Asian Buddhism are touched upon.

News: New Sheng Yen Education Foundation Grant

Jimmy Yu sent out a notice of a new fellowship offered by the Sheng Yen Education Foundation for students researching modern Chinese Buddhism. Details can be found here and interested parties are encouraged to send an email to phd_grant@shengyen.org.tw for more information.