In anticipation of the Path program Monson will be teaching this November, “Writing Liberation,” she sat down with Sarah Fleming to discuss the liberatory power of narrative. Drawing on her academic training in Tibetan Buddhist narratives, her travels in the footsteps of Drukpa Kunley, and her own personal writing practice, Monson positions spiritual autobiography as a technology of transformation for both writers and readers. Lama Liz Monson, PhD, is the Spiritual Co-Director of Natural … [Read more...]
Bhikkhu Anālayo and Mu Soeng: A Conversation on Study, Practice, and Monastic Life
Bhikkhu Anālayo and Mu Soeng
Bhikkhu Anālayo is a scholar-monk and the author of numerous books on meditation and early Buddhism, such as Satipatthāna: The Direct Path to Realization, Perspectives on Satipatthāna, and Satipatthāna Meditation: A Practice Guide. He is a Faculty Member at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, where he has been in residence, since 2017, having retired from being a professor at the Numata Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg. His main area of academic research is early … [Read more...]
The Ibex Sutra
Mu Soeng
In "The Ibex Sutra,” Mu Soeng, inspired by Anguttara Nikaya 10.26 and Samyutta Nikaya 12.23, takes up the image of an ibex seeking salt as a way of understanding craving, conditioning, and the possibility for change. Mu Soeng is Scholar Emeritus at BCBS. He trained in the (Korean) Zen tradition and was a monk for eleven years. He is the author of Thousand Peaks: Korean Zen (Tradition and Teachers); The Diamond Sutra: Transforming the Way We Perceive the World; Trust in Mind: The Rebellion of … [Read more...]
Narratives of Grief, Narratives of Care
Sarah Fleming
Sarah Fleming is an interfaith chaplain and the guest editor of the Spring 2021 issue of the Insight Journal. She holds an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, where she studied Buddhist narrative and religious reading practices. This past year, she worked as a graduate assistant at BCBS. A pdf version can be downloaded here. In a well-known Buddhist story, a young mother, Kisā Gotamī, goes out searching for medicine for her dead son. Mad with grief, she wanders from house to house with her … [Read more...]
Practice for Self, Practice for Others: A Prison Minister’s Reflections on Faith and Freedom
Myokei Caine-Barrett
The first woman to hold the position of bishop in the Nichiren Order of North America, Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin is the resident priest of the Myoken-ji Temple in Houston, Texas. She currently supports two sanghas in the Texas prison system. A pdf version can be downloaded here. In the Lotus Sūtra–based Nichiren schools, three concepts describe Buddhist practice and the arc of growth in faith. The first is jigyo keta, which translates to “practice for self, practice for others.” The second … [Read more...]
Into the Heart of Suffering: Lessons From the Story of the Tigress
Bill Crane
Bill Crane has been a per diem interfaith chaplain at Boston Medical Center for five years. He began hospital chaplaincy training after a 42-year career as an attorney and is a long-term Buddhist practitioner. He can be reached at billcrane1945@yahoo.com. A pdf version can be downloaded here. In a well-known jataka tale, the Buddha, as a bodhisattva in a previous lifetime, is said to have looked down from the edge of a cliff to see a starving tigress and her cubs. Gazing at the tigress’s … [Read more...]
An Excerpt from Storied Companions
Dr. Karen Derris
Dr. Karen Derris is a scholar of South and Southeast Asian Buddhist traditions and professor of religious studies at the University of Redlands. Her research focuses on the intersection of literature and feminist ethics in pre-modern Buddhist traditions, particularly focusing upon the central importance of community in Buddhist ethical and spiritual development. Dr. Derris received her PhD from the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University in 2000. This is an excerpt from her … [Read more...]
A Country Called Witness
Georgia Kashnig
Georgia Kashnig is a Zen practitioner, a dancer, and a facilitator of sacred reading spaces. They received an MTS in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School, an MA in the Regional Studies, East Asia Department at Harvard University, and in fall 2021 they will be joining the PhD program in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University. Their research focuses on religion and literature, interfaith inquiry, and developing contemplative methods of reading that … [Read more...]
Honoring Our Ancestors: A Buddhist Response to Anti-Asian Violence
Chenxing Han
Chenxing Han is a Bay Area–based writer whose publications have appeared in Buddhadharma, Journal of Global Buddhism, Lion’s Roar, Pacific World, Tricycle, and elsewhere. She holds a BA from Stanford University and an MA in Buddhist studies from the Graduate Theological Union. After studying chaplaincy at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California, she worked in spiritual care at a nearby community hospital in Oakland. Her first book, Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian … [Read more...]
The Idea of Dhammadāna
Bhikkhu Anālayo
The present article explores the meaning of dhammadāna, “the gift of Dhamma,” as evident in relevant Pāli texts and in relation to the meritorious deed of publishing Buddhist books for free distribution. A pdf version can be downloaded here. Introduction A very meritorious and praiseworthy way of disseminating the Dhamma takes the form of book publications that are strictly for free distribution. The indubitably wholesome intentions that underpin such activities can at times be associated … [Read more...]
