The Buddhist Studies Podcast The Buddhist Studies Podcast

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Pierce Salguero about his beginnings as a scholar of Buddhism and medicine, his time studying traditional Thai medicine, what counts as Buddhist medicine, and why Buddhism and medicine have always been intertwined. He  shares recent work with students documenting the thriving and diverse Buddhist medicine cultures that can be found around Philadelphia.

We also discuss his online course, BS 111 | Buddhism and Medicine, which will explore these issues in more depth!

Speaker Bio

Dr. Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary scholar of health humanities who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and cross-cultural exchange. He has a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University’s Abington College, located near Philadelphia.

The major theme in his scholarship is discovering the role of Buddhism in the global transmission and local reception of knowledge about health, disease, and the body. He approaches this topic using methodologies from history, religious studies, translation studies, and literary studies. More recently, he has gotten into ethnography and documentary filmmaking as well.

Links discussed in episode
 BS 111| Buddhism and MedicineThe Jivaka ProjectBuddhish: A Guide to the 20 Most Important Buddhist Ideas for the Curious and Skeptical by Pierce SalgueroBuddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources, edited by Pierce SalgueroBuddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Sources, edited by Pierce Salguero A Global History of Buddhism and Medicine by Pierce Salguero

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Rebecca Bloom about her beginnings as a scholar and curator of Himalayan Buddhist art history, the meaning of "art" in a Buddhist context, and why she thinks studying art history is valuable for people interested in Buddhism. She also gives a behind-the-scenes look at how museum curators organize exhibitions, and talks about why she loves this kind of work.

We also preview her upcoming online course, BS 109 | Introduction to Buddhist Art, which will explore these issues in more depth!

Speaker Bio

Dr. Rebecca Bloom is Diane P. Stewart Assistant Director, Curatorial Affairs at the Southern Utah Museum of Art. She is a scholar and curator who specializes in Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist material culture, and issues surrounding the intersection of religion and museums. She holds a BA in Art History and Religion from Middlebury College, an MA in Asian Religions from Yale Divinity School, and she recently received her PhD from the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan, where she also earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies.

Dr. Bloom began her career at the Rubin Museum of Art, where she curated and co-curated more than a dozen exhibitions of Tibetan and Himalayan art, as well as contemporary and historical photography. At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, she co-curated a multi-year exhibition of Buddhist art entitled Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice across Asia, for which she designed the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room and created the related app, Sacred Spaces. Assembly of the Exalted: The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room, coauthored with Donald S. Lopez, Jr., focuses on the shrine’s history and its objects. Dr. Bloom also contributed to a multi-disciplinary project dedicated to the pilgrimage of the eighth-century, Korean monk, Hyecho. The project produced two apps, a website, and a book that each explore the world of Buddhism Hyecho encountered on his journey, with special attention paid to Buddhist material culture.

Links discussed in episode
 BS 109 | Introduction to Buddhist ArtThe Rubin MuseumHimalayan Art Assembly of the Exalted: The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine RoomEncountering the Buddha: Art and Practice across AsiaTibetan Buddhist Shrine Room

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Stephen Jenkins about his beginnings as a scholar of Buddhism, his research on the place of compassion in Buddhism, and how he thinks this fundamental idea has been overlooked in many contemporary discussions of Buddhism. Plus, we discuss the relation between compassion and wisdom, the role of imagination in Buddhist practice, and the reasons Buddhist traditions argue that compassion benefits the practitioner!

We also preview Dr. Jenkins' upcoming online course,  BSO 108 | Buddhism and Compassion, which will history and development of this key idea in Buddhist thought and practice.

Speaker Bio


Dr. Stephen Jenkins is Professor of Religious Studies at Humboldt State University. He received his doctorate from Harvard University in 1999. Much of his career has been spent in Asia serving study abroad programs in India, Tibet, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Japan. His research has been primarily focused on Indian Buddhist concepts of compassion, their philosophical grounding, and their ethical implications. 

Links
BSO 108 | Buddhism and Compassion

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Daniel Cozort about his path to Buddhist Studies, research on Buddhist philosophy, and adventures in Buddhist ethics. We discuss the question of whether and how Buddhists might address contemporary issues like climate change. Are these topics that Buddhists should be concerned about? How have Buddhists in the past approached issues of environmentalism? Does the Buddha himself say anything about the environment? What resources in the Buddhist tradition can help address these problems, and what work remains to be done? We also preview his upcoming online course, BSO 107 | Buddhism and Climate Change, which addresses all of these issues at greater length.
Speaker Bio

Daniel Cozort is Professor Emeritus of Religion at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He retired from Dickinson College in June 2021, having taught for 37 years in many areas, but specializing in Tibetan Buddhism.

A native of North Dakota, Dr. Cozort graduated from Brown University, where he focused on Christian theology and ethics but encountered Buddhism through the Providence Zen Center. At the University of Virginia, as a student of Dr. Jeffrey Hopkins, he began his study with Tibetan lamas. He did a year of fieldwork in India, traveling broadly and staying in Tibetan monasteries.

In his teaching career, he created over forty courses, but he also curated art exhibits, directed study abroad programs in South India and in England, and made a film about sand mandalas. He is the author of six books, including Highest Yoga Tantra, Buddhist Philosophy, and Unique Tenets of the Middle Way Consequence School, as well as book chapters and articles. For thirteen years, he was the Editor of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics. His most recent book is the Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Ethics (2018), and he recently published an article in Lion’s Roar titled “​​Ten Years After My Accident”. He is currently compiling a new sourcebook for courses on Buddhism and climate change.
Links
BSO 107 | Buddhism and Climate ChangeFaculty Page Highest Yoga Tantra, by Daniel CozortBuddhist Philosophy by Daniel CozortUnique Tenets of The Middle Way Consequence School by Daniel CozortJournal of Buddhist Ethics (open access academic journal) Green Buddhism by Stephanie KazaDharma Rain by Stephanie KazaInterview with Frans de Waal"Principles and Poetry, Places and Stories: The Resources of Buddhist Ecology" by Don Swearer

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Aleix Ruiz-Falqués about his beginnings as a scholar of Pali, his research into Pali grammar, and how reading Buddhist texts in original languages can help us appreciate them in a new way. We discuss common questions about Pali, such as: what are the differences between Pali and Sanskrit? Did the Buddha speak Pali? Why study Pali?  We also preview his upcoming online course, PALI 101 | Elementary Pali, which will explore these issues in more depth!

Speaker Bio

Dr. Aleix Ruiz-Falqués is Head of the Department of Pali and Languages at the Shan State Buddhist University, Khyentse Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Buddhist Studies, and Lecturer of Pali at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He teaches graduate courses in Pali language and literature in Taunggyi, Myanmar. Aleix completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2016, under the supervision of Prof. Eivind Kahrs. His research focuses on traditional grammar and scholasticism in Pali, particularly in Myanmar. More broadly, he is interested in ancient Indian literature (kāvya) and philosophy or knowledge systems (śāstra).

After completing his PhD, Aleix worked for two years on Pali manuscripts in Thailand, and he spent one year doing independent research in India. In 2018, he moved to the Shan State in Myanmar, where his long-term project is to teach and learn the Pali and Burmese languages and literature in a traditional monastic setting. One of his long-term goals is to reveal and demystify the treasures of the Pali medieval tradition that explain how we still possess the ancient words of the Buddha today.

Website: www.kabbasetu.com
 
Links discussed in episode


PALI 101 | Elementary PaliAccess to Insight

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Geoff Barstow about his beginnings as a scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, the complicated status of animals in Buddhism, his research into the history of vegetarianism in Tibet, and how thinking with animals can help us see the world in a new way. We discuss common questions about Buddhism and animals, such as: what did the Buddha teach about animals? Are most Buddhists vegetarians? What are some of the different ways Buddhist communities have interacted with animals?  We also preview his upcoming online course, BSO 106 | Buddhism and Animals, which will explore these issues in more depth!

Speaker Bio

Dr. Geoffrey Barstow is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Oregon State University.
He first encountered Tibetan Buddhism in 1999, and since that time the study of Tibetan religion, history, and culture has been the focus of his professional life. For the last decade and a half, his research has focussed on the history and practice of vegetarianism on the Tibetan plateau, asking questions about how animals were viewed, how they were treated (i.e., eaten), what that can tell us about Tibetan Buddhism, and how Buddhist ideas about animal ethics might impact broader philosophical discussions. His published work includes Food of Sinful Demons: A History of Vegetarianism in Tibet (Columbia University Press) and The Faults of Meat: Tibetan Writings on Vegetarianism (Wisdom Publications).

Links discussed in episode
BSO 106 | Buddhism and AnimalsFood of Sinful Demons: A History of Vegetarianism in TibetThe Faults of Meat: Tibetan Writings on Vegetarianism Unfortunate Destiny: Animals in the Indian Buddhist Imagination by  Reiko OhnumaThe Rule of Threefold Purity in MN 55.5Janet Gyatso on animal ethics on the Wisdom PodcastKinship and Killing: The Animal in World Religions by Katherine Perlo