Returning to Thailand

In four days I’ll be back in Thailand for a large conference, the 2nd International Association of Buddhist Universities Conference on Buddhist Philosophy and Praxis (do check out the excellent website). The conference coincides with an International Symposium on the Buddha’s Enlightenment for the Well-Being of Humanity. Both are packed with great scholars and many papers can be downloaded (for free!) from the site.

I’ve been pretty excited about the conference and opportunity to return to Thailand for a while now, but then I saw images from the hotel that they’re putting us up in, and now I’m practically elated.

Along with these three days of conference, I will attend an International Seminar on Buddhist Teaching at the University Level. Along this this sure-to-be-great six days of conferences, I’ll have a little over a week of as-yet mostly unplanned time to take in the history and culture of this beautiful country. I’m sure I’ll got o Sukhothai, maybe up to Chiang Mai and surrounding areas for a mountain trek, or perhaps down to a quiet beach…

In any case – some reporting and plenty of photos will surely come. But first, packing, course prep for the class I’m teaching, more writing (so I do eventually finish my degree), and a day-long workshop on Critical Thinking in Buddhist Studies at SOAS in London.

No rest for the wicked; or at least not right now.

In the meantime, here are a couple shots from the day I spent in Bangkok last year in the midst of my India-Burma-Korea travels.