Buddhist Studies and world Buddhist news

First is a conference next week in NYC on Buddhist Ethics. It should be the largest ever conference on this topic and features a keynote by my very own supervisor, Damien Keown. It’s free and open to the public but they do ask that you register online. The sheer concentration of brilliant scholars talking about Buddhist ethics/Buddhist philosophy is pretty likely to blow your mind.

The day before that kicks off:

THE COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY 

Welcomes, 

MATTHEW KAPSTEIN (Univ of Chicago & École pratique des hautes études) 

Please join us in the Faculty House at Columbia University on October 5th, 2011 at 5:30 for his lecture entitled, 

“’Spiritual Exercise’ and the Interpretation of Buddhist Philosophy in India and Tibet”

See here for more.

I will be at both the Kapstein talk and the Buddhist Ethics conference.

Next, from NYC to Thailand, where the International Association of Buddhist Studies is gearing up for a major conference in December. I have a paper in the works on ethics as a unifying factor across Buddhist traditions to submit to that, so if all goes well, that’ll be my next big trip. I have already posted one of their past publications, but check here for several more. If you enjoy reading up-to-date scholarly articles in Buddhism and don’t have special access or the cash to pay around $35 (or more!) per article that for-profit journals often charge, this is an amazing resource.

Third, there is good news from the Oxford Center for Buddhist Studies, where I was lucky enough to spend a couple weeks last month studying Pali with Prof. Richard Gombrich. They are establishing a university post in Pali Studies, which will be one of only a handful in the world. But they need funds. So if you, or a rich uncle, are passionate about Pali studies (and why wouldn’t you be?), please check out their site and help out. Or, if you just want to download more amazing free articles, have a look at their site too.

Also, a friend of mine pointed out an interview with Prof. Gombrich from 2003 here.

Finally, I received an email today from Ryushin Sean Malone, of the Engaged Zen Foundation, seeking support for their activities. So if Pali academics is not your thing to support – try these guys. As a grad student whose bank account fluctuates between zero and large numbers in the negative, I can’t give much, but if we can all chip in a bit, good things can/WILL happen.

Oh, and finally (for real), I received an email from Buddhify.com, a fantastic start-up mobile-meditation app company. Whether that makes any sense or not, check ’em out.

From ancient Pali studies at Oxford to contemporary Engaged Zen and the future of Buddhist Ethics and meditation – on-the-go – there’s a lot happening in the world of Buddhism these days.