Books for me to review. Mindfulness to Go is first on my list. And then? Oh dear.   But first, out for Indian food with friends in Bristol, where the sun actually seems to shine a lot for England, and the Bristol half-marathon in the morning, for which I am woefully undertrained. It’s good though. The ensuing period of relative immobility will give me time to work on my thesis – and more book reviews. Maybe I can skim the... Read more

There are several recent developments in Buddhist Studies that should be of interest. First is the announcement of an MA programme in Buddhist Studies at Newport University, Wales. This is a fully online course and is not entirely new, but rather is a continuance of Peter Harvey’s very successful programme at Sunderland University. Convened by Dr Nick Swann and with connections to academics in Hong Kong and Taiwan, this is sure to be a great opportunity for anyone interested in... Read more

For all those who say, “oh, I’m getting too old to try running a marathon” or “running eventually wears down your knees, it’s guaranteed” I give you Fauja Singh, an India-born former farmer who moved to England and began his marathon career long after most of us think we’ll be done with such rigorous physical activity. “If someone says I must stop running I ignore them – invariably they’re younger than me. The secret to a long and healthy life... Read more

“Living this life fully” is a magnificent work, documenting the life of a man dedicated to the Dharma in a way that is truly rare these days. Anāgārika (homeless-one) Munindra, or simply Munindra-ji to his friends and students, was a Bengali Buddhist teacher and was well-known for bringing Buddhist teachings to bear on the individuals he was with, in both India and the West. And yet he is largely unknown today because he neither wrote nor had his talks published... Read more

I think that may even be a new low for me. But for the sake of scholarship, I feel I must record some of the basic facts of what I’m up to for the next 7 or 10 days (depending…). The basics: I’m at the Oxford Buddhist Vihar. The abbot is the Venerable U Dhammasami, an Oxford PhD holder and globally highly respected monk. During the recent Pali course two of the students stayed here and it got around to... Read more

Razer’s New Blade Proves That Gaming Laptops Can Be Thin, Light, Sexy PCWorld  – ‎9 minutes ago‎ Half of adults in the US could be obese by 2030 Los Angeles Times  – ‎1 hour ago‎ From my google news reader. (pssst, put down your sexy gaming thing and go for a run/walk/bike ride, etc.) Read more

I’ve just finished an intensive Pali course with Professor Richard Gombrich in Oxford, Endland. My next stop is the Oxford Buddhist Vihar, where I will remain in a semi-lazy individual retreat for one week. Here is a short post with some thoughts I had over our time here discussing Buddhism, language, culture and the rest for two wonderful weeks. Here goes: we might think of three kinds of “authenticity” in our discussions of Buddhism: Spiritual: which is not really a... Read more

After several shaky months of practice ‘here and there’ as I traveled and spent time with my family, I have finally kick-started my flagging daily practice back here in England. Nothin fancy. Twenty minutes. Every day. It’s not easy. But it is definitely worth every second. Day one was right after a run in my new ‘barefoot’ running shoes. The first half the meditation was spent thinking about how stinky they were and whether I should pause to wash them... Read more

Like many across England and the world, I have been keeping a close eye on news outlets (and occasionally out my own window) concerning the recent riots here. If you haven’t been paying attention, have a look over at the Guardian Newspaper for several good articles. The riots did reach Bristol, where I live, but they were isolated to neighborhood a couple miles from mine. You can read the report here. In it they mention that “the first major confrontation took... Read more

Writer, scholar-practitioner, and all around good guy Chuck Prebish emailed me last week to mention another stellar student journal, the Intermountain West Journal of Religious Studies. As they state on their webpage: The journal is unique in two ways: The IMW Journal is entirely student run with an academic review board consisting exclusively of scholars in the field. The staff consists of USU students; Two students act as editors in chief one as managing editor and a small team of... Read more