Top 15 Blogs on Religious Studies, and more, and Buddhism IS, a forum for open discussion of all things Buddhism. No need to say much more than that. Go. Explore. Read more

I came, I saw, I ran. A map of my 5 or so mile run through Clifton to Westbury Park and back. Not quite the same ring as the old Julius Caesar quote, but a nice long run in the sun in England is as close to a conquest as I’m going to get these days. I’m settling back into my old digs, Hodgkin House, quite well. It’s an international postgraduate student house, so as before I expect to meet... Read more

🙂 Read more

This week’s Religion Dispatches has a rather disappointing rant from Louis A. Ruprecht, discussing a recent Duke University study showing that the brains of ‘born-again’ Christians tend to atrophy (shrink) faster than others later in life. Here is how Prof. Ruprecht begins his article: Scientists are committed to studying almost everything; that is their virtue. Scientists are willing to say almost anything—which is not quite as virtuous. The latest scientific salvo fired across the bow of religion concerns, of all things,... Read more

I was sent this book last year by the author and quickly lost it in a sea of to-do and travel prep. I wish now that I had paused to read it, or taken it with me (it’s a bit heavy though, printed on sturdy paper to support the beautiful photographs found ever seven or eight pages). But alas, now on the eve of new travels, I finally have the time (just a bit) to give it a proper looking-over... Read more

Thursday night, as area rivers were expected to reach their crests, my brother and I made our way out to the local gun club. The club had become an impromptu sandbag filling site after the nearby fire station was surrounded by water. We joined the crowd at one of the three piles of sand and began filling bag after bag. We didn’t have a specific plan – just to help – and we gave our first load of bags to... Read more

Click here for free articles from a recent symposium in Thailand. Over 700 pages from great scholars from around the world. All yours. All free. Enjoy. (thanks to Dr. Dion Peoples of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University for making this available) Read more

Well, not quite, but these are amongst the last words of the Buddha, and surely some of the most famous from his teaching during the last days of his life: “Tasmātihānanda, attadīpā viharatha attasaraṇā anaññasaraṇā, dhammadīpā dhammasaraṇā anaññasaraṇā.”  “There, O Ānanda!, dwell with yourself as an island, yourself as refuge, without other refuge, with the Dhamma as island, with the Dhamma as refuge, without other refuge.”   「住於自洲，住於自依；住於法洲，住於法依；不異洲不異依。」 Via Shi Huifeng (who blogs here)From the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta; excerpt here, full book... Read more

Birthday dinner: Shrimp, scallops, calm strips & Atlantic cod. Read more

And now for something a bit lighter: Via All Things D, thanks to my friend Sjors. Read more