Rev. Danny Fisher

Peter Romaskiewicz is a rising Buddhologist who hails from Matawan, New Jersey.

After earning his B.A. in Religion from Rutgers University, where he completed an honors thesis entitled “Yoga and the Sutras of Patanjali: A Comparative Study of the Yoga Sutra and its Exegesis,” Peter graduated from Columbia University with an M.A. in Chinese Buddhism. His studies there focused on systematized Buddhist ethics as well as the concept of gift-giving in the Cariyāpiṭaka.

For the last two-and-a-half years, Peter has been working along with his friend Michael Owens under the supervision of the Venerable Dr. Yifa on a series of translation projects. They have so far translated four texts–the Heart Sutra, the Sutra on the Past Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, the Amitabha Sutra, and the Vajra Prajnaparamita Sutra–and copies are available for free distribution at Fo Guang Shan branch temples. In the editorial message for each volume, Peter, Michael, and Ven. Dr. Yifa explain what makes their work unique:

First, our focus is the production of not just one, but a complete series of translations of specifically Chinese Buddhist sutras using a consistent vocabulary for technical terms and foreign concepts.

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Next, we are committed to producing bilingual editions of each sutra with tools for studying the original Chinese text.

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Finally, our method of translation provides a literal, yet fluid rendition of the Chinese text that tries to capture the experience of reading sutras in Chinese, while remaining as faithful as possible to the original text. [1]

Peter has also been a student and staff member (for three years) on Wooden Fish, the Humanistic Buddhism Monastic Life Program in Taiwan that is directed by Ven. Dr. Yifa. In addition, he is set to teach a course or two on East Asian Buddhism this spring at the University of the West (where I currently go to school).

Right now, though, Peter is in San Diego helping Owens and some of his other friends with the development of the brand new Dharma Bums Center. A part of the Matrix Mandala Garden, a non-profit organization founded in 2006 to “promote the practice and awareness of meditation throughout North America,” the Dharma Bums Center is an ecumenical practice center offering free yoga classes and meditation instruction every night of the week. At their website, the Dharma Bums describe their center’s purpose in this way:

Inspired by the experimental Buddhism described in Jack Kerouac’s 1958 autobiographical novel “Dharma Bums”, the D.B.C. embraces the free spirit of the beat generation and their artistic approach to religion and spirituality.

Peter showed me around the center when we were in San Diego recently for the American Academy of Religion 2007 Annual Meeting, and I really enjoyed my visit. It’s an amazing place. If you’re in the San Diego metro area, I insist that you stop by and check out the Dharma Bums Center.

Peter gave a presentation at UWest recently that was sponsored by the Writing Center. In this talk, he discussed the history of Buddhist Studies as a discipline in the Western world. Though I was aware of much of this history, I was struck by what an exceptional teacher of this material Peter was. He was articulate and accessible, able to communicate to his listeners why it was important for them to know about this stuff. Anyway, I was bowled over by the presentation and asked Peter if he would be willing to sit down for a recorded conversation about Buddhist Studies, the Dharma Bums Center, and other things. He very graciously agreed.

You can listen to MP3 versions of our two-part interview below (via Switchpod), or at iTunes.