Rev. Danny Fisher

Dr. Kawamura receiving the Order of the University of Calgary in June 2010.

Earlier in the week, I posted about the recent death of Dr. Leslie Kawamura — one of the titans of modern Buddhist Studies, Professor of Religious Studies and Holder of the Numata Chair in Buddhist Studies at the University of Calgary, and a significant figure in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in North America. Today, over at Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online, I posted interviews I conducted with two men who knew him well: John Harding – Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Lethbridge, and a co-editor of Wild Geese: Buddhism in Canada — and our friend Charles Prebish — the recently-retired Charles Redd Chair in Religious Studies at Utah State University, and author of (among many other important works) Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. Here’s a snippet of my exchange with Chuck:

You were telling me that during your time as Numata Chair, you two 
ate lunch together every day and that “during those hours [you] got
 possibly the best Buddhist education [you've] ever received.” What
 exactly did Dr. Kawamura offer in those hours? How did his teachings
 accentuate the tremendous learning and research you’d already done at 
that point?

The highlight of my time in Calgary was our daily lunches. Usually, around noon, Leslie and I would meet in his office, often with other faculty members and students included, and just brainstorm about all things Buddhist. Nothing was ever pre-planned. We just spontaneously discussed whatever came up on any specific day. It didn’t matter whether it was Vinaya or Vimalakirti, monasticism or meditation, the discussions were lively and free-spirited.

Read the rest here.