Rev. Danny Fisher

"Portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." by Betsy G. Reyneau.

…are over at my new Patheos blog, Off the Cushion. I hope you’ll take a look.

I’ll be leading the first service, giving the first dharma talk. Hope to see you there tomorrow and in the future!

[UPDATE: The time has been changed to 9 a.m. on Sundays. The poster below has been updated to reflect this change.]

(L-R) The author and Charles S. Prebish at Moscone Center West, San Francisco, CA, for the 2011 American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 21st, 2011. Photo by Bill Aiken of SGI-USA.

I don’t go every year, but I did attend this past year’s American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting in San Francisco only a few weeks back. Among the many rich and joyful opportunities it provided — including seeing Gary Snyder read poetry, visiting with a number of former professors and students, and watching Cornel West give Scott A. Mitchell a big hug when Scott introduced himself — the best part for me was getting to spend some quality time with the astonishing Charles S. Prebish and his wonderful wife Susan.

I’ve blogged in the past about Chuck, whom we can thank for (among many, many other things) coining the phrase “scholar-practitioners” and firmly establishing the study of Buddhism in North America as a sub-discipline within academic Buddhist Studies. Now retired from Utah State University, he is the author of more than twenty books, including the absolutely essential, must-reads Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America and Buddhist Monastic Discipline: The Sanskrit Prātimoksạ Sūtras of the Mahāsāmg̣hikas and Mūlasarvāstivādins. In addition, he is the co-founder of The Journal of Buddhist Ethics, the Buddhism Section of the American Academy of Religion, and Routledge’s “Critical Studies in Buddhism” series. Most recently, he was very deservedly honored with the “festschrift” Buddhist Studies from India to America: Essays in Honor of Charles S. Prebish in 2005, which acknowledges the tremendous debt our field owes him for all of his myriad efforts.

Chuck is also the author of a brand new, absorbing memoir entitled An American Buddhist Life: Memoirs of a Modern Dharma Pioneer (from Sumeru Press). Besides being incredibly honest and beautifully written, the book pioneers a kind of writing we desperately need to see more of from Buddhist scholars, practitioners, and scholar-practitioners: memoir. Chuck’s life has brought him into contact with some truly remarkable figures in the study and practice of Buddhism — everyone from Richard H. Robinson to Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche — and his reflections about them not only “make history come alive,” but also bring new dimensions to our understanding of the scope and shape of Buddhism and Buddhist Studies in America in the twentieth and twenty-first century. At the memorial service for the late Leslie Kawamura at AAR, Chuck has expressed hope that others will write similar memoirs, and I think his book will always serve as a shining example of why that’s a really, really, really good idea. (As an aside, regular readers may recall that I interviewed Chuck and John Harding, who also spoke at the memorial, about Dr. Kawamura for Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online last year.)

Anyway, Chuck has really been a hero of mine in many respects. People often tease me about doing a lot (too much?), and I think at least some of that comes from being really inspired by how much people like Chuck have done to contribute to the growth and development of Buddhist Studies and Buddhism in America. We wouldn’t be where we are without the incredibly hard, dedicated work of people like Chuck.

On top of that, he’s an incredibly kind and generous guy, whose interest in and enthusiasm about some of the things I’ve tried to do has meant the world to me. I want to be for my students what Chuck and a few special others have been for me.

Anyway, hanging out with Chuck and Susan made my year.

By way of closing, I wanted to alert you all to Chuck’s latest venture with Damien Keown (who has been a mentor to my great pal Justin Whitaker of American Buddhist Perspective): two new e-books. (Regular readers may recall my past mention of their other efforts on this front.) This by way of H-Buddhism (The Buddhist Scholars Information Network):

Damien Keown and Charles Prebish would like to announce the publication of their latest ebooks. Both ebooks are available for Kindle ebook readers at Amazon.com and for all other ebook readers (as well as Kindle) at Smashwords.com.

Damien’s ebook, “Buddhism and Bioethics” is the first book to discuss contemporary issues in bioethics from a Buddhist perspective. Written in a clear and accessible style by a leading expert in field, and drawing on both ancient and modern sources, it shows how Buddhist ethical teachings can be applied to a range of controversial issues like abortion and euthanasia. It’s price is $9.99.
@ Smashwords
@ Amazon

Chuck’s ebook, “Looking West: A Primer for American Buddhism” is a short, basic introduction to one of the fastest growing new religions in America. It provides all the historical, doctrinal, and community information a curious person would want to know about Buddhism in its American home. It highlights all the key figures and religious practices employed by the various Buddhist communities in America. It’s price is $9.99.
@ Smashwords
@ Amazon

Check them out, folks! I’m picking up copies of both right now, and they’re going right to the top of my reading list. I recommend you do the same.

Well, after a false start, I think I’m finally off and running with my new Patheos blog. I hope you’ll stop by, take a look, and share your thoughts…

As I previously mentioned, I was very, very fortunate to travel to and live at Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India, with several other undergraduates on Antioch Education Abroad’s Buddhist Studies in India Program in 1999. During that time, we were blessed to receive instruction in vipassana meditation from Godwin Samararatne and Anagarika Sri Munindra (1915-2003) – the Bengali master who is the subject of Mirka Knaster’s recent book Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra, and whose many students included such luminaries as Dipa Ma, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, and Lama Surya Das.  As I said before:

I have many wonderful memories of Munindra-ji, including sitting with him at our group’s last dinner together with him in Bodh Gaya.  (I remember him asking me a little bit about my home state of Indiana, and checking in with me periodically to make sure I was getting enough to eat and drink.) One of my very first teachers, he was a truly extraordinary little man who left an indelible impression on me.

I was fortunate to interview Knaster and her co-author (and my old boss) C. Robert Pryor for Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online. I hope you’ll take a look.