The Circled Square

Description 

Gathering data about student expectations and experiences with new technology is essential to developing effective courses to be delivered online during the pandemic. In this interview we spoke with Daigengna Duoer, who taught an online course on Zen Buddhism at UC Santa Barbara this past summer. Daigengna repeatedly surveyed her students to evaluate their preferences and comfort with the format and content of the course. In this episode, we hear about some creative and specific ways she created an engaging asynchronous learning experience in a course that was taught entirely remotely. Some key take-aways? One-on-one zoom meetings to develop paper topics, a preference for asynchronous, but also short, lectures, and being sure to build a course that allows students to focus on topics of real interest to them. 

"74% of my students actually preferred asynchronous. I was really shocked. 0% preferred 100% synchronous formats." Daigengna Duoer

"Teaching in covid-19 really made me become more aware about how students learn, how they want to learn, what they want to learn, especially when it comes to Buddhism and also Zen, things like this, so they are really technology-oriented, but they're also very flexible, I think, and they really want relevant information and material and also arguments for their immediate concerns." Daigengna Duoer

"One of the advantages we have as instructors of humanities courses where we can definitely teach this exciting content, but we can also teach, useful transferable skills through this content to students." Daigengna Duoer

Links and References  

Daigengna Duoer, UC Santa Barbara, Department of Religious Studies  

https://www.religion.ucsb.edu/people/student/daigengna-duoer/ 

Daigengna’s Personal Website 

https://www.daigengnaduoer.com 

Panopto video recording and sharing software

https://www.panopto.com/

Ronald Purser, McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality 

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/600158/mcmindfulness-by-ronald-purser/

Hwansoo Kim, "The Adventures of a Japanese Monk in Colonial Korea: Sōma Shōei's Zen Training with Korean Masters"

www.jstor.org/stable/30233856

Joshua Irizarry, "Putting a Price on Zen: The Business of Redefining Religion for Global Consumption"

http://www.globalbuddhism.org/jgb/index.php/jgb/article/view/147

Peter Romaskiewicz, Mind Lab exercises 

PRE-Course Survey

POST-Course Survey

Description 

Dr. Kerry Lucinda Brown is a professor of art history at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah Georgia and has a research focus on the religious arts of the Newar community of Nepal. In this episode we speak with Kerry about how she teaches Asian and Buddhist art topics in her context: that is, to students in a design college for whom the materials may be new and distant. Teaching Asian and Buddhist arts and their long and complex histories can be complicated, but Kerry finds tangible ways to make the experience of her courses unforgettable for students. From visiting local religious sites, to scheduling collaborative review sessions with her students after their final exam, Kerry shares the breadth and depth of Asian religious art, and her infectious enthusiasm for a form  of teaching that is like sports coaching with her students. Fail! Practice! Repeat!

Quotes 

"Images are not just powerful as things. They have presence and aliveness." Kerry Brown

"Once I say that they are allowed to fail and they should fail, it’s the easiest way to learn, then  they take a deep breath and are a little easier on themselves." Kerry Brown

"There’s all different kinds of Buddhisms, and I think once they get that they realize that it’s easier to understand the different variations, there’s not just one Buddhism." Kerry Brown

Links and References 

Kerry’s profile page at SCAD 

https://www.scad.edu/academics/faculty/kerry-brown 

Kerry Lucinda Brown on LinkedIn 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerrylucinda 

Sanjay Patel, Little Book of Hindu Deities: From the Goddess of Wealth to the Sacred Cow 

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/298724/the-little-book-of-hindu-deities-by-sanjay-patel/ 

Carlelton-Antioch Buddhist Studies Program

https://www.carleton.edu/global-engagement/buddhist-studies-india/ 

Description 

Dr. Luther Obrock from the University of Toronto shares about teaching an undergraduate course on bodies and embodiment in early Indian Buddhist texts. He wants to use his course, a seminar, to help students understand how theories are not just modern constructions, but instead can also emerge from ancient religious texts. He leads his students through ways to mine data and information about how the writers of ancient Indian texts, themselves embodied, understood and spoke about their (gendered) bodies. From analyzing the representation of the "hyper-masculine" Buddha’s body, or the status of the female body as attested in literature by or about nuns, a theory, or an "imaginary relationship to a real problem" of the body, can emerge. 

Quotes 

"Let’s imagine these texts as coming from embodied people." Luther Obrock 

"We can use the Buddhist texts as theory to think about our own positionality." Luther Obrock

Links and References 

Dr. Luther Obrock 

https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/historical-studies/people/obrock-luther

Therigatha 

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/thig/index.html 

John Powers, A Bull of a Man: Images of Masculinity, Sex, and the Boyd in Indian Buddhism 

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674064034&content=reviews

Charles Hallisey, Therigatha: Selected Poems of the First Buddhist Women

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674427730

I.B. (Isaline Blew) Horner – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaline_Blew_Horner

Description 

In this episode, Dr. Rongdao Lai discusses her approach to teaching Buddhism as a living religion, and not only as a philosophy. As an ordained Buddhist nun in the Chinese tradition, she is intimately familiar with the contrasts between the academic study of religion and her own training in Buddhist practices at temples. She aspires to teach all of her students how to develop a critical approach to evaluating the study of Buddhism and its canonical objects: why are certain texts and topics treated as core to the study of Buddhism? The possibility of attending to lived Buddhism and contemporary problems in the study of Buddhism and the world opens up a world of new possibilities for students and professors.

Quotes 

"I want students to see how people live their Buddhism." Rongdao Lai 

"If Buddhism is the only course in the humanities that students take, this is an amazing opportunity to give them something they’ll never forget." Rongdao Lai

Links and References 

Rongdao Lai, McGill University 

Bill 21, Quebec 

Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei, Japan 

Kwaidan, 1965 

Description 

Dr. Frances Garrett from the University of Toronto discusses how she designs courses in creative ways that focus on developing student skills as well as sharing Buddhist studies content. She develops creative courses for her students, leading them through experiences like an immersive year-long embodied role playing game, or a seminar where the students collaborate on writing and publishing an academic journal. As a self professed introvert for whom teaching has always been a struggle of a sort, Frances shares ways that she centers the mental health and needs of her undergraduate and graduate students, and creates a more compassionate University.

Quotes 

"I think as a teacher you have to model appreciative criticism." Frances Garrett 

"Students’ subjective experience can be a way into learning about interdependence." Frances Garrett

Links and References 

Frances Garrett’s website and profile page

https://www.religion.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/frances-garrett

http://francesgarrett.chass.utoronto.ca

Antioch University’s study abroad program in Bodhgaya, India (See also episode with Kerry Brown)

https://www.carleton.edu/global-engagement/buddhist-studies-india/

David Germano and the Tibetan Himalayan Digital Library 

http://www.thlib.org/about/wiki/thdl%20home%20overview.html 

Barnard College, Reacting to the Past - Role-playing game for undergraduate students 

https://reacting.barnard.edu

Todd Lewis, "Getting the Foundations Right when Teaching Asian Religions," Education about Asia, 2010 

https://college.holycross.edu/faculty/tlewis/PDFs/teaching_about_asian_religions.pdf

Todd Lewis, "Representations of Buddhism in Undergraduate Teaching: The Centrality of Ritual and Story Narratives," Teaching Buddhism in the West Routledge 2002 

https://college.holycross.edu/faculty/tlewis/PDFs/Representations_of_Buddhism_in_Undergraduate_Teaching.pdf

Matt King, Barbara Hazelton, Andrew Erlich, and Nicholas Field, "Narratives of Hospitality and Feeding in Tibetan Ritual," Journal of the American Academy of Religion - article co-written by grad students 

3 Domains of Learning in Bloom’s Taxonomy

https://thesecondprinciple.com/instructional-design/threedomainsoflearning/

Description

In this interview, Sarah Richardson sits down with Dr. Ellen Katz, who has a unique lens as both a practising Social worker and a practising Buddhist, and a professor who marries these two experiences in and for her students. She discusses how she teaches her students about experiential and embodied learning, and meditation practices, in an undergraduate course on mindfulness and mental health interventions, and in graduate courses on mindfulness for social work students who may apply this one day in the field. For Ellen though, it is important that mindfulness is not a tool, but instead a practice that all must experience to understand.

Quotes 

"I tell them that mindfulness is something like present moment awareness that welcomes all experience without preconception or judgment. It accepts what is with curiosity and compassion." Ellen Katz 

"Mindfulness isn’t a technique—it’s a process and you are the tool." Ellen Katz 

"Social work is still focused on identity: duality and division. Buddhism can take social work further, looking at what we share as human beings." Ellen Katz  

"I find they are so engaged and again so hungry for this knowledge, theory, and practice." Ellen Katz 

Links and References  

Dr. Ellen Katz, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto 

https://socialwork.utoronto.ca/profiles/ellen-katz/

Dr. Diane R. Gehart, Mindfulness and Acceptance in Couple and Family Therapy  

https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9781461430322

Rodger Kamenetz, The Jew in the Lotus 

https://www.amazon.ca/Jew-Lotus-Rediscovery-Identity-Buddhist/dp/0061367397 

Toronto Zen Centre 

https://torontozen.org 

Reggie Ray, Dharma Ocean 

https://www.dharmaocean.org 

Gregory Kramer, Insight Dialogue: The Interpersonal Path to Freedom

https://www.amazon.ca/Insight-Dialogue-Interpersonal-Path-Freedom/dp/1590304853  

Discusses relational mindfulness 

Gillian Straker, The Talking Cure: Normal People, their Hidden Struggles and the Life-Changing Power of Therapy 

https://www.amazon.ca/Talking-Cure-Struggles-Life-Changing-Therapy/dp/1760781169/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Yuk-Lin Renita Wong, "Knowing through Discomfort: A Mindfulness-based Critical Social Work Pedagogy," Critical Social Work 5.1 (2004). 

https://ojs.uwindsor.ca/index.php/csw/article/view/5636/4606 

In this episode, Sarah Richardson speaks with Norman Farb, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, about teaching contemplative science.

Sarah and Norm talk about the benefits and drawbacks of secularizing Buddhist practices such as mindfulness, and about his use of exercises such as mindfulness and body scanning in his courses.

Jon Kabat-Zinn’s guided mindfulness practices, at https://www.mindfulnesscds.com/

An APS article on the concept of interoception

Ronald Purser’s book, McMindfulness

Zindel Segal and the Mindful Awareness Lab

See show notes at http://teachingbuddhism.net/norman-farb/.

In this episode, Sarah Richardson talks with Wen-shing Chou, Associate Professor of Art History at Hunter College in New York, where she specializes in the art of China and the Himalaya.

Sarah and Wen-shing discuss digital photography projects such as the Dunhuang Cave Foundation’s work with preserving and digitally archiving the contents of each cave, and they talk about taking students to see Buddhist art in galleries and museums in New York City during Asia Week.

Resources mentioned

Wen-shing Chou, Mount Wutai: Visions of a Sacred Buddhist Mountain, Princeton University Press, 2018 https://press.princeton.edu/our-authors/chou-wen-shing

Her book received an honorable mention for the AAS Levenson prize: https://www.asianstudies.org/aas-2020-prizes/

Digital Dunhuang: https://www.e-dunhuang.com/index.htm (register to see virtual caves in high-resolution)

For manuscripts, paintings, textiles and artifacts from Dunhuang, see International Dunhuang Project website: http://idp.bl.uk/idp.a4d

For an archive of photographs, rare books, and other materials on the Silk Road, see http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/

See show notes at http://teachingbuddhism.net/wen-shing-chou/.

In this episode, Sarah Richardson speaks with Abishek Amar, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Hamilton College. Abhishek specializes in the archaeological history of South Asian religions, and he is leading a digital research project, Sacred Centers in India, which examines material, culture and texts that reveal histories of the Hindu and Buddhist cities of Gaya and Bodhgaya.

Sarah and Abishek talk about what it means to teach about Indian Buddhism in a small liberal arts college in the U.S. They discuss some of the many ways that Buddhism can be studied, and how a nuanced understanding of the history of Buddhism can be gleaned from modern archaeological sites and how they’ve been reconstructed, and from the examination of material culture more generally.

Kevin Trainor’s book, Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide, published by Oxford University Press, in 2004.

Gregory Schopen’s 1991 article, “Archaeology and Protestant Presuppositions in the Study of Indian Buddhism” in History of Religions 31(1), pp. 1-23.

Abhishek Amar’s book, Cross-disciplinary Biography of a Contested Buddhist Site, edited jointly with David Geary (Oxford University, UK), and Matthew R. Sayers (Lebanon Valley College, USA), London: Routledge Publication, 2012.

See show notes at http://teachingbuddhism.net/abishek-amar/.

In this episode, Sarah Richardson speaks with Natalie Avalos, now a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, but joining the department as an Assistant Professor in the 2020-21 academic year.

Sarah and Natalie discuss Natalie’s unusual research specialization in both Tibetan Buddhism and Native American and Indigenous religions traditions. They explore how she prioritizes the undoing of colonization through her teaching, covering somatic and affective dimensions of colonial legacies, historical trauma, and how to make the mechanisms of power visible to students.

Religious Studies News issue on decolonial approaches to teaching religious studies

Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s book, Decolonizing Methodologies

All Buddhism is Engaged: Thich Nhat Hanh and the Order of Interbeing, by Patricia Hunt-Perry and Lyn Fine, a chapter in Christopher S. Queen’s book, Engaged Buddhism in the West

bell hooks on Contemplation and Transformation, in the book, Buddhist Women on the Edge

bell hooks on Building a Community of Love, an interview with Thich Nhat Hanh

A video of birds flying in murmuration

See show notes at http://teachingbuddhism.net/natalie-avalos/