Dr. Sean Hillman discusses caregiving work and his research on end-of-life care in India through the lenses of religious studies, bioethics and the law. He talks about how religious views affect end-of-life decision-making of patients, families and health care professionals; issues around blocking disclosure of bad news in sharing of sensitive medical information; ritual fasting and immobilization at the end of life; and attitudes towards end-of-life care, including pain management, hospice...

As psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies march towards likely legality for therapeutic purposes, we may ask  how Buddhism and psychedelics intersect. In this episode, Kerry Helston explores some challenges and opportunities as well as the existing legacy of Buddhism and psychedelics in the West, with reference to current science and academic literature as well as personal experiences.  Resources mentioned: Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America by Douglas Osto LSD and...

A conversation with Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim on her ground-breaking 2021 book, ReOrienting Histories of Medicine: Encounters along the Silk Roads. Ronit's research on Eurasian medical history illuminates cross-cultural interactions and transmissions of knowledge, drawing on medieval manuscripts from Dunhuang, Kucha, the Cairo Genizah and Tabriz. See more about this book at https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/reorienting-histories-of-medicine-9781472512574/ . The Footnotes series is produced at the...

A conversation with Pierce Salguero on his 2022 book, A Global History of Buddhism and Medicine. Pierce explains what it means to talk about "Buddhist medicine", how medical texts and healing practices interact, and how Buddhism and its healing practices change over time and across geographic regions. He emphasizes how the deep importance of Buddhism has been neglected in our understanding of medical practices globally, and stresses the value of transdisciplinary collaboration and...

A conversation about Buddhist spiritual care work with Joanne Yuasa, a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist minister who is also in training to be a military chaplain. Joanne talks about how she came to Buddhism as an adult, and about her experiences with social anxiety disorder. Karl, Wini, and Joanne share their experiences of engaging with Buddhist practice in moments of suffering and distress. They also talk about working in hospital clinics as Buddhist care providers, and about the role of practices...

Thinley Gyatso discusses the use of mantras in Tibetan medical practice. He describes early medical texts that address how mantras are used as healing tools, and reports on conversations with Tibetan medical doctors who use mantra recitation in their medical practice. Thinley describes how mantra recitation as a form speech or sound therapy and a type of breathing practice. Thinley’s research brings forth the multidimensional impact that mantras can have in Buddhist practices of...

Jonathan Morgan examines the role of the demonic in Buddhism, with a focus on Tibetan perspectives. He looks into how animistic traditions, such as Tibetan Bon, co-exist with Buddhism, and he asks: are demons inherently evil in the way that some Euro-North American cultures understand them, or are they more ubiquitous and even intimately familiar to people? Do demons teach us anything about ourselves or the nature of the world we inhabit? Can demons even help us to heal? Jonathan Morgan is a...

An interview by Uvina Persaud with Buddhist minister Joanne Yuasa about her student practicum work in a hospital palliative care unit, and about how her own sensibilities about death and dying have changed through this training. Uvina Persaud is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto. The Footnotes series is produced at the University of Toronto, in Canada. See more at https://buddhist-studies-footnotes.castos.com/.

An interview by Sumeet Kumar with Buddhist monk Adesh on the role of mindfulness in healing. Bhante Adesh shares insights on the role of a monk in Buddhist spiritual care, on the differences between healing practices in Buddhism and biomedicine, and on his work with people experiencing advanced life-limiting illnesses. He also talks about the importance of deeply listening to others as the first step in working as a healer, and on the role of mindfulness in healing. Sumeet Kumar is an MA...

A reading guide by Frances Garrett for the article, "Sex and Sexuality in Buddhism: A Tetralemma.", by Amy Langenberg, published in 2015 in Religion Compass, 9: 277– 286. This episode of Footnotes was produced by Frances Garrett, with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The show’s music is “Like Pebbles in a Stream" by Fabio Rambelli and Rory Lindsay and "Not Tired Bells" by Daniel Birch. The Footnotes series is created at the University of Toronto, in Canada, with support from eCampus Ontario.

A reading guide by Frances Garrett for chapters 4 and 6 from the book, Virtuous Bodies: The Physical Dimensions of Morality in Buddhist Ethics by Susanne Mrozik, published in 2010 by Oxford University Press. This episode of Footnotes was produced by Frances Garrett, with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The show’s music is "Maya’s Guidance for Gotami" Khmer & English versions by Trent Walker, and "Bells Bobbing Along" by Daniel Birch. The Footnotes series is created at the University of...

A reading guide by Frances Garrett for the article, "Circumambulatory Reading: Revolving Sutra Libraries and Buddhist Scrolls" by Charlotte Eubanks, published in 2010 in Book History 13, 1-24. This episode of Footnotes was produced by Frances Garrett, with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The Footnotes series is created at the University of Toronto, in Canada, with support from eCampus Ontario.

A Footnotes reading guide by Frances Garrett for two chapters from Joseph Cheah's book, Race and Religion in American Buddhism: White Supremacy and Immigrant Adaptation (Oxford University Press, 2011), namely, the “Introduction” and Chapter 3, “Adaptation of  Vipassana Meditation by Convert Buddhists and Sympathizers”. This episode of Footnotes was produced by Frances Garrett, with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The Footnotes series is created at the University of Toronto, in Canada, with...

A reading guide by Tony Scott for the article, "Contemporary Buddhist Chanting and Music" by P. Greene, published in 2017 in The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, Oxford University Press. This episode of Footnotes was produced by Tony Scott, with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The Footnotes series is created at the University of Toronto, in Canada, with support from eCampus Ontario.

A reading guide by Frances Garrett for a chapter by Sharon Suh called "Buddhist Meditation as Strategic Embodiment: An Optative Reflection" from the book, "Flashpoints for Asian American Studies", edited by Cathy Schlund-Vials, and Viet Thanh Nguyen, and published in 2017 by Fordham University Press. This episode of Footnotes was produced by Frances Garrett, with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The Footnotes series is created at the University of Toronto, in Canada, with support from eCampus...

An interview by Tony Scott with Dr Tanatchaporn Kittikong on her 2015 article, "Choreographing the site of impermanence: Performing body with Buddhist philosophy and meditation in movement-based performance" in Dance Movement & Spiritualities 2(1):57-72. This episode of Footnotes was produced by Tony Scott with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The show’s music is a single track called “Meditation” created by the artist Synapsis working in Perth, Australia. Synapsis can be reached at a-zone...

A reading guide by Tony Scott for the 2013 article, "Participatory Filmmaking Among Contemporary Shugendō Practitioners: Representing an Esoteric Tradition in an Accessible Documentary Film" by M. P. McGuire, published in The Journal of American-East Asian Relations, 20(4), 325–339. https://doi.org/10.1163/18765610-02004001 This episode of Footnotes was produced by Tony Scott with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The show’s music is a track called “Jinkai” produced by hip-hop artist Yakuza...

A reading guide by Tony Scott for the article, "‘No mind’: A Zen Buddhist perspective on embodied consciousness" by Aska Sakuta, published in Dance, Movement & Spiritualities, Volume 5, Number 1, 1 July 2018, pp. 119-136(18). This episode of Footnotes was produced by Tony Scott with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The show’s music is a recording of a religious ceremony featuring the song “Shwe Byone, Ngwe Byone,” performed by Master Kyi Lin Bo and his nat hsaing ensemble from Yangon; it...

A reading guide by Frances Garrett for the article, “The Body of the Buddha" by John Powers, published in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. This episode of Footnotes was produced by Frances Garrett, with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The Footnotes series is created at the University of Toronto, in Canada, with support from eCampus Ontario.

A reading guide by Tony Scott for the article, "Critical Disability Theory", by Hall, Melinda C., in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/disability-critical/. This episode of Footnotes was produced by Tony Scott with sound editing by Jesse Whitty. The show’s music was “Where the Sylfs Play” performed by Fabio Rambelli and Rory Lindsay. The Footnote series is created at the University of...