Here’s what’s been going on in my little corner of the Kalachakra mandala…
Monica Sanford (Harvard Divinity School) has just sent me the final manuscript for the first seven chapters of volume II of Kalyanamitra: A Model for Buddhist Spiritual Care (on praxis in any spiritual care context, with finalized contributions from other authors for subsequent chapters to follow later this month). Now I’m editing.
Jy Hyang Padma (Tufts University) is in the initial stages of putting together a book on Buddhist spiritual care written specifically for chaplains in post-secondary educational institutions. She is currently developing a detailed table of contents and is looking for contributors. Looking forward to seeing the detailed pitch, but I have already offered to help her with that book in any way I can. Table of contents arriving soon.
John Freese (Naropa University) has undertaken a large publishing project based on Ajahn Sujato’s translations of 50 discourses from the Samyutta Nikaya. He’s also working on a book focusing on a Buddhist approach to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with an enhanced somatic component. I’m looking forward to that book too!
Practitioners in the sangha of Mitra Bishop Roshi have put together a collection of sixteen of her teisho Dharma talks, entitled Deepening Zen: The Long Maturation. Leslie Ching is editing and project manager. Jeremy Cranford is doing the design. Sumeru will be publishing when the project reaches the appropriate stage this autumn.
Jonathan Watt (Buddhist Exchange Centre, Yokohama) has sent me the Afterword to volume II of Engaged Buddhism in Japan: Modern Exemplars. There are chapters on end-of-life care, suicide prevention, disaster relief after Fukushima, Labor and poverty issues, and issues with the nuclear energy industry. Autumn 2023 publication. Meanwhile, an economy edition of volume I will be printed in Thailand for sale across Asia at a price suited to that market. Just working through the details for the printer on that one.
James Gritz, a photographer who has for decades documented the travels of Nyingma and Kagyu Vajrayana teachers and Mexican shamans, has put together Pith Instructions from my Teachers, with chapters on Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Guadalupe Gonzales Rios, Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, the XVIth Karmapa, the XVIIth Karmapa Orgyen Trinley Dorje, Mingyur Rinpoche and Bodhgaya. This is a larger format book with about 100 photographs. Kimberly Beek, who moderates the long-running Buddhist Fiction Blog, is editing. Hoping to get this one out the door later this year.
Kody Muncaster (University of Western Ontario) is spending the summer finalizing the manuscript for a book offering a queer perspective on Buddhist Studies and Buddhist practice. Working title… Queer-Sattvas and Trans-Sattvas: A Non-Binary Path to Trans(forming) Buddhist Studies. Kimberly Beek is editing. Spring 2024 publication?
The Chyssem Project is inching closer to having final files for all the 24 stories in their anthology of narratives from the first Tibetan Canadians, accompanied by many of their personal pictures of life in Tibet, in Indian refugee camps, and in Canada. There will be hardcover limited editions in English and French, as well as a free PDF version. Spring 2024 publication?
In the secular world, my old friend David Woodhead, a bass player who has been a mainstay in Canadian folk music for beyond 50 years, is curating his deep trove of photos from the road, including over 200 music event posters and more, to celebrate the kind of music you don’t hear in arenas, on the radio much, or are found on obscure CDs minted before the streaming apocalypse. Music made in the moment, impromptu and often acoustic, performed live all across Canada from coast to coast to coast. A one-of-a-kind memoir! Another book I’ve put up my hand to help bring into being.