Sumeru News

Just finished the 2nd edit of Shinko Roshi's upcoming book, The Zen Priestess and the Snake: A Woman’s Path of Transformation and Healing through Rediscovery of the Great Mother Tradition and about to start the design process. Planning for an Autumn 2020 launch for her book.

Videos of the presentations from the New Paths in Teaching Buddhist Studies conference hosted by the Ho Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto will be available in the not-too-distant future. Meanwhile, I was asked by the Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies to write up a brief report on the panel, "Complicating Meditation in the Classroom," in which I was one of the presenters. Here it is: https://cjbuddhist.wordpress.com/2020/03/12/blog-new-paths-in-teaching-buddhist-studies-conference-report/

Several acts of vandalism at Buddhist temples in Montreal recently. This sort of thing has happened in Ottawa too. https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/police-investigate-repeat-vandalism-at-buddhist-temples-in-montreal-as-hate-crimes-1.4838771

Here's an interesting article from TVO asking if non-Christian prisoners are getting the spiritual help they need, with a lead-in from Taigen Henderson, of the Toronto Zen Centre. https://www.tvo.org/article/do-non-christian-prisoners-get-enough-spiritual-support

I recently presented at the New Paths in Teaching Buddhist Studies conference in Toronto. My talk was entitled: Teaching the Buddhism of the Future, not the Past. It was about incorporating green practice path perspectives into all our teaching endeavours and syllabi. Prior to attending, I had opted to take the train to Toronto rather than fly, in order to generate a smaller carbon footprint. When the Tyendinaga protests in support of the Wetsuweten hereditary chiefs' objections to the Coastal GasLink pipeline blocked the rail lines, I was forced to choose between driving, flying, or taking the bus. The flight would...