Meditation in Context: From Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychologist's Office

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The Religious Studies Department and the Religious Studies Interfaith Fund present "Meditation in Context: From Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychologist's Office" by Dr. David McMahan (Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania) on Tuesday, September 27, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in L-1060 (University Library).

Abstract: Buddhist meditation practices were invented by ancient Indian ascetics who developed what is probably the world’s first sophisticated system of psychology.  In a circuitous historical and geographical journey, these practices have wound their way to the West, where they are now used in therapy, studied in neuroscience labs, and practiced by urban professionals.  Professor McMahan will present a few highlights of this fascinating history and discuss his take on the role social context plays in the meanings and uses of meditation in different times and places.

David L. McMahan is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is the editor of Buddhism in the Modern World (Routledge 2012) and author of The Making of Buddhist Modernism (Oxford, 2008), Empty Vision: Metaphor and Visionary Imagery in Mahāyāna Buddhism (Routledge Curzon, 2002), and a number of articles on Mahāyāna Buddhism in South Asia and Buddhism in the modern world. He has written on Indian Buddhist literature, visual metaphors and practice, and the early history of the Mahāyāna movement in India. More recently, his work has focused on the interface of Buddhism and modernity, including its interactions with science, psychology, modernist literature, romanticism, and transcendentalism.

Room or Area: 
L-1060

Contact:

Bev Garnett | bev.garnett@uleth.ca | (403) 380-1894

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