Topics: Speaker: Julia Cross, Postdoctoral Associate in East Asian Studies and Lecturer in Religious Studies, Yale University Prior to the medieval period, Buddha relics (Sk. śarīra; dhātu) in Japan were typically under the domain of the court or court-related temples. In the Kamakura era (1185–1333), this shifted, however, as relic worship became increasingly accessible to temples

Topics: Speaker: Halvor Eifring, University of Oslo Mind wandering has been an issue within contemplative traditions for more than two thousand years. How to go about your meditation or prayer when spontaneous thoughts constantly pull your mind in other directions? This talk will focus on the answers of two 19th-century Chinese Pure Land Buddhist monks,