ARTICLES
"Running Toward Mystery--Advice on contemplative mysticism from the life of Tenzin Priyadarshi"
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Summer 2020
A review of Running Toward Mystery--The adventure of an unconventional life by the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi and Zara Houshmand.
"Awakening from Climate Slumber"
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Spring 2019
A review of Ecology, Ethics, and Interdependence: the Dalai Lama in Conversation with Leading Thinkers on Climate Change.
"Is Cultivating Inner Peace a Forgotten Art? Searching for Stability in Times of Uncertainty"
Document Journal, No. 12, Spring 2018
Essay accompanying a portfolio by British photographer Laurence Ellis. How to understand the transformative power of religious places.
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Spring 2018.
A review of Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker's new book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.
Tricycle Magazine, Spring 2015
Buddhist tradition and modernity are in many ways incompatible, but one Western intellectual tradition may hold a key to bringing the two into meaningful dialogue. This article is the first of a two-part Tricycle series on human science.
Tricycle Buddhism and Modernity Blog, Spring 2015
An interview with phenomenologist psychologist Amedeo Giorgi. This article is the second of a two-part Tricycle series on human science.
Tricycle Magazine, Fall 2014
An interview with philosopher Evan Thompson about why the mind isn't the brain.
Tricycle Buddhism and Modernity Blog, October 2014
An interview with neuroscientist Catherine Kerr about how scientific research on meditation is portrayed by the media.
Tricycle Magazine, Summer 2014
An interview with the Dalai Lama's translator Thupten Jinpa Langri.
Tricycle Magazine, Spring 2014
An interview with cultural critic Curtis White.
Tricycle Buddhism and Modernity Blog, April 2014
An interview with Brown University meditation researcher Willoughby Britton about the status of the scientific research driving the popularity of meditation.
Tricycle Buddhism and Modernity Blog, September 2013
An essay about what’s wrong with applying a scientific worldview to humanistic fields.
"Eastern Self/Western Self Revisited"
Tricycle Buddhism and Modernity Blog, May 2013
An essay addressing readers’ responses to the previous blog post “Eastern Self/Western Self.”
Tricycle Buddhism and Modernity Blog, May 2013
An essay—inspired by Gish Jen’s Tiger Writing—about how different notions of self-identity in eastern and western cultures affect the understanding and practice of Buddhism.
"Context Matters: An Interview With Buddhist Scholar David McMahan"
Tricycle Magazine, Winter 2013
An interview with David McMahan about why the comtemporary practice of mindfulness might not be the same thing the Buddha taught. Also reprinted in the German Buddhist magazine Buddhismus acktuell as »Es kommt auf den Kontext an« (Buddhismus aktuell, 2/2015)
"What's At Stake As the Dharma Goes Modern?"
Tricycle Magazine, Fall 2012
How research by philosopher Charles Taylor can shed new light on problems in the transmission of Buddhism to the West. Also reprinted in the German Buddhist magazine Buddhismus acktuell as: »Was steht bei der Modernisierung des Dharma auf dem Spiel?« (Buddhismus aktuell, 4/2013)
Tricycle Magazine, Summer 2012
A review of Robert Bellah's Religion in Human Evolution. There's a take-over afoot in the realm of human meaning.
"Pursuing an American Buddhism"
Tricycle Magazine, Spring 2012
An interview with Professor Charles Prebish, a leading pioneer in the academic study of Western Buddhism.
Tricycle Magazine, Fall 2011
An interview with philosopher/psychologist Eugene Gendlin about the origin and nature of Focusing, an innovative technique for self-transformation he developed out of work with Carl Rogers.
Tricycle Magazine, Fall 2011
An interview with Nichiren Buddhist priest Myokei Caine-Barrett Shonin about the origins of Nichiren and her experience as a woman of color practicing Buddhism in America.
Tricycle Magazine, Summer 2011
An interview with Atula Shah about Buddhist life in Kenya.
"Whose Buddhism is Truest? Long-Lost Scrolls Shed Some Surprising Light"
Tricycle Magazine, Summer 2011
How the recent discovery of ancient Gandharan scrolls settles the question of what the Buddha really said. This article is the 2011 story highlight in Tricycle magazine's 20 year retrospective (Fall 2011) and has also been selected to appear in Penguin's Best Spiritual Writing 2013.
Brown Alumni Magazine, September/October 2010
Review of Kathryn Schulz's Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error. We all love being right and hate being wrong. But why?
BuddhaDharma Magazine, Spring 2009
Seventeen years ago, Christine Skarda's investigations into the nature of perception drew her out of the research laboratory and onto the meditation cushion. She left behind a career as a philosopher and scientific theorist for a life of Buddhist study and retreat.
Brown Alumni Magazine, July/August 2008
Review of Nikolai Grozni's Turtle Feet: The Making and Unmaking of a Buddhist Monk--a smart, funny memoir about coming of age in Dharamsala.
Brown Alumni Magazine, July/August 2008
The author of Turtle Feet talks about being a monk, falling under India's spell, and re-learning how to live in the West.
Stanford Magazine, July/August 2007
Atul Gawande works to learn how good doctors improve.
Plenty Magazine online, August 29, 2007
Ecotourism in Mexico's Sierra Norte gives Zapotec teens a reason to stay put.
"How to Win a Nobel Prize--Just Smart Enough"
Brown Alumni Magazine, May/June 2007
Research by 2006 Nobel Laureate Craig Mello '82 has given scientists a way to turn genes easily on and off. Here's why that might one day save your life.
Brown Alumni Magazine, March/April 2007
An Interview with Michael Stein [Q & A]
Professor, novelist, AIDS researcher, and physician Michael Stein's first work of non-fiction, The Lonely Patient, tries to understand illness from the patient's point of view.
Brown Alumni Magazine, January/February 2007
It's not every day you'll see artists throw a masterpiece in a river. Buddhist monks create a sand mandala on the Brown campus.
"Hi, Neighbor. Have A 'Gansett."
Brown Alumni Magazine, January/February 2006
Brown alumnus revives the Narragansett brewery brand.
Brown Alumni Magazine, November/December 2005
How a Roman Catholic cell biologist became one of the country's leading defenders of evolution--and what's at stake. This article won the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Silver Medal for "Best Feature Article of the Year" in its annual alumni magazine competition.
Brown Alumni Magazine, May/June 2005
CEOs cook the numbers. Baseball players take steroids. Politicians consort with lobbyists. Faced with a culture of sleaze, what's a nineteen-year-old to do?
"Want a New Job? The Shrink Will See You First"
The Industry Standard, October 2, 2000
Tech writing candidate finds out that personality really does go a long way.