Book Notes: Meir Shahar, "Kings of Oxen and Horses"

Oriane Lavolé: Revealing Treasures in Tibet

Oriane Lavolé talks about the history of treasure revealers (tertöns) from 11th-century Tibet to contemporary Nepal, how apologists for the treasure tradition (terma) have responded to skeptics who dismiss its material foundations, and what site guides to sacred territories can teach Western Buddhists about the ecological roots of the religion. Interview by Miles Osgood.

Travelogue: The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

At the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah, California, we talk to professors, monastics, and laypeople about the acquisition of the historic property and the 600-mile bowing pilgrimage that inaugurated it, the transformative relationship between monasticism and education, and the importance of community as the City continues to evolve and expand. Interview by Leah Chase The music in this episode is by Rev. Heng Sure. "Bow Down, Turn Around" and "It's Called the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas," recorded in 2025 and 2007, respectively, are distributed by Dharma Radio Music. Additional music is by Blue Dot Sessions.

Christian Luczanits: Mustang Art and the Myth of the Hidden Kingdom

Christian Luczanits talks about the eccentricities of early Buddhist art in the Mustang region of the Himalayas, the intellectual exchange that ran through the region long before its 15th-century kingdom, and the importance of documenting the manuscripts and sculptures of mountain monasteries in situ. Interview by Miles Osgood.

Chiew Hui Ho: The Lives of Sūtras

Chiew Hui Ho talks about parasutraic texts in medieval China that chronicle devotion to specific sūtras, how these histories give us a picture of “Buddhism on the ground” distinct from that of miracle tales, and how scriptures like the Diamond Sūtra and Lotus Sūtra thereby develop lives and biographies of their own. Interview by Miles Osgood.

Joshua Capitanio: The Work of the Scholar-Librarian

Joshua Capitanio talks about his graduate work on medieval Chinese Buddho-Daoism, how translation projects and “second book” arguments are valued inside and outside the professoriate, and what it takes to make a career transition to the university library. Interview by Miles Osgood.