New Book – Nothingness in Asian Philosophy

Nothingness in Asian Philosophy – Routledge 2014

by Douglas Berger (editor) & Jeeloo Liu (editor)

From the Description at Amazon:

“A variety of crucial and still most relevant ideas about nothingness or emptiness have gained profound philosophical prominence in the history and development of a number of South and East Asian traditions—including in Buddhism, Daoism, Neo-Confucianism, Hinduism, Korean philosophy, and the Japanese Kyoto School. These traditions share the insight that in order to explain both the great mysteries and mundane facts about our experience, ideas of “nothingness” must play a primary role.”

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CFP: Self-Awareness and Buddhist Philosophy

CFP from Douglas Duckworth at Temple University:

The International Society for Buddhist Philosophy (ISBP) is soliciting paper proposals for a panel on the status of self-awareness (svasaṃvedanā) in Buddhist thought, in the group meeting at the Annual Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA) Eastern Division in Philadelphia, PA (December 27-30, 2014). Papers that address what is at stake in the debates around the topic of self-awareness from phenomenological, analytic, and/or Buddhist perspectives are welcome.

Papers may engage such questions as: Can there be self-awareness without a self? Is self-awareness foundational, or foundational to Buddhism? Does a claim to the presence of self-awareness entail any ontological commitments? Is self-awareness a source of knowledge? What (if anything) is self-awareness aware of and what (if anything) does self-awareness explain?

Please send title, abstract (250 words), personal information (name, email, and institutional affiliation) to Douglas Duckworth (duckworth[at]temple.edu) by May 1, 2014.

Douglas Duckworth
Temple University

NY Times – Tibetan Buddhist Texts in Chengdu, China

The New York Times just published an excellent piece on E. Gene Smith’s collection of Tibetan Buddhist texts and their new home in Chengdu, China. The texts are housed in a new library bearing Smith’s name at Southwest University for Nationalities in Chengdu.

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Book Review – The Tao of Chip Kelly by Mark Saltveit

I just finished reading Mark Saltveit’s book The Tao of Chip Kelly. For anyone curious about the book, I’m posting an informal review here.

The Tao of Chip Kelly is an enjoyable read on the leadership and coaching strategies of Philadelphia Eagle’s head coach, Chip Kelly. The book presents lessons on leadership from Kelly’s coaching career, the majority of which are drawn from his four seasons at the University of Oregon. While Saltveit’s introduction claims the book is aimed towards management strategy, the book is accessible to anyone and potentially of interest to anyone interested in team strategies, football, or contemporary applications of ideas drawn from Laozi or Zhuangzi. Continue reading