The Circled Square: Buddhist Studies in Higher Education is a podcast series produced at the University of Toronto. We interview professors from academic institutions around North America, creating conversations about innovative teaching. Buddhism is taught in many disciplines beyond religious studies, including anthropology, art history, and cognitive science, among others. This series explores the diversity of approaches to teaching and learning with Buddhism taking place right now.
We invite you to listen to the episodes from the links below or to subscribe to the podcast using your favorite podcast service or app. Show notes and complete transcripts are available for each episode on teachingbuddhism.net.
Episode 22 – Mushrooms for Enlightenment or Why Buddhism is Like a Shrek: A Conversation about Teaching, with Sangseraima Ujeed
Episode 21 – Teaching Online beyond the Pandemic, with Kate Hartmann
Episode 20 – Teaching Tibetan Buddhism as Professor and Practitioner, with José Cabezón
Episode 19 – Stories from a Black, Baptist, and Buddhist Teacher, with Jan Willis
Episode 18 – Social Context and the Power of Imagination, with Todd Lewis
Episode 17 – Building Others Up, with Susie Andrews
Episode 16 – Teaching Posthumanism and Animal Ethics in Buddhist Studies, with Janet Gyatso
Episode 15 – Teaching Hip Hop and Buddhist Studies, with Marcus Evans
Episode 14 – Learning about Black Buddhist Dharma Teachers and Healing Justice, with Rima Vesely-Flad
Episode 13 – Embodied Learning on Interdependence
Episode 12 – Teaching a Zen Buddhism Course Online with Student Preferences in Mind with Daigengna Duoer
Episode 11 – Teaching Asian Art as Storytelling with Kerry Brown
Episode 10 – Constructing Buddhist Theories of the Body from Ancient Texts with Luther Obrock
Episode 9 – Living Religion in the Classroom with Rongdao Lai
Episode 8 – Teaching Empathy and Collaboration with Frances Garrett
Episode 7 – Embodied Experience: Living from the Heart with Ellen Katz
Episode 6 – Buddhism and Contemplative Science, with Norman Farb
Episode 5 – Teaching Buddhist Art Using Museum and Gallery Collections, with Wen-shing Chou
Episode 4 – Negotiating the Layers: Material History in our Teaching, with Abhishek Amar
Episode 3 – Anti-Colonial Teaching and Buddhism, with Natalie Avalos
Episode 2 – Engaging Students in the Big Picture, with Matt King
Episode 1 – Inhabiting the Stories: Buddhism from the Inside, with Vanessa Sasson
Who We Are
Sarah Richardson hosts the podcast, interviewing guests from institutions around North America. Sarah is a historian of Buddhist visual and material practice, especially Himalayan painting. Betsy Moss is the podcast’s Creative Director and an art historian who teaches at several institutions in the Toronto area; she is also the program coordinator for the Centre for Buddhist Studies.
Betsy Moss (pictured below) is the podcast’s Creative Director. In collaboration with Sarah, she develops the strategic vision for the show and supervises the creative process including audio recording and production and designing visual assets for our website and social media feeds. She is the program coordinator for the Ho Centre for Buddhist studies. She also teaches art and design history and visual culture courses at several institutions in the Toronto area.
Host and Interviewer: Dr. Sarah Richardson
Creative Director: Dr. Betsy Moss
Consulting Producer: Dr. Frances Garrett
Consulting Producers: Anna-Liza Kozma and Jelena Jurak
Show Notes: Molly Mignault
Transcripts: Sam Keravica
