“Curial Communiqué: Memory, Propaganda, and the Roman Senate House,” in Aspects of Ancient Institutions and Geography: Studies in Honor of Richard J.A. Talbert, Impact of Empire Series, edited by Lee L. Brice and Daniëlle Slootjes (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 84-102.

As the 2017-18 academic job cycle came to an end I found myself, for the first time in five years, in the enviable position of not having to resume my search for employment again in the fall, thanks to a two-year position at a very eminent institution. This good fortune has prompted me to compile my reflections on the classical archaeology job…[Read more]

Book Review The Buddhist Dead: Practices, Discourses, Representations, Jacqueline I. Stone co-edited with Bryan J. Cuevas

This book could be seen as a novel method of tracing the history of a scripture. Jacob P. Dalton does this by “tracing the vicissitudes of a single ritual system—that of the Gathering of Intentions Sutra (Dgongs pa ’dus pa’i mdo)—from its ninth-century origins to the present day” (xv). This tantra is referred to as the “root tantra” and i…[Read more]

Religious leaders often come together for a statement of their respective beliefs seeking a false satisfaction that they are working for world peace by a disparate series of talks meant to only emphasize differences among faith traditions. This book is a welcome departure from such meaningless exercises and hopes to create a tradition of…[Read more]

The argument against free will could as well have been eternal. In this short but incisive and analytical book, Alfred R Mele, a professor of philosophy, successfully and clearly critiques the rationale against free will put forward by psychologists and neuroscientists.

A book designed for children with attractive illustrations, this volume brings out the spirit of India through the recounting of an incident that happened in India; where a boy—not wealthy of resources—returns a wallet he found and cannot even think of accepting a reward for his good act. Awarded the ‘Mom’s Choice Best Educational Picture Book’,…[Read more]

Bodhisattvas of the Forest and the Formation of the Mahayana Daniel Boucher Book Review Prabuddha Bharata August 2014

The Mahabharata / Srimad Bhagavata – in the Poet’s Own Words by Pandit A M Srinivasachariar Book Review Prabuddha Bharata June 2010

This chapter examines the impact of a putative oral Homer upon the work of recent performance-makers. The influence of oral-poetic theories is (as yet) an under-explored area of study, neglected by scholars whose literary expertise leads them to focus on dramatic texts and production histories, with each revisionary text or production regarded as…[Read more]

This paper argues that the Augustan period witnessed a dramatic reconception of Roman religion—a reconception that played a vital role in the emperor’s efforts to create a unified sense of identity that included both Romans and Italians. Instead of a religion of place tied to specific historical developments, both Virgil in the Aeneid and A…[Read more]

A commentary of Yinming zhenglimen lun 因明正理門論 (A Chinese translation of Nyāya-mukha) written by Gesshu 月珠 (1795-1856), a scholar priest of Shin Buddhism.

Syllabus for my course 3UU3, Buddhism in East Asia planned for Winter term 2019

This is the version of the syllabus for Asian Meditation Traditions at the end of the first term in which I offered it–Fall 2018.

Draft version of syllabus for graduate seminar on Nirvana Sutra

A paper of 17 pages as described in its title and opening lines. “Hoa Hakananai’a” is an Easter Island statue, now in the British Museum. For “Linear and cult art”, see The Problem with Linear B (https://hcommons-staging.org/deposits/item/hc:20833/

Whilst “The Problem with Linear B” (https://hcommons-staging.org/deposits/item/hc:20833/) focused on the physical or visual aspects of Linear objects, this paper mainly examines the secondary assumptions and arguments used to support the thesis that those objects are purely administrative.

A 5-page paper discussing the Linear signage and visual aspects of a Linear B tablet from Thebes, Greece, apparently discovered in the 1990s.

Review of C. Tsagalis (ed.), “Poetry in Fragments: Studies on the Hesiodic Corpus and its Afterlife.” Trends in Classics – Supplementary Volumes, 50. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 2017

Notice of (D.) Sider (ed.) Hellenistic Poetry. A Selection. Pp. xx + 579, ills. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017. Paper, US$49.50 (Cased, US$90). ISBN: 978-0-472-05313-1 (978-0-472-07313-9 hbk).