Author: Scott

  • Once again asking for your support

    Once again asking for your support

    In 2023, I rode my bike from here to LA, 545 miles, with a couple thousand other people, to raise money to fight HIV/AIDS. It was an amazing, wonderful, exhausting, life changing experience. One I would highly recommend to anyone crazy enough to ride their bike nearly 100 miles every day for seven days. As…

  • An Empty Gesture

    As has been announced, come July 1, 2024, my title will officially change from “dean” to “president.” I do not believe that I have fully internalized the gravity of this transition, but I suspect that that will change, gradually and then all of a sudden, over the next several months as I go through the…

  • Recordings of book talks

    Over the last six months or so, I’ve given several public talks and lectures and whatnot about The Book. The most recent of which was at the Dharma Bum Temple in San Diego. That event was live-streamed on YouTube and video can be found on their channel here. Back in November, there was a panel…

  • Updates: book events

    A couple of book-related event updates. First, for those in San Diego or thereabouts, this Saturday, January 13, I’ll be speaking at the Dharma Bum Temple at 11:00 a.m. Here’s an event page with all the details. Unfortunately, I won’t have any copies of the book, but you can still get it for a decent…

  • Rev. Dr. Seigen Yamaoka

    Rev. Dr. Seigen Yamaoka passed away last month. And to be perfectly frank, I am not sure that I have fully processed this loss. In the coming weeks, I am sure there will be more “official” obituaries, memorials, biographies, and so on, about Yamaoka-sensei from both the Institute of Buddhist Studies and the Buddhist Churches…

  • #aarsbl23

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by scott mitchell (@djbuddha2011) The last time I was in San Antonio was 2016, for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion. In some ways, it feels like a lifetime ago. In others, the more things change, yada yada yada. If AAR is your thing,…

  • You may have heard

    It’s been a minute, as the kids say [citation needed], since I posted an update. And I have a few updates. First up: the book Random people who stop by my office have told me that they’ve enjoyed the book. And there’s this exceedingly kind review on Buddhistdoor. And since the last time I updated…

  • books, bikes, and hackers

    books, bikes, and hackers

    Less than forty-eight hours before I left home to ride my bike across California, I discovered that this site had been hacked. It’s not the first time I’ve encountered this problem — though it’s been a long, long time. Long enough that I didn’t really feel like dealing with the laborious task of reviewing all…

  • The book is a thing that exists

    The Making of American Buddhism ships today! It is a thing that exists in the real world (whatever the “real” world may be). If you pre-ordered a copy, it might very well be on a truck heading to your home right now! The book is expensive — relatively speaking. Honestly, I’m rather surprised/happy that OUP…

  • Book event updates

    We are now solidly into May, and according to the OUP website, The Making of American Buddhism is going to start shipping any moment now! So I wanted to send out a quick update about some upcoming book-related events. First and foremost, be sure to bookmark the book’s page on my website where I’ll be…