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 allContinue reading “books, bikes, and hackers”

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 OUPContinue reading “The book is a thing that exists”

Let the shameless self-promotion begin

As something of a (not-really) non-sequitur, I follow a couple of different Buddhist studies groups over on the Facebook hell-site; very often, people post things about their work and start off those posts with (an obligatory?) “Sorry for the self-promotion…” I’ve often wondered about that. On the one hand, there’s something to be said aboutContinue reading “Let the shameless self-promotion begin”

The book: the Making of American Buddhism

So I wrote a book. A book about Japanese American Buddhists in the 1950s & their possibility-making labor that helped make American Buddhism a thing. I came up with a title that’s exceedingly clever. And that title’s been nixed by my editor. A thread 🧵 and a plea for help 1/ — scott mitchell (@djbuddha)Continue reading “The book: the Making of American Buddhism”

Kisa Gotami

One of my favorite contributors to the Berkeley Bussei is Hiroshi Kashiwagi. I don’t talk about him nearly enough in The Book, but only because I don’t talk about anyone nearly enough. (Turned out to be not that kind of book, but that’s a different story.) But lucky for us, I can talk about himContinue reading “Kisa Gotami”

The Book: Mid-Century Modern Buddhism

As I’ve hinted at in several posts over the last six months, I wrote a book. (If anyone can find that version of the “this is fine” dog meme but he’s saying “I wrote a book,” please drop a link in the comments.) And I’ve promised more details. So, here they are. I wrote aContinue reading “The Book: Mid-Century Modern Buddhism”