“The Buddhist Wilderness” with Kurtis Schaeffer
Kurtis R. Schaeffer, the Francis Myer Ball Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, delivered a guest lecture at CU Boulder on “The Buddhist Wilderness” on April 13th. The event had a strong showing and also lively Q&A as faculty and graduate students from different disciplines queried the notion of “wilderness” in Tibetan literature. Original translations of poetry, song and life writings by Buddhist masters on solitary retreat were presented as evidence for an aesthetic appreciation of the natural world in ways that have yet to be fully articulated in the field. On April 14th, the Tsadra Research Center hosted Tibet Himalaya Initiative graduate students and faculty to a lunch and interview of Kurtis by Religious Studies faculty Holly Gayley. The interview was filmed as part of a series that Tsadra is posting to their website that trace the career trajectory and major themes in the lives and publications of well-known scholars and translators.