Part of a special section on American Buddhism, Race, and Power. This article examines “America’s racial karma,” a concept coined by Larry Ward, to critique the temporal logic underpinning narratives of progress in the US. Drawing from Buddhist conceptions of karma, alongside queer theory, Black studies, and postcolonial critiques, I argue that America’s linear, future-oriented historical narrative functions as a…
Tag: time
Performing Time in Buddhist Literature:Creative Reimaginings of Past, Present, and Future
This special section of Pacific World Journal is a continuation of the conversations held during a panel that I organized for the Buddhism Unit of the 2022 American Academy of Religion (AAR) conference. The panel, titled “Performing Time in Buddhist Literature: Creative Reimaginings of Past, Present, and Future,” included myself and co-panelists Shayne Dahl, Sinae Kim, and Adam Miller, with…
The Synchronicity of Preaching-Hearing- Enlightenment: Buddhist Preachers’ Performing “[At] One Time” (Yishi 一時) in Late Medieval China
This paper examines how Buddhist preachers in late medieval China expanded the meaning of the temporal register of an oft-used phrase “[at] one time” (Ch. yishi 一時, Skt. ekasmin samaye, Pāli ekaṃ samayaṃ) in the opening formula of Buddhist scriptures. Through an analysis of the “sutra lecture texts” (jiangjingwen 講經文) found in the Dunhuang manuscripts, this study explores how these…
An Uncommon Narrative Opening: Five Perfections in Tantra of the Sun
Shifting nidānas in Buddhist scripture signal different possibilities for what it means to embody the time of liberation, in short, buddhahood. This paper provides a close reading of the nidāna of an important, never-before studied Dzogchen Heart Essence (Tib. Snying thig) tantra called Secret Tantra of the Sun: Blazing Luminous Matrix of Samantabhadrī (Tib. Kun tu bzang mo klong gsal…