In an era of profound uncertainty, this roundtable explores "futuring"—the deliberate recalibration of Buddhist tradition to address contemporary suffering. Through the concept of “skillful means,” our roundtable of scholar-practitioners uses a critical-constructive approach to address contemporary suffering beyond a solely academic approach to Buddhism. We demonstrate how the identity of "scholar-practitioner" is deeply relevant to how we shape our collective future.
The session is divided into two parts: In Part One, six panelists provide 5-minute reflections on their specific areas of research and practice, including monastic education reform, clinical healthcare, psychospiritual therapies, digital sanghas, gender equality, and Ambedkarite social justice. In Part Two, our respondent leads a 40-minute internal discussion to synthesize these themes, followed by 10 minutes of audience engagement.
| Michael Sheehy, University of Virginia | ms4qm@virginia.edu | View |