David L McMahanCharles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies, Department Chair of Religious Studies
Personal Website
Education and Research
Course Information
RST 122 Introduction to Asian religions
RST 248 Buddhism
RST 322 Buddhism in North America
RST 337 Hindu Literature and Practice
RST 367 Self, Society, and Nature in Chinese and Japanese Religions
RST 372 Zen Buddhism: Thought, Practice and Culture
CNX 121 The Self in Global Contexts
CNX 188 The Good Life
Publications and Presentations
Books
McMahan, David L. Rethinking Meditation: Buddhist Meditative Practices in Ancient and Modern Worlds. New York: Oxford University Press, 2023.
McMahan, David L. and Erik Braun, eds. Meditation, Buddhism, and Science. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
McMahan, David L., ed. Buddhism in the Modern World. New York and London: Routledge, 2012. (Spanish translation, La construcción del budismo moderno, by Juan Manuel Cincunegui.)
McMahan, David L. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. New York: Oxford University, 2008.
McMahan, David L. Empty Vision: Metaphor and Visionary Imagery in Mahāyāna Buddhism. New York and London: RoutlegeCurzon, 2002.
Articles and Chapters
“Buddhism and Secular Subjectivities: Individualism and Fragmentation in the Mirrors of Secularism.” In Richard Payne, ed., pp. 56-78. Secularizing Buddhism: New Perspectives on a Dynamic Tradition. Boulder: Shambhala, 2021.
“Secularism Is Not Secular: Investigating the Urge to Purge Secularism of Buddhist and Hindu Influence.” Religious Studies Review. Vol 46, no. 2. June 2020.
“Buddhism and Global Secularisms.” In John S. Harding, Victor Sōgen Hori, and Alexander Soucy, ed. Buddhism in the Global Eye: Beyond East and West. London: Bloomsbury, 2020.
“Misuses of Mindfulness: Ron Purser and David Loy’s ‘Beyond McMindfulness.’ ” In Peirce Salguero, ed. Buddhism and Medicine: Modern and Contemporary Sources. 221-230. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020.
“Introduction: From Colonialism to Brainscans: Modern Transformations of Buddhist Meditation” (with Erik Braun). In David L. McMahan and Erik Braun, ed. Meditation, Buddhism, and Science. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
“How Meditation Works: Theorizing the Role of Cultural Context in Buddhist Contemplative Practices.” In David L. McMahan and Erik Braun, ed., Meditation, Buddhism, and Science. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
“Buddhism and Global Secularisms.” Journal of Global Buddhism, vol. 18, 2017, 122-28.
“The Venerable Olande Ananda: The Return of the Dutch to Sri Lanka.” In Figures of Buddhist Modernity, edited by Jeffrey Samuels et al. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2016, 168-70.
“Buddhism and Multiple Modernities.” In Buddhism Beyond Borders, edited by Scott Mitchell and Natalie Quli. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2015, 181-96.
“The Jade Buddha for Universal Peace.” In Conversations: An Online Journal of the Initiative for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion. Initiative for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion, Yale University, 2013.http://mavcor.yale.edu/conversations/object-narratives/jade-buddha-universal-peace
“The Enchanted Secular: Buddhism and the Emergence of Transtraditional ‘Spirituality’.” The Eastern Buddhist, vol. 43, no. 1&2, 2012, 205-223.
“Intersections of Buddhism and Secularity.” In Interreligious Dialogue and the Cultural Shaping of Religions, edited by Catherine Cornille and Stephanie Corigliano. Eugene, Ore.: Wipf and Stock, 2012, 137-158.
“Introduction.” In Buddhism in the Modern World, edited by David L. McMahan. New York and London: Routledge, 2012, 1-6.
“Buddhist Modernism.” In Buddhism in the Modern World, edited by David L. McMahan. New York and London: Routledge, 2012, 159-176. Translated into Japanese by TANAKA Satoru in SUEKI Fumihiko, ed., Transformations of the Buddha: Criss-crossing Streams of Buddhist Modernism. Kyoto: Hozokan, ltd., 2014.
“Clifton Buddha.” In Frequencies: A Collaborative Genealogy of Spirituality. http://freq.uenci.es/, edited by Kathryn Lofton and John Lardas Modern, 2011.
“Buddhism as the ‘Religion of Science’: From Colonial Ceylon to the Laboratories of Harvard.” In Handbook of Religion and the Authority of Science, edited by James R. Lewis and Olav Hammer. Leiden: Brill, 2010, 117-140.
“A Brief History of Interdependence.” Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Series 3, No. 10, 2008, 131-176.
“Buddhism and the Epistemic Discourses of Modernity.” In The Boundaries of Knowledge in Buddhism, Christianity, and the Natural Sciences. Edited by Paul Numrich. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008, 43-58.
“Buddhist Meditational Systems.” Series of fourteen articles for The Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Edited by Damien Keown and Charles Prebish. New York and London: Routledge, 2007.
“Modernity and the Discourse of Scientific Buddhism.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 72, No. 4 (2004), 897-933.
“Demythologization and the Core-versus-Accretions Model of Buddhism.” Indian International Journal of Buddhism. Vol. 10, No. 5 (2004), 63-99.
“Transpositions of Metaphor and Imagery in the Gaṇḍavyūha and Tantric Buddhist Practice.” Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Vol. 3, No. 6 (Fall 2004), 181-194.
“Repackaging Zen for the West.” In Westward Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Asia. Edited by Charles S. Prebish and Martin Baumann. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002, 218-229.
“New Frontiers in Buddhism: Three Recent Works on Buddhism in America.” Journal of Global Buddhism, Vol. 1, October (2000), 116-135.
“Mahāyāna,” “Buddhist Schools/Traditions: South Asia,” “Dharamsala,” in Encyclopedia of Monasticism, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000.
“A Long Awaited Call: A Buddhist Response.” Ethics and World Religions: Cross-cultural Case Studies. Edited by Regina Wentzel Wolfe and Christine E. Gudorf. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1999: 273-279.
“Orality, Writing and Authority in South Asian Buddhism: Visionary Literature and the Struggle for Legitimacy in the Mahāyāna.” History of Religions. Vol. 37, No. 3 (1998), 249-274. Reprinted in The Bodhisattva Ideal: Essays on the Emergence of Mahayana. Edited by Nyanatusita Bhikkhu. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 2013.
Presentations
“Making, Unmaking, and Discovering Buddhahood: Three Paradigms of the Relationship between Meditation and Ethics.” German-Israeli Foundation Workshop, University of Hamburg, Germany. July 9, 2022.
“Buddhist Visionary Literature and the Logic of Visionary Imagery.” National Endowment for Humanities Summer Research Institute. Berkeley, Calif. June 21, 2022.
“Imagining Things as They Are: Imagination in Buddhist Meditation Practices.” National Endowment for Humanities Summer Research Institute. Berkeley, Calif. June 15, 2022.
“Situating Consciousness and Reflexivity in Context: Analytic and Holistic Approaches in the History of the Study of Mind & Meditation.” Perspectives on Consciousness conference. Hebrew University, May 15, 2019.
“Meditation and Culture: Self-Cultivation, Context, and Social Imaginaries.” German-Israeli Foundation Workshop, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. May 13, 2019.
“How Meditation Became Secular: Historicizing Buddhist Contemplative Practices from the Monastery to Goldman Sachs.” Invited lecture at St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, March 1, 2019.
“How Meditation Works: Self-Cultivation, Context, and Social Imaginaries.” Invited talk at Harvard University, December 3, 2018.
“Neural Maps and Enlightenment Machines.” Invited paper at “Expert Knowledge and Contested Authority: Where the Sciences and Humanities Meet” conference. Franklin & Marshall College, March 24, 2018.
“Epistemic Presuppositions in the Scientific Study of Meditation.” International Association of Buddhist Studies symposium. University of Toronto, August 24, 2017.
“Implicit Epistemologies and Anthropologies of Mindfulness.” At 10-day seminar, “Putting the Buddhism and Science Dialogue on a New Footing.” Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages, Berkeley, Calif., July 17-26, 2017.
“Neural Maps and Enlightenment Machines: Implicit Anthropologies and Epistemologies in Scientific Approaches to Mindfulness.” Invited paper for the conference, “Beyond the Hype: Buddhism and Neuroscience in a Ney Key,” Columbia University, November 11, 2016.
“Meditation in Context: From Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychotherapist’s Office.” Invited lecture at Brown University, Providence, RI. November 29, 2016.
“Meditation in Context: From Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychotherapist’s Office.” Invited lecture at University of Calgary, Canada. September 30, 2016.
“Meditation in Context: From Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychotherapist’s Office.” Invited lecture at University of Lethbridge, Canada. September 27, 2016.
“Buddhism and Global Secularisms.” Keynote address at “Buddhism in the Global Eye: Beyond East and West” conference. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. August 11, 2016.
“Buddhism, Secularism, and Modernity in a Global Context.” Keynote address at Sheng Yen Educational Foundation conference, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. July 2, 2016.
“Taxonomies, Lifeworlds, and Self-cultivation: Contemplative Practices in Multiple Contexts.” Invited lecture at Mind & Life Summer Research Institute. June 13, 2016.
“Mindfulness and Yoga Practice in Modernity.” Invited lecture/panelist, Goucher College, Baltimore, Maryland. April 5, 2016.
“Buddhism and Modernity: Conversations at the Edge.” Panel discussion, Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages, Berkeley, Calif. June 7, 2015.
“Mindfulness as Self-Cultivation in Ancient and Modern Contexts.” Keynote address at “Mindfulness and Compassion: the Art and Science of Contemplative Practice” conference. San Francisco State University. June 5, 2015.
“How to Think About Buddhist Meditation: Taxonomies of the Lifeworld and Practices of the Self.” Invited lecture at Temple University. April 18, 2015.
“How Meditation Works: Self-Cultivation in Specific Social Imaginaries.” Paper delivered at the American Academy of Religion conference, San Diego, California, November 22, 2014.
“Meditation in Context: From Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychotherapist’s Office.” Invited lecture at Smith College. September 25, 2014.
“Modern Configurations of Meditation, Selfhood, and the Secular.” Paper delivered at the International Association of Buddhist Studies Conference, Vienna, Austria, August 20, 2014.
“Buddhism and Global Secularisms.” Keynote address at “Buddhisms in Modern China: Between Resistance, Secularization, and New Religiosities” conference. University of Göttingen, Germany. May 14, 2014.
“Buddhist Modernism in the West: Colonialism, Beat Poets, and Brainscans.” Invited lecture at University of Virginia, Contemplative Studies Center, February 3, 2014.
“How Meditation Works: Theorizing the Role of Cultural Context in Buddhist Contemplative Practices.” Invited paper at “Buddhism and Modernity” conference. Aarhus University, Denmark, October 29, 2013.
“Meditation in Context: From Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychotherapist’s Office.” Bradley R. Dewey Award For Outstanding Scholarship lecture. Franklin & Marshall College, October 17, 2013.“Buddhism and Science: Rivals or Allies?” Invited lecture at Berry College. April 4, 2013.
“Meditation in Context: Ancient and Modern.” Invited paper at “Secular Buddhism: Rethinking the Nikāyas for Our Times” colloquium at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, March 27, 2013.
“Reflections on the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative.” Invited talk at panel: “Buddhism & Science: An Unholy Alliance? Reflections on the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative,” March 29, 2012.
“The Enchanted Secular: Buddhism and the Emergence of Transtraditional ‘Spirituality.’ ” Invited paper at the 41st International Research Symposium, “Modernity and Buddhism Conference,” Nichibunken, International Research Center for Japanese Studies, October 14, 2011.
“Intersections of Buddhism and Secularity.” Invited paper at “Interreligious Dialogue and the Cultural Shaping of Religions” conference, Boston College, September 23, 2011.
“The Intertwining of Buddhism and Science: Historical and Cultural Reflections.” Invited lecture at Mind and Life Summer Research Institute, Garrison, NY, June 14, 2011.
“Science, Meditation, and Multiple Modernities: Tibetan Buddhism in Three Keys.” American Academy of Religion conference, Atlanta, October 31, 2010.
“Buddhist Meditation as Scientific Practice? Sorting Out the Implications of the Neuroscientific Study of Meditation.” American Academy of Religion conference, Atlanta, October 30, 2010.
“Buddhisms in North America.” Invited lecture, Minzu University, Beijing, China, May 18, 2010.
“Buddhism and the Discourses of Modernity.” Invited lecture, Princeton University, April 1, 2010.
“The Making of Buddhist Modernism.” Invited lecture, Franklin & Marshall, Philadelphia Alumni Writers House, March 31, 2010.
“Secularism, Re-sacralization, and Legitimation in Buddhist Modernism.” “Reconfigurations of the Religious Field” conference, Bochum, Germany. December, 3, 2009.
“Buddhism as Anti-colonialism: The Colonial Origins of Buddhist Modernism.” Invited lecture, “Global Asias” conference, Penn State University, October 23, 2009.
“Buddhist Modernism and Hybrid Modernities.” Invited lecture, “Alternative Modernities?” conference, University of Zurich, Switzerland, September 9, 2009.
“Ways of Being Buddhist in the Modern World.” Invited lecture, University of Heidelberg, Germany, June 19, 2009.
“Buddhist Modernism.” Invited lecture, University of Heidelberg, Germany, June 18, 2009.
“Buddhism as the ‘Religion of Science’: From Colonial Ceylon to Laboratories of Wisconsin.” Invited lecture, Muhlenberg College, March 25, 2009.
“A Brief History of Interdependence.” American Academy of Religion National Conference, November 17, 2007.
“Buddhism and the Epistemic Discourses of Modernity.” Invited lecture at “The Boundaries of Knowledge in Buddhism, Christianity, and the Natural Sciences” conference, Columbus, Ohio, November 11, 2006.
“Anagarika Dharmapala and the Discourse of Scientific Buddhism.” American Academy of Religion National Conference, November, 2003.
“Paradoxical Dialectics in the Buddhist Perfection of Wisdom literature.” Invited lecture, Pomona College, April, 2003.
“Transpositions of Metaphor and Imagery in Tantric Buddhist Practice.” Society for Tantric Studies conference, San Marino, Italy, June, 2002.
“Tantric Sadhana as Ritualization of Encounter Narratives in Mahåyåna SËtras.” American Academy of Religion National Conference, November, 2000.
“Visual and Spatial Metaphor in the Buddhist Epistemic Paradigm.” American Academy of Religion National Conference, November, 1999.
“East Asian Buddhism, Past and Present.” Series of lectures at University of Vermont’s Institute for Asian Studies, April-June, 1999.
“Reality-Limit and Social Boundary in Buddhist Discourse.” Borderlands Symposium, University of Vermont, April, 1999.
“Theistic Trends in Buddhism and Hinduism.” Panel respondent, American Academy of Religion National Conference, November, 1998.
“Visual Metaphor and Visionary Discourse in Mahayana Buddhism.” University of Vermont, October, 1998.
“Lecture Series on the Religions of Japan.” University of Vermont, Institute on Japan, Department of Asian Studies, August, 1998.
“Sensory Metaphors in the Construction of Religious and Philosophical Paradigms.” University of California, Santa Barbara, January, 1998.
“Knowledge and Vision in South Asian Mahayana Buddhism.” American Academy of Religion National Conference, November, 1996.
“Representations of Non-Western Religions in the Popular Media.” Media and Society Forum, University of California, Santa Barbara, April, 1996.
“Language and Vision in Early Mahayana Buddhism.” American Academy of Religion Western Regional Conference, March, 1996.
“Tantric Appropriation of Traditional Mahayana Buddhist Themes.” Association for Asian Studies Regional Conference, October, 1994.