My name is Karin Meyers (she/her). I’m a Buddhist studies scholar and (eclectic) Dharma practitioner who, by accident or calling (who can say?), has been working over the years to make Buddhist Studies academic scholarship accessible and engaging for Dharma students. (My academic resumé can be found here.) In addition to teaching at colleges and universities in the US, I taught for seven years at Kathmandu University and Rangjung Yeshé Institute’s Centre of Buddhist Studies in Nepal, where I also directed the Masters Program in Buddhist Studies. I now serve as Academic Director of Mangalam Research Center located in downtown Berkeley.
My interest in engaged Buddhism dates back to my first stint in the Bay Area in the late 1990’s, when I worked at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and to my early years teaching college students. This interest never left me but was reignited when I returned to the US and became involved in organizing Buddhists in the climate movement, while also serving as Retreat Support Fellow at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA. As I become increasingly sensitized to our converging social, political, economic, and ecological crises and their sufferings, I feel called to a deeper exploration of engaged Buddhist theory and practice.
My wish is that the reflections, essays, conversations, and courses offered here may be an inspiration and support for others as they navigate how to take these crises onto the path.