Course Readings

Please read these texts before the trip to Thailand: 

1.   “Buddhism with a small ‘b’”   Sulak Sivaraksa

2.   Maha-paranirvana Sutta:  “The Buddha’s Final Sermon” 

3.   Gotami Sutta: "Parable of the Mustard Seed"

4.   "Sex Tourism in Thailand: Ch 3" from Ronald Weitzer

Read this text before we arrive in Chiang Mai: 

5.   “Principles and poetry, places and stories: The resources of Buddhist ecology”. Donald K. Swearer 

Read these texts in Chiang Mai, before Ajahn Nong's lectures: 

6.   "Buddhist Modernism and the Piety of Female Sex Workers in Northern Thailand" Amnuaypond Kidpromma

7.  "Transgenderism, Othering and Third Way Buddhist Monasticism in Chiang Mai Thailand," Amnuaypond Kidpromma

Read this text in Chiang Mai, before our meeting at the "Can Do" Bar in Chiang Mai: 

8.   “Bizarre Thailand: Tales of Sex, Crime, and Black Magic”  Jim Algie 

Read this text in Chiang Mai, before our trip to Chiang Dao Youth Camp: 

9.   “The ordination of a tree: The Buddhist ecology movement in Thailand”  Susan Darlington

Read these texts before arriving at the temple of Ven Dhammananda: 

10.  "An Alternative Social Development in Thailand : The Asoke Buddhist Community" Suwida Sangsehanat

11.   "Buddhist Texts from a Feminist Perspective"  Chatsumarn Kabilsingh (Ven. Dhammananda) 

12.   “The Bhikkhuni-Controversy in Thailand”   Martin Seeger 

Suggested Readings: 

13. "Sex Scandals and Buddhist Monks in Thailand"  Brooke Shedneck & Steve Epstein

14.   “Goodness and Generosity Perverted: The Karma of Capitalist Buddhism in Thailand”  Santikaro and Phra Phaisan Visalo 

15.  Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki

16.   “Male Homosexuality and Transgenderism in the Thai Buddhist Tradition” Peter A. Jackson