Buddhist Studies Footnotes

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About

Footnotes is a series of short lectures or conversations on research in the field of Buddhist Studies. Created by Frances Garrett, a professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto, with co-host Tony Scott, most episodes are summaries or discussions of articles or book chapters from academic work in the field, with some episodes featuring guest lectures or guest hosts from events and courses at the University of Toronto. We aim to make Buddhist Studies research freely accessible to students and the public.

Footnotes was made possible by a grant from eCampusOntario and also receives support from the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto. Audio editing has been done by Jesse Whitty and Frances Garrett.

Meet our Hosts

Frances Garrett

Dr. Frances Garrett an Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies and Tibetan Studies in the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto, where she has taught since 2003. She is a scholar of Buddhism and medicine in Tibet and the Himalaya. From 2016-2021, she was Inaugural Director of the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto. She is currently Director of the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health program at New College, University of Toronto.

Tony Scott

Hailing from the Badlands of Alberta, Canada, Tony Scott is a PhD Candidate at the Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto, studying the relationship between Pali commentary, insight (vipassanā) meditation, and Buddhist statecraft in twentieth-century Burma/Myanmar. Tony’s dissertation centres on the Milindapañha-aṭṭhakathā (Commentary on the Questions of King Milinda) of the Mingun Jetavan Sayadaw (1868-1954), a rare example of a modern Buddhist commentary (aṭṭhakathā) that caused controversy amongst the highest levels of the Burmese monastic community (saṅgha) and first independence government.