Please join us for a talk with Jay L. Garfield (Smith College), Chair of Philosophy and Director of Tibetan Studies in India Program. Dr. Garfield is also a visiting professor of Buddhist philosophy at Harvard Divinity School, professor of philosophy at Melbourne University and adjunct professor of philosophy at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies. Academicinfluence.com has identified him as one of the 50 most influential philosophers in the world over the past decade.

Dr. Garfield will be speaking on  the subject of Buddhism and Nonviolence in the contemporary world and how the Engaged Buddhist movement directs our attention to the normalization of harm, or what we have rather come to call violence in everyday life—and the need for radical change if we are to lead lives of ahiṃsā or nonviolence. Dr. Garfield will present a Buddhist analysis of nonviolence in a way that is relevant to our contemporary life by examining how violence manifests in the contemporary world. Dr. Garfield will then develop a Buddhist analysis of that violence and it's causes, and thirdly, he will ask how a Buddhist ethical framework determines our responsibilities as agents in the context of that violence and a path to it’s eradication.