On February 8, 2011, at the UBC Asian Centre Auditorium, Tim Ward addressed an audience of 30 people about his experiences as a novice in the Thai Forest tradition as part of a speaking tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary edition of his book, What the Buddha Never Taught. He signed copies of his book and spoke at length with audience members.
Ward skillfully walked the line between the ideal and the real in the contemporary Thai Forest Tradition. All religious traditions have precepts and doctrines that aim to transcend ordinary, worldly life. This is especially true of ascetic and renunciate traditions. Ward, in telling his tale, came face to face with issues of money, ethnicity, effort, and dietary restrictions–and the sometimes uncomfortable disjunction between our beliefs about how things ought to be, and how they actually are.
Tim Ward is the author of five books, including three popular books on Buddhism, based on his six years living in Asia. His iconoclastic and funny book about his time in a monastery, What the Buddha Never Taught was a best seller when published in Canada, and has been translated into five languages. A graduate of UBC (1982), Tim still travels to Asia several times a year, due to his work as an international communications consultant for development and environmental organizations.
This lecture is part of a series organized by UBC’s Buddhism and Contemporary Society Program, and the Program itself is grateful for the continuing support of The Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation, and the cooperation of units here at UBC, especially the Institute of Asian Research, the Department of Asian Studies, and the I.K. Barber Learning Centre.
by Jessica L. Main.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.