Would You Like a PhD With That?

For those of you who have not yet signed up for the email newsletter. This post is an example of what I will be sending to the email list. So if you are interested in getting this type of content you will need to sign up for the newsletter. For those that are signed up to the newsletter and also received this via email, you will need to unsubscribe from the old list…if you are not sure send me an email and I will check for you.

The reason for the change is I’m looking into doing a PhD in philosophy, so I want a method to separate reader communication and blog content. Until recently I had to post content on the website in order for people to know about an event or something similar. This new method will allow me to keep in contact with  readers and have the website content focused on philosophy, meditation, Buddhism and all that good stuff rather than my dribble about nothing…although some might say in my case these two and mutually inclusive.

My interest in research writing, or what I thought was philosophical style writing, started a while ago. I had become interested in understanding a little of western philosophy after reading an essay by Professor Jay Garfield and watching videos from a conference of Western and Buddhist philosophy scholars. Jay is the guy who translated Tsong Khapa’s Ocean of  Reasoning. His university webpage http://www.smith.edu/philosophy/jgarfield.html (turns out that most professors have them) and I read one of his essays from this page. This led to me to read more essay style papers by professional philosophers, and eventually this style of communication inspired the philosophy as practice post. Somehow I found http://www.h-net.org/~buddhism/ a list for Buddhist scholars and graduate students (you cant get on this list unless you are a professional academic or graduate student but you can read what they are saying). On this list someone asked about remote PhD programs, which led to someone else replying with a link to a page with a pdf file of PhD rules for Australian universities. I still don’t know why but, for some reason I read this document and to my surprise it was possible in some circumstances to gain entry into a PhD program without an undergraduate degree.

So I began to investigate all the how-to stuff, emailed a number of people asking what was probably some pretty naive questions, and in the end I found a list of Australian universities that seemed relevant and sent them all an introduction letter and research proposal.

Below is part of what I originally sent a couple of university here in Australia.

The research will investigate the soteriological efficacy of Tsong Khapa’s Madhyamaka dialectic: How does a non-affirming negation give rise to Buddhist salvation?

Given Tsong Khapa’s unique reading of Candrakiriti, Nagarjuna and the controversy surrounding his presentation of the Two Truths. There is still an unanswered question of whether the Gelugpa’s praxis does in fact lead a spiritual aspirant to Enlightenment.

Tsong Khapa’s followers believe that his dialectical approach gives us a constructive exegesis of Nagarjuna’s thought as set out in his seminal text, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way (Mulamadhyamakakarika). Tsong Khapa strove to articulate the vision of emptiness and dependent arising as mutually dependant. This has led to Tsong Khapa’s presentation of the Two Truths, as understood by his opponents, to be thoroughly problematic. Some of his opponents believe that Tsong Khapa reifies conventional phenomena, while others believe his view of emptiness is nihilistic, and therefore his presentation falls out of scope of Nagarjuna’s “Middle Way”.

I believe that not only is Tsong Khapa’s hermeneutical strategy coherent, that his articulation of the Two Truths is soteriologically efficacious, i.e. it does indeed lead a spiritual aspirant to Buddhist salvation but, that his articulation of conventionalities, particularly his description of the self or person sheds light on the age old Buddhist question who is it that becomes enlightened, and also current issues in western philosophical thought on the nature of personal identity.

This was received well by most of the universities but, given I had no research academic background and no undergraduate degree of any kind (I first met Geshe Loden part way through an arts degree, then left to concentrate on dharma) I kept being told I “no” “sorry” etc etc. I didn’t believe them, much to the annoyance of a friend who would say…but he (this professor) has 25 years of experience, if he says you can’t get in, then you can’t get in! I don’t know why but, I didn’t believe them (although I can’t see if I will get in, I felt I should at least keep trying…that was the feeling I was getting).

So I tried a couple more different universities and I finally found one university that seemed interested to at least talk. Ok your getting somewhere I thought. After maybe a dozen, or perhaps more emails, this is where I stand…

I have been asked to write an honors degree thesis (16,000 words) within 4 to 8 weeks, I think that honors degree students get 10 months or so but perhaps this is not correct. The university will then evaluate the thesis and I may be offered a place (without a scholarship to start with. PhD study is not courseware so there are no fees…although it is full time work) depending on the quality of the paper.

I would like to document my journey from here to (hopefully) completion of a PhD, so if you are interested to hear (it might be very boring) the story you please sign up to the newsletter. Future blog posts and website content will mainly consist of longer articles and essays on Buddhist related topics.

New email list provider and an apology

I received feedback from a number of concerned readers yesterday when it appears that some of you received strange looking emails. I changed my email list providers and apparently this new service has sent you guys something that asked you to “click here to confirm”. Some were concerned this was not from me and perhaps a spam email. Have no fear, it was me, although I do apologize for not informing you before hand. It was poor management of the process and I’m sorry for that.

Why did you do this?
I have some changes happening here and so I wanted a way to separate reader communication and website content. Until yesterday I had to post something on the website in order for people to know about it (like what I’m doing in this post). This new method will allow me to keep in contact with you guys and have the website content focused on Buddhism, philosophy, meditation and all that good stuff rather than my dribbling about nothing…although some might say in my case these two are mutually inclusive.

What will you send me if I join this new list?

• New website content notifications.
• General news and information such as when I go into retreat or I am away because of other commitments.

What does this mean for the readers currently getting content via email? Those signed up via the old provider got new website content via email. This service will be turned off in about two weeks. So if you are one of those readers please sign up to the new list.

If I sign up how often will I get these emails?
I will send out newsletters only when there is something useful to be informed of. So it is likely to be more often than the current system and I think on average it is likely to be one or two per week.

So, I apologize for any inconvenience this confusion has caused you and I thank you for your understanding.

Oh and by the way if you want to sign up for this new list you can do so at anytime but, you need to do this on the website and remember you can also unsubscribe at any time.

Who Wants Happiness?

I would say that every living being wants happiness. But if this is the case why it is that we continue to experience problems?