Luther College welcomes David Loy to present lecture on Nov. 8

Luther College welcomes David Loy to present lecture Nov. 8

Discussing the connection between personal and social transformation, David Loy, professor, writer and teacher of Japanese Sanbo Zen Buddhism, will present his lecture “Transforming Self, Transforming World: Buddhism and Social Justice” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8 in Valders Hall of Science, Room 206 on the Luther campus.

The lecture, open to the public with no charge for admission, is sponsored by the Luther College Religion Department.

The lecture will seek to answer the question: what is the connection between personal and social transformation? He will discuss how sense of self is haunted by a sense of lack which we try to fill with money, fame and sex and says some of the institutionalized causes of greed, ill will and delusion include manifest in the economic system, racism and militarism, and the corporate media. According to Loy, our collective sense of separation from the rest of the biosphere lies at the heart of the ecological crisis, and any personal “awakening” must be in connection with a “social awakening” to these institutionalized reasons for suffering.

Loy’s essays and books have been translated into many languages. His articles appear regularly in the pages of major journals such as Tikkun, and Buddhist magazines including Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, and Buddhadharma, as well as in a variety of scholarly journals. His new book “Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Precipice,” is coming out in early 2019.

He is on the advisory boards of Buddhist Global Relief, the Clear View Project, Zen Peacemakers and the Ernest Becker Foundation. Loy is one of the founding members of the new Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, near Boulder, Colorado. He lectures nationally and internationally on topics focusing primarily on the encounter between Buddhism and modernity and what each can learn from the other.

As a professor of Buddhist and comparative philosophy, Loy taught at Bunkyo University in Japan, Xavier University in Ohio, University of Cape Town in South Africa, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Naropa University in Colorado, Radboud University in the Netherlands and University of Calgary in Canada.

Loy has a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and a Master of Arts from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. He also studied analytic philosophy at King’s College, University of London. Loy’s doctoral degree is from the National University of Singapore where the title of his dissertation was “Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy.”

A national liberal arts college with an enrollment of 2,005, Luther offers an academic curriculum that leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree in more than 60 majors and pre-professional programs. For more information about Luther visit the college’s website: http://www.luther.edu.