For anyone attending the #AARSBL in Boston, come see the Buddhas in the West Pop-Up Exhibit this Saturday at CGIS S050 at Harvard University. We look at the early European depictions of the Buddha and Buddhist monks from the 1660s to 1850s. 🗃️ 📜 #Buddhasinthewest

Contemporary artist Tokuhiro Kawai depicts cats as furry saints! Current show "Altarpiece of Cat Adoration" in Tokyo now: tinyurl.com/2ew694rh #caturday

The first 108 Buddhas in the West posts are now archived, tagged, and easy to browse! 🔍 🗺 Thank you to everyone for the support! 🙏 👉 tinyurl.com/4kmcwp87

Contemporary artist Tokuhiro Kawai depicts cats as furry saints! Current show "Altarpiece of Cat Adoration" in Tokyo now: tinyurl.com/2ew694rh #caturday

International Dunhuang Project website launched a new "learning" resource with a variety of collected materials. idp.bl.uk/learning/dun...

A discussion on a new publication that focus on the Chinese wu 巫. criticaldivination.org/2025/09/03/i...

"This databank seeks to bridge this gap by providing the most up-to-date comprehensive radiocarbon database of Chinese archaeology. This effort involves a systematic review of the relevant literature ... A total number of 7,083 radiocarbon dates...were collected." www.nature.com/articles/s41...

He explores how learning management systems already constrain pedagogy by forcing educators to systematize learning into predetermined formats, and questions what happens when OpenAI's chatbot takes control of content production across these platforms #ArtificialIntelligence #AIEducation #Podcast

At the #Shōsōin Exhibition: Very large brush used by Bodhisena to dot the eyes of the Great Buddha in Nara during the eye-opening consecration ceremony in 752. Also, the blue cord attached to the brush which observers held to receive merit for the act. www.shosoin-ten.jp/info/treasur... #正倉院

At the #Shōsōin Exhibition: Very large brush used by Bodhisena to dot the eyes of the Great Buddha in Nara during the eye-opening consecration ceremony in 752. Also, the blue cord attached to the brush which observers held to receive merit for the act. www.shosoin-ten.jp/info/treasur... #正倉院

One of the largest distributors of print books for libraries is shutting down causing major issues for libraries. 🔗 www.404media.co/libraries-sc...

Guest Post — Do Academic Libraries Have a Strategy for AI? scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/10/30/g...

The Perpetual Myths of Stereoscopy. To commemorate Sir Charles Wheatstone on the 150th anniversary of his death, I thought I’d share a post to try and bring a sledgehammer to some of the perpetual myths of stereoscopy. stereoscopy.blog/2025/10/19/t... #Wheatstone150

Lots of you have been asking for the syllabus for the lecture course -- "America at 250" -- that I'm teaching with David Blight and Beverly Gage. Here you go: president.yale.edu/sites/defaul...

Spectropia; or, Surprising Spectral Illusions (1865), a wonderful book of Victorian hi-tech ghost conjuring which allows the reader to summon, as the sub-title proclaims, “ghosts everywhere and of any colour”. More here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/s...

On display at the #Shōsōin Exhibition in Nara: 8th century bronze mirror inlaid with mother-of-pearl, turquoise, and lapis lazuli. Chemical analysis shows mirror was made in China before becoming part of the collection of Emperor Shōmu (r. 724–749). www.shosoin-ten.jp/info/treasur... #正倉院

The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco: "Through x-ray imaging, our conservators reveal the hidden structures and stories sealed inside these centuries-old sculptures. For the first time, we offer a hauntingly beautiful glimpse inside some of the museum’s oldest objects." (on IG)

Major works from the Okada Museum of Art, which was created by the Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada and is filled with a trove of Asian art he collected, are to be sold to resolve a $50 million legal bill left over from his dispute with the casino mogul Steve Wynn.

Contemporary artist Yuma Matsumoto makes giant figures out of straw. His most recent was a giant cat. Recent work: awrd.com/creatives/us... #caturday

This article mentions research performed this year shows the tree that produced the Ranjatai aloeswood was felled in the 8th or 9th century. #正倉院 #蘭奢待 www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/kansai...

The 77th Annual Exhibition of Shōsō-in Treasures opens today and includes a large piece of scented aloeswood, said to be the “World’s Most Famous Aromatic.” It can be dated to the 12th century, although some believe it's much older. #正倉院 #蘭奢待

Engravings of Kamakura's Hachiman Shrine pagoda were used in Aimé Humbert's works on Japan in the 1860s/70s. The Parisian lithographer copied the same image decades later, likely unaware the pagoda had been destroyed in 1870.

関帝廳 37 #art #photo #photography #temple #culture #puppetshow #Tainan #EastCoastKin ©️skinskin

Today's post was inspired by @madpoli.bsky.social's recent piece that maps out tools and resources for East Asian Studies featured in The DO 👇 digitalorientalist.com/2025/09/19/a...

Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans, LA #31daysofgraves #cross

Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans, LA #31daysofgraves #cross

Wrote a thing on the hot summer of uni AI adoption for @defector.com A huge thanks to @nathankhensley.bsky.social and @anniemcc.bsky.social. @brandyjensen.bsky.social is a legend. And anything smart in hear is thanks to hours of discussion, texting, and draft reading by @smosment.bsky.social

Pleased to say that for the next year I'll be a Publisher for our Religion list at Routledge books, covering all areas of religious studies and theology. I'd welcome anyone researching or teaching in this space to get in touch if you'd like to discuss a book idea 📖

Johnston & Hoffmann, c. 1890s.

Woljeongsa Temple, Odesan, South Korea Buddhist monastics and practitioners bury their hair after tonsure at this memorial site in the forest. #31daysofgraves #landscape

My latest publication is now online. "Literary Virtue: A Moral Cornerstone of Chinese Literary Theory." In this essay, Zhou Xinglu 周興陸 of Peking University and I explore the history of the concept of literary virtue (wende 文德) across 2000 years. #Sinology🀄️📚 read.dukeupress.edu/jclc/article... 1/3

Wonderful discussion of how the National Park Service Museum does paper conservation. 📜 🗃 www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3J-...

Fellow academics, I'm doing it. Going all in. Pulling the plug, literally. This is on my syllabus for Spring 2026: "This is an analog class. No Canvas; this syllabus is your guide." All readings are printed books; hand-written exams; no laptops. #academicbluesky #Highered #academia #Rutgers

#BehindTheScenes at the museum today we have one of our more delicate collection objects out - an amazingly rare sculpture by the ‘Ingenious Chinese artist’ Chitqua, (Tan Che Qua) c. 1728–1796.😍 ICON accredited conservator Alexandra Kosinova ACR is evaluating the statuette for a potential loan.🔍

By me:

Thrilled to announce the publication of my article "The Invention of the Kamikaze: Dissent and Resistance in the Japanese Military" in the October issue of the Journal of Military History!

"These objects were created with precious materials using highly sophisticated techniques... Among them are exotic items such as the Red Sandalwood Sugoroku Board...used by Emperor Shomu himself; the exquisite Blue Glass Cup...and the famous Aloeswood Incense..."Ranjatai." 👀 shosoin-ten.jp/en/

Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans, LA, January 2025 #31daysofgraves

This early Hollywood portrayal of Buddhism includes the curious "Seven Fold" Path...

Gade 嘎德, "New Buddha Series: Mickey Mouse," 2008. ...Namu Amida Mousu 🌺

Recently stumbled across the contemporary work of Tibetan artist Gade (b. 1971). "The New Scripture: An end of year resumé of van Gogh," 2005.

A newly launched video podcast series dedicated to Chinese Buddhist Studies begins with the edited volume, Readings of the Gateless Barrier. The book has nine chapters, and for each chapter a scholar of Buddhist studies interviews the author. www.youtube.com/@ChineseBudd... #koan #zen

A newly launched video podcast series dedicated to Chinese Buddhist Studies begins with the edited volume, Readings of the Gateless Barrier. The book has nine chapters, and for each chapter a scholar of Buddhist studies interviews the author. www.youtube.com/@ChineseBudd... #koan #zen

After complaints about Timothy Dexter's A Pickle for the Knowing Ones (1797) being entirely devoid of punctuation, in future editions the eccentric businessman supplied a supplemental page so that people “may peper and solt as they please”: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/dexter-pickle

New French watercolor ink and innovative "linen" embossed cardstock transformed the postcard industry in the 1930s into a hyperreal fantasy world. Less use of black ink meant darker colors had to enhance tonality. www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/how...

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Really I should have been born in the seventeenth century, when random speling was normal.

Nice collection of religious artifacts on NY Tenement Museum's colloborative "Your Story Our Story" digital exhibit. "We work with museums, colleges, schools, libraries, and community groups who all contribute stories from their part of the United States." yourstory.tenement.org/stories?cate...

Monk Lhundrub, "Panoramic Map of Mount Wutai," 1846, woodblock print on linen, hand colored; 47 1/8 × 68 in. rubinmuseum.org/projecthimal...

Unknown Japanese studio, "Yashamon," albumen print, c. 1880s/90s [modified w/music 😎]