Abstract
How does my research influence my pedagogy? As a teacher of Japanese religions at a small liberal arts college, I realized long ago that I wasn’t teaching in grad school. Few of my students can speak or read Japanese or have ever traveled to Japan. So, chances are I’m not going to be teaching a small seminar on pre-modern Buddhist pilgrimage focusing on original texts in the classical vernacular. Yet, in teaching undergraduates, I keep Shunryu Suzuki’s comment in mind: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” The trick is how to trigger those possibilities. How do I open the door to a subject that is totally new and perhaps even strange? What do I find so fascinating in my own research that will also fascinate my students?