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Education
1971, B.A. Harvard University
1978, M.A. University of Michigan
1984, Ph.D. Princeton University
Selected Publications
Books:
Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism. Shambhala Publications, 2000. Coeditor.
Zen Teaching, Zen Practice: Philip Kapleau and The Three Pillars of Zen. Weatherhill, 2000. Editor.
The Wheel of Engaged Buddhism: A New Map of the Path. Weatherhill, 1999.
Eloquent Zen: Daito and Early Japanese Zen. University of Hawaii Press, 1992.
Inner Peace, World Peace: Essays on Buddhism and Nonviolence. State University of New York Press, 1992. Editor.
Zen: Tradition and Transition. Grove Press, 1988. Editor.
Selected Articles and Book Chapters:
“New Voices in Engaged Buddhist Studies,” in Christopher Queen, ed., Engaged Buddhism in the West (Wisdom Publications), 2000.
“Nuclear Ecology and Engaged Buddhism,” in Mary Evelyn Tucker and Duncan Williams, eds., Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds (Harvard University Press), 1997.
“Practical Zen -- A Conversation with Kenneth Kraft,” in Philip Kapleau, Awakening to Zen (Scribner), 1997.
“Practicing Peace: Social Engagement in Western Buddhism,” in Journal of Buddhist Ethics 2, 1995.
“The Greening of Buddhist Practice,” in Cross Currents 44:2, 1994.
“Meditation in Action: The Emergence of Engaged Buddhism,” in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review 2:3, 1993.
Preface to the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Philip Kapleau’s The Three Pillars of Zen (Doubleday), 1989.
“Engaged Buddhism: An Introduction,” in Fred Eppsteiner, ed., The Path of Compassion (Parallax Press), 1988.
Materials Online
“Bad Karma: The Iraq Prison Scandal”
“Buddhism and Ecology”
“Envisioning Dharmic Societies”
“Gendai Nihon ni okeru Bukkyo to shakai katsudo [Buddhism and Social Action in Contemporary Japan]”
“The Greening of Buddhist Practice”
“New Voices in Engaged Buddhist Studies”
“Practicing Peace: Social Engagement in Western Buddhism”
“The Wheel of Engaged Buddhism,” a self-guided course
“Where We Go From Here”
Bio
Kenneth Kraft, Professor of Religion Studies at Lehigh University, is a scholar of Japanese Zen and socially engaged Buddhism. He received his B.A. from Harvard University, his M.A. from the University of Michigan, and his Ph.D. from Princeton University. In 1984-85, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies. At Lehigh, he has served as chair of the Religion Studies department and as director of the College Seminar Program. In 2005, he received a Lindback Foundation Award for distinguished teaching by a senior member of the faculty. Kraft has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and the Stanford University Japan Center in Kyoto. He has lived in Japan for five years and traveled widely in Asia.
Kraft’s book Eloquent Zen: Daito and Early Japanese Zen (1992) was selected as an “Outstanding Academic Book” by Choice magazine. His anthology of present-day Zen masters and scholars, Zen: Tradition and Transition (1988), is widely used in college courses; the book was translated into French in 1993. In The Wheel of Engaged Buddhism: A New Map of the Path (1999), he explores spiritually based responses to social and environmental issues; a Spanish edition was published in 2001. Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism (2000), coedited with Dr. Stephanie Kaza, brings together ancient and contemporary Buddhist teachings about human/nature relations. Kraft’s other edited books include Inner Peace, World Peace: Essays on Buddhism and Nonviolence (1992) and Zen Teaching, Zen Practice: Philip Kapleau and the Three Pillars of Zen (2000).
Kraft’s service on advisory committees has included the following: The Buddhism Project: Art, Buddhism, and Contemporary Culture (New York); Buddhist Peace Fellowship (Berkeley, California); Forum on Religion and Ecology (Yale University); Journal of Buddhist Ethics; Religion Working Group on Genetically Modified Organisms (University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics); Rochester Zen Center (Rochester, New York); World Faiths Development Dialogue (World Bank).
Courses Taught
Rel 6: Religion and the Ecological Crisis
Rel/Asia 65: Religions of Japan
Rel/Asia 67: Japanese Civilization
Rel 90: Alternative Religions in the 21st Century
Rel/Asia 162: Zen Buddhism
Rel/Asia 164: Japan's Response to the West
Rel/Asia 167: Engaged Buddhism
Rel/Asia 168: Buddhism in the Modern World
Rel/Asia 169: Classics of Asian Religion
Rel/Asia 254: Buddhism and Ecology
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