The Detroit Mercy Department of Religious Studies presents the 2025 Cushing Distinguished Lecture series, featuring Jay Garfield, a leading expert on Buddhist philosophy.
The lecture is set for Friday, March 14 at 5 p.m. in Room 124 of the Health Professions Facility. Garfield’s lecture is titled, “Buddhism and Nonviolence in the Contemporary World.” This event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be provided.
During his presentation, Garfield seeks to help us understand Buddhist analysis of nonviolence in a way relevant to our contemporary life, in which it is first important to understand how violence manifests in the contemporary world. He will discuss how, second, we must develop a recognizably Buddhist analysis of that violence and its causes, and third, we must examine how a Buddhist ethical framework determines our responsibilities as agents in the context of that violence and a path to its eradication.
Garfield directs the Buddhist Studies Program and Tibetan Studies in India Program at Smith College. He is also a visiting professor of Buddhist philosophy at Harvard Divinity School. He is the author or editor of over 30 books and over 200 articles, chapters and reviews including Getting Over Ourselves: How to be a Person Without a Self (2022), Buddhist Ethics: A Philosophical Exploration (2021) and Engaging Buddhism: Why it Matters to Philosophy (2015).
The Cushing Distinguished Lecture is an annual lecture hosted by the Department of Religious Studies and made possible through generous grants from Grant and Barbara Cushing, alumni of the graduate program of Religious Studies.