The Editors Snjezana Akpinar holds a Ph.D. in Turkish Studies from the University of Istanbul and a degree in Oriental Studies from the University of Belgrade. She currently lectures on Central Asian influences on Islam and comparative studies. Ron Epstein holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.A. in Chinese Language and Literature from the University of Washington. He teaches Buddhist Studies. His research interests include the Mahayana sutras, Yogachara Buddhism and applied Buddhist Ethics. Bhikshuni Heng Hsien holds a Ph.D. in South and Southeast Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.A. in Mediterranean Studies from Brandeis University. She is a Sanskrit specialist and translates Buddhist texts from Chinese and Sanskrit. She has been a Buddhist nun for twenty-five years. Rev. Heng Sure is a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He has an M.A. in Oriental Languages from the University of California at Berkeley. He serves as director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, lectures on Buddhist texts and teaches meditation, and is actively involved in interfaith dialogue. He ordained as a bhikshu (Buddhist monk) in 1976 at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Douglas Powers holds an M.A. in Theology and Philosophy from the Graduate Theological Union and a B.A. and M.A. from the University of the Redlands. He currently teaches Western philosophy. Martin J. Verhoeven received his M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His area of specialty is the process of East/ West acculturation, particularly in the European and American encounter with Buddhism. He was a Buddhist monk for eighteen years and has lectured extensively throughout Asia, Europe, the United States and Canada.
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religion east & west