Ever heard of a white American man trying to disguise himself as a Buddhist Elder Nun? Matty Weingast did just that. Weingast’s controversial book, The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns, was initially marketed as a translation of the Therigatha, an important Buddhist scripture composed by the first enlightened women. Weingast’s book got the biggest names in American Buddhism enthused until the truth came out: it was only a collection of his own poems, with zero accurate references to the Therigatha. Read full article here
Education
Overcoming Bias
Kai Cheng’s professor had a brilliant scheme. In his first lecture, he promised that each lecture would feature a “Lie of the Day”. But why? It made his students more attentive and analytical, poring over every detail of his lecture and making sense of why things were true. It was such a powerful teaching method that his students digested his most technical lectures quite easily because they tried so hard to catch his lie. The kicker? There was no lie in that first lecture; he had lied about that too! Read full article here
Merv
August 17, 2022
