Publications

2022
Monica Sanford. 4/2022. “Reading Scripture “As-If”: Promoting Interreligious Understanding via Contextualized Perspective-Taking.” In The Georgetown Companion to Interreligious Studies, edited by Lucinda Mosher, Pp. 289-299. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Publisher's VersionAbstract
This chapter explores the practice of scriptural exegesis within the pedagogy of a world religions survey course. While exegesis (explaining, interpreting, or describing the contents of a religious text) is generally reserved for “theological” (or believer-centered) coursework, I argue that it also has a role in the secular interreligious studies classroom. When the emic exploration of scripture is paired with the etic exploration of religious history, students gain “the ability to engage and learn from perspectives and experiences different from one’s own and to understand how one’s place in the world both informs and limits one’s knowledge”—also known as“perspective-taking,” a skill essential to the practices of critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration across a multitude of disciplines. Within the field of interfaith and interreligious studies, which promotes “students’ deep understanding of religious traditions different from their own,” perspective-taking enables the development of the “appreciative knowledge” essential for effective interreligious collaboration. This chapter narrates the use of scriptural exegesis within an interreligious studies course, describes practical methods for guiding students crisscrossing the emic/etic boundary in relation to multiple religious traditions, and explores how scripture can be used to solidify various key concepts in the general study of worldreligious history.
2021
Kalyāṇamitra: A Buddhist Model for Spiritual Care
Monica Sanford. 1/2021. Kalyāṇamitra: A Buddhist Model for Spiritual Care. 1st ed., Pp. 188. Manotick, ON, Canada: Sumeru Press. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Kalyāṇamitra: A Model for Buddhist Spiritual Care is the book Buddhist chaplains have been waiting for. Rev. Dr. Monica Sanford presents research and analysis into the professional practice of Buddhist spiritual care based on the work of actual chaplains in hospitals and hospices, the military, prisons, and colleges. Just like their Christian counterparts, Buddhist chaplains provide spiritual care to distressed people from a variety of religious backgrounds, including people who aren’t religious at all, but still need a caring companion in times of crisis. Kalyāṇamitra is one of less than a dozen books about this young, but growing profession, and the first to present a comprehensive theory for Buddhist spiritual care.
2019
Monica Sanford and Nathan Jishin Michon. 2/25/2019. “Buddhist Chaplaincy.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Buddhist chaplaincy is a profession in which Buddhists with specialized training care for the spiritual needs of suffering individuals (careseekers), typically within non-religious settings such as hospitals, hospices, military, workplaces, or universities. Although the roots of spiritual care date back to the beginning of the Buddhist traditions, professionalized Buddhist chaplaincy is a very recent phenomenon. Despite some beginnings in the mid-20th century, most developments have occurred rapidly only within the 21st century. This contemporary movement is occurring in numerous places around the world, including North America, Europe, and Asia, covering a wide range of countries, cultures, and Buddhist traditions.

The profession of chaplaincy was originally a Christian vocation but began expanding to serve the needs of multireligious careseekers and train caregivers of various religious backgrounds in the 20th century. Thus, while chaplaincy is now a profession open to all comers, including Buddhists, humanists, and atheists, many of the educational, training, and professional standards for certification or licensing are still normed against Christian expectations and legacy organizational structures, particularly in North America, Europe, and the British Commonwealth. In the countries where Buddhist chaplaincy is flourishing in the early 21st century, different groups are developing degree programs, training opportunities, and professional expectations that accord with their local regulatory bodies and other forms of existing chaplaincy certification. In Asian nations, Buddhists are stepping forward to build standards for providing spiritual care in the context of cultural institutions that are not typically religious (e.g., hospitals and schools).

Diverse settings and differing requirements lead to distinctions between Buddhist chaplaincy in different countries. However, some of the core competencies for spiritual care are very consistent: compassion, listening, ritual proficiency, cultural understanding, and reflection. Buddhist and non-Buddhist chaplains alike agree to a fundamental skill set to care for people who are suffering in the various institutions where they work and volunteer. Distinctions between Buddhist and other forms of spiritual care are based on the care model employed, whether strictly co-religionist (i.e., Buddhists caring for Buddhists) or interfaith (i.e., Buddhists caring for all). In the latter case, professional chaplains (of any religion) are trained to provide spiritual care from the spiritual or religious worldview of the careseeker. As such, most Buddhist chaplains must possess basic knowledge and competency in many world religions. Nevertheless, Buddhist spiritual care may be distinct in its theory (Dharma based) and place more emphasis on mindfulness, meditation, and other contemplative techniques to benefit both careseekers and chaplains. Spiritual care that is “Dharma-based” means based on the teachings of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, and/or the Buddhist traditions and teacher who followed after him. This includes a broad range of texts and teachings across the Buddhist world. As an emerging field, there is little literature on Buddhist chaplaincy, so it is currently somewhat difficult to say what theories and practices will come to dominate the profession.

Monica Sanford. 2019. “Secret Atheist: Internal and External Tensions Affecting Buddhists as Interreligious Caregiving Professionals.” In Navigating Religious Difference in Spiritual Care and Counseling : Essays in Honor of Kathleen J. Greider, edited by Jill Lynnae Snodgrass and Kathleen J. Greider. Claremont, CA: Claremont Press. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Buddhist traditions can be described as non-theocentric, that is, traditions in which God, gods, or divine forces are not usuallycentral to religious practice and certainly nowhere near as essential as in other world religions. As such, Buddhists have often been uneasy conversationalists in interreligious dialogue. This continues into the present day with growing numbers of Buddhists joining various caregiving professions as therapists, chaplains, counselors, and, in my case, religious life directors at large, secular American universities. This chapter draws from my personal experiences as a White Buddhist in a predominantly Christian country as well as a qualitative research study I conducted in 2017 with other Buddhistchaplains in the United States and Canada (Sanford, 2018b).

Part confessional and part scholarly, this chapter serves to highlight the internal and external tensions derived from our religious locations as Buddhists in a predominantly theistic society. Tensions often arise from assumptions, whether our own or those of others, and unconscious or unresolved normativity. What should a Buddhist look like?Who should a Buddhist worship? How should a Buddhist bring their wisdom to the caregiving relationship (or not)? Rich with vignettes and thick description, the purpose of this work is not to resolve the tensions that often accompany Buddhist religious locations. Rather, the chapter serves both to educate those unfamiliar with these forces and as a call to Buddhists (and other non-theists and atheists in professional care work) that they are neither alone nor unrecognized in their struggles.

2016
Monica Sanford. 2016. “Practical Buddhist Theology.” In A Thousand Hands : a Guidebook to Caring for Your Buddhist Community, edited by Nathan Jishin Michon and Daniel Clarkson Fisher. Richmond Hill, ON: The Sumeru Press, Inc. Publisher's VersionAbstract
When the Buddha first uttered the Four Noble Truths in Deer Park at Varanasi, he laid down an eminently practical theology. Of course, he did not call it that, least of all because Shakyamuni Buddha did not speak English. As Buddhists attempting to remain true to his teachings twenty-five hundred years later, we may find the term “practical theology” a very odd fit. Adoption of this term is not terribly important, but it does offer methods for analytical reflection to align our thoughts, words, and deeds more fully with the Dharma. As we think, reflect, and discuss how to improve the way our communities practice and teach the Dharma, we benefit from numerous ideas and methods of reflection, including those developed by Buddhists and by others. This chapter shares a brief introduction to this wide discipline, a framework for how to engage our own practice communities, and numerous examples of how we can begin applying that framework, before finally sharing some resources you may explore in the future.