I explore how diverse spiritual, religious, and philosophical traditions guide people toward meaningful and fulfilling lives.
My work brings together scholarship, translation, and public writing across traditions—from Japanese Buddhism and Yogācāra philosophy to pilgrimage, cinema, and lived religion in the United States and Japan.
Current Projects
I’m currently completing Himitsu Mandara Jūjūshinron: The Mysterious Mandala of Ten Abodes of Mind, an interdisciplinary translation of Kūkai’s philosophical masterpiece, and writing public-facing articles on pilgrimage, consciousness, and the visual culture of belief.
Selected Writing
- How Japanese anime draws on religious traditions to explore themes of destiny, sacrifice and the struggle between desire and duty (The Conversation)
- “Beyond the Battle: Historical, Religio-philosophical, and Literary Depths of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train” (Quarterly Review of Film and Video)
- “Zeami’s Buddhism and Noh in Kurosawa’s Ikiru” (Journal of Religion and Film)
- “Kūkai’s Mandala of the Mind: A 9th-Century Vision for a Divided World” (proposed to The Conversation)
- “Faith and Fellowship in the Lowcountry: Bahá’í Community Life in South Carolina” (proposed to Carolina Currents)