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Ryan Richard Overbey

@overbey.bsky.social
151 followers 331 following 104 posts

Buddhology, &c.

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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Filling out my American Academy of Religion research interests profile and deciding whether I’m more interested in Ecomonics or Emobodiment
A drop down list of research interests on the American Academy of Religion website with hilarious typos: “Ecomonics” for Economics and “Emobodiment Studies” for Embodiment Studies.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
The monograph is real! What a strange feeling.
A box containing copies of the author’s new book
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Wien Zentralfriedhof has a Buddhist cemetery complete with stūpa.
A Buddhist stupa in the middle of the Vienna Central Cemetery
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Die Fledermaus, Pride Edition, at the Vienna Volksoper was, as expected, a campy great time. What I didn’t expect was beautiful and moving political writing in the dialogue. Bravo!
Image of the cast of die Fledermaus during applause.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Went to see Die Zauberflòte at the Viennese Staatsoper. The singers and orchestra were amazing. Kudos to the artists who made something lovely out of one of the dumbest pieces of narrative writing I’ve ever experienced.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Tijana Krstić kicking off this exciting workshop on preaching in Eurasia at CEU, Vienna. events.ceu.edu/2026-06-25/p...
Prof. Krstić giving opening remarks
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Setting up elfeed in Doom Emacs and so psyched to live in a world of RSS once more.
A screenshot of elfeed, an emacs-based RSS reader
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Hot off the presses: Yi Ding’s new book on _zhai_ in medieval Chinese Buddhism!
An image of Yi Ding’s new book “Observances, Feasts, and Scripts”
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Reading Mir’s poem about his favorite cat, one realizes that toxoplasmosis is perhaps the only human cultural universal.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
After binge-watching Heated Rivalry with my partner over Spring Break I kept wondering why the show was hitting all the ladies of my generation so hard. And then I had a realization.
A poster for the old TV show "Saved by the Bell", with superimposed photo of Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, stars of "Heated Rivalry”
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Just learned that the monograph drops in August! sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-...
A modified “This is Fine” meme, in which the dog in a burning room looks around and smugly says “So I have a book coming out.”
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Reading Olivelle’s translation of the Yājñavalkya Dharmaśāstra, I find myself genuinely curious whether, if these rules were ever taken seriously, the combination of verse 1.68 & verses 1.78-79 mean that the wife having sex with a brother-in-law completely slathered in ghee was nearly inevitable.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Abu’l-Fazl trying real hard to flatter the idiot Mughal emperor Akbar in the _Akbarnama_. No real gamer would ever say Parcheesi “contains much wisdom.”
A page from the History of Akbar: 
MUZAFFAR KHAN FALLS FROM FAVOR
At all times, through the rising of the luminary of imperial guidance, in accordance with his noble characteristic the emperor draws the veil of uniqueness over his world-adorning beauty.
During these days he made the game of Parcheesi a veil for his spiritual beauty and played it avidly. Mastering the special moves of this game, which contains much wisdom, the emperor kept a group of courtiers in attendance for playing it, and wonderful sessions were held. Although outwardly he appeared to be playing, inwardly he was assessing people and disguising seriousness ina garb of sport and fun. One day Muzaffar Khan, besotted with worldliness and incompetence at the game, which was a measure of competence, had become so intimate with the emperor that he acted rudely. The emperor relieved him of his office and sent him to the Hejaz in order that his corrupted state might improve through unimportance and exile.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Elsa Marty on Bitcoin faith as ritual imagining of freedom and dignity. #aarsbl25
Cover slide for Elsa Marty’s “Bitcoin is Freedom: Rituals in Bitcoin Maximalism”
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
@smhedgecock.bsky.social with a super smart talk on prayer closets as contemporary evangelical gendered practice. #aarsbl25
Picture of the video list of Christian influencer Ashley Hetherington, titled “becoming THAT christian girl”
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
There’s a certain irony to the fact that in order to make it to the Sheraton for this wonderful talk, I had to leave dirty breakfast dishes in the sink. #aarsbl25
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Today’s #aarsbl25 was so good. Buddhism unit panel on teaching Buddhism in a fascist regime, followed by two panels excavating fascist roots and fascist æsthetics in the academic study of religion.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
Wondering if Princeton University Press pays royalties to their author “The Buddha,” writer of the books _How to Lose Yourself_ and _How to Feel_. #aarsbl25
AAR conference by Princeton University Press, with authors listed alphabetically. Two books in the list give their author as “The Buddha”
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Goodbye Frankfurt, hello Boston! After getting bumped from flight yesterday, it’s good to finally be back home.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
15 year-old me will never recover from the fact that I’m taking Flight 420 from Gate 69.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Leipzig —> Mannheim—> Heidelberg. #IABS2025 was a blast. See y’all in Vancouver in 2028!
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Leipziger Lerche, a nut and jam pastry created as a substitute for roasted meadowlark after the Saxon king banned meadowlark hunting. A fitting Aśoka-esque detail to ring in the IABS!
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Train day! Hall in Tirol —> Jenbach —> München —> Leipzig. Looking forward to hearing Germans complain every time the Deutsche Bahn is 3 minutes late.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Friends! Hope to see you in Leipzig, where I’ll present on how I confirmed that the Consecration Scripture was indeed edited by a single person or team. I promise that during my talk I will use the phrase “vibes-based argument” at least twice! conference.uni-leipzig.de/iabs2025/aca...
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
yuniya edi kwon and amazingly talented friends performing the world premiere of _silver through the grass like nothing_, a meditation on illness, bardo, and Buddhist śarīra, at the Monheim Triennale.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
What a joy to see Darian Donovan Thomas ddt93.bandcamp.com perform in the Kapelle zur Schmerzhaften Mutter, at the Monheim Triennale.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Day 1 of the Monheim Triennale. So psyched to be back in Germany for this!
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Fellow scholars of religion: y’all should be reading @karenhao.bsky.social’s _Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI_. I think it pairs especially well with @lhulseth.bsky.social ‘s _Capitalist Humanitarianism_. Both about what it means for companies to claim good intentions.
A quote from Sam Altman in 2013: "Successful people create companies. More successful people create countries. The most successful people create religions."
I heard this from Qi Lu; I'm not sure what the source is. It got me thinking, though--the most successful founders do not set out to create companies. They are on a mission to create something closer to a religion, and at some point it turns out that forming a company is the easiest way to do so.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Reading Thackston’s translation of the History of Akbar and just deeply impressed with how the author Abu’l Fazl tries to work around the fact that Akbar was a useless idiot who spent all his time hunting and playing with elephants. Did sarcasm exist in late 16th century Mughal literary culture?
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
Scenes from my first ever Moby Dick Marathon at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. We stuck it out through the end. The vibes were immaculate— a college slumber party for nerds that charmingly transcended generational divides. #mdm25
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Looking forward to indulging in this winter break diversion: Ireland and Kronic’s _Cute Accelerationism_.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
This packaging is… semiotically dense!
Front of package of TactiClip, a brand of hair clips for toxic masculine dudebros that are also outlandishly iridescent. Back of package of TactiClip, a brand of hair clips for toxic masculine dudebros that are also outlandishly iridescent.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
This is how colleges and universities end up with so many deans. (From Eva de Clercq’s lovely translation of The Life of Padma)
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
An auspicious end to #sblaar24: on the flight home from San Diego the middle seat is free, so it will be occupied by this adorable kitten named Gertrude.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Followed the sage advice of @drewjakeprof.bsky.social and took a pleasant 75-minute stroll along the waterfront to the airport. So much better than sitting in a cab. #sblaar24
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Celebrating the end of #sblaar24 with a peaty Laphroaig ice cream and a Sazerac at the Whiskey House.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Looking forward to this session on the cognitive science of imaginary friends at #sblaar24.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Surreal night watching the Sublime concert unfold from a misty 15th floor vantage point at the Harvard reception. Maybe the strangest affective collision I have experienced at any academic conference #sblaar24
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Just a note that if PetCo Park is not invaded tonight by an angsty coterie of SBL tweedbros and seminarians eager to rock out to Christian nu-metal band P.O.D. I will lose all faith in the SBL as a going concern. #sblaar24
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Delighted to snag my copy of this gem hot off the press from @mpgphd.bsky.social and @profirmf.bsky.social at the Beacon Press booth at #sblaar24.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Perfect croissants at Izola, a quick 15-20 minute walk from the convention center.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Good morning #sblaar24! No better way to start a conference than with a panic-inducing deep dive into the precarity of the field itself! A couple of cold brews have already jacked up my blood pressure, so I’m fired up & ready to go.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
I’d like to make a motion to nominate Lost Abbey as the official beer hall of #sblaar24. Wait, does that mean I actually have to attend the AAR business meeting??
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Laap gai, fried salted beef, sticky rice, and a Thai basil gimlet, at www.sovereignsandiego.com.
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Ryan Richard Overbey @overbey.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
ATTN: #sblaar24 the best fish tacos I have found so far in San Diego are at www.fishgutsca.com in Barrio Logan. Definitely worth a brief excursion to get away from all those tourist traps in the Gaslamp. Just don’t be in a rush; the tacos are worth the wait.
Beautifully executed Baja-style fish tacos with a Modelo Especial beer, at Fish Guts, San Diego
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