Meaningful reads is a recommended book series commemorating the promotion and tenure of faculty at the University of Washington Tacoma. Beginning with the 2017-2018 academic year, newly promoted or tenured faculty are invited to share a book with thoughts on why the book was meaningful to their career or life.

“My chosen book is The Way it Is by Ajahn Sumedho. It’s not an academic book but a series of ‘dhamma talks’ by a American Buddhist monk in the Thai Forest Sangha tradition. I first came across it when I was studying for my MA in Religious Studies. I was just embarking on the academic study of Buddhism. My teacher arranged a field trip to the Hartridge Buddhist Monastery (http://hartridge.weebly.com/), a lovely old farmhouse deep in the beautiful Devon countryside in the UK, now inhabited by a small group of Buddhist monks. It was a memorable visit, and I think I was given The Way It Is that day. Subsequently I would dip into it, sometimes reading the same short chapters over and over, and finding different insights each time. I’ve chosen this book because through that process of reading Sumedho’s teachings (and through meditation) I found an experiential appreciation of Buddhist ideas to complement my academic studies. It helped me start to connect the dots and this provided an energy and enthusiasm to my curiosity that has sustained me through my career to date. I love how the ideas are at once so simple and so difficult!”

Jane Compson, Ph.D.
School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs Division
Promoted to Associate Professor, Spring 2018