ABSTRACT
William R. LaFleur, a distinguished professor of Japanese religion, culture, and intellectual history at the University of Pennsylvania, was working on a chapter for this volume when he passed away suddenly on February 26, 2010. Although he had not finished that essay, it later became apparent that he had recently drafted a more retrospective account of his academic career that dovetails appropriately with this volume’s focus on the practice of the study of religion. The format of this chapter will necessarily depart from that of the others, with his reflections appearing in a combined narrative and discussion section. I have written this preamble and the title, which lacks LaFleur’s characteristic poetry, as well as the “further readings” and “about the author” sections. The inclusion of this essay is gratifying to me as the editor of Studying Buddhism in Practice and as a scholar who admires LaFleur’s work, but also as a friend and former PhD student of Bill LaFleur’s in religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
