Jesus and the Buddha: Reorienting Lived Religion

Join us for an interesting discussion on how Jesus and the Buddha still transform how we live

Jesus and the Buddha: Reorienting Lived Religion

Presented by Dr Milad Milani

Hosted by Dr Elizabeth McDougal

4 March 2026

10.00am – 11.30am (AEDT)

This event will be Hybrid (On Campus and Online)

This conversation explores Jesus and the Buddha as transformative teachers whose lives and sayings invite a reorientation of lived religion. Rather than comparing Christianity and Buddhism at the level of doctrine or institution, the lecture attends to how each figure unsettles inherited certainties and opens new possibilities for seeing, acting, and relating in the world.

By examining recognisable parallels and deeper existential resonances, the conversation highlights how Jesus and the Buddha challenge forms of attachment, identity, and authority—not simply through their teachings—but through the risks they embodied in their lives. The aim is to consider how their shared gestures, as an example of reorientation, continues to reshape lived religious experience beyond the boundaries later traditions placed around them.

About the Presenter:

Dr Milad Milani is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Western Sydney University and a School-based Member of the Institute for Culture and Society. He leads the Humanities Religious Studies Research Collective within the School of Humanities and Communication Arts and is co-lead of the Sufi Studies Network (Monash University). He serves on the editorial board of Sophia and is co-editor of the Journal for the Academic Study of Religion. From 2023 to 2025, he served as President of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion. Dr Milani is an internationally recognised expert in the study of religion, with a focus on Islam and Sufism.

Tickets are free, however, registrations are essential.