In 1984 Loy moved to Kamakura, Japan to continue Zen practice with Yamada Koun Roshi, director of the Sanbo Kyodan.
[4] In June 2014 Loy received an honorary doctorate degree from Carleton College, his alma mater, for his contributions to Buddhism in the West.
In April 2016 Loy returned his honorary degree to Carleton College to protest the institution's investment in fossil fuel-producing organizations.
[6] Loy offers lectures, workshops, and retreats on various topics, focusing primarily on the encounter between Buddhism and modernity: what each can learn from the other.
The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons: Buddhist Themes in Modern Fantasy examines the ways that spiritual themes (for example, good and evil, sin and redemption, friendship, time, war and violence, creativity, the meaning of life, the meaning of death) are treated in some of the classics of contemporary fantasy: The Lord of the Rings, Ende's Momo, the anime of Hayao Miyazaki, Pullman's His Dark Materials, and Le Guin's Earthsea.
Subsequent essays discuss the implications for the ways we understand money, fame, karma, food, sexuality and romantic love, consumerism, ecology, war, and social engagement.
A New Buddhist Path is in three parts, which address the meaning of enlightenment, the nature of evolution, and the nonduality of individual and social transformation.
Loy is also the editor of Healing Deconstruction: Postmodern Thought in Buddhism and Christianity (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1996), with essays by Roger Corless, Philippa Berry, Morny Joy, Robert Magliola, and David Loy; and the co-editor (with John Stanley and Gyurme Dorje) of A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency (Wisdom Publications, 2009), which includes contributions by the 14th Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, the 17th Karmapa, Robert Aitken, Joanna Macy, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Joseph Goldstein, Matthieu Ricard, Lin Jensen, and many others.
He is married to Linda Goodhew, formerly an associate professor of English literature at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, Japan, and co-author of The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons.