Paula Arai: Women Liberating Buddhism (2023 Pacific Seminar)

AUGUST 5th, from 9am- 3pm

IN PERSON / ONLINE SESSION

Sponsored by CBE – Center for Buddhist Education, IBS – Institute of Buddhist Studies & JSIO – Jodo Shinshu International Office. 

This session will be hosted in-person at the Jodo Shinshu Center, or you may participate online.  Registration opens at 9am (PT), and the session begins with opening service at 10am (PT) and will end at approximately 3pm (PT).  There will be lectures, small group work and discussions.

GUEST PRESENTER: Dr. Paula Arai

Paula Arai (Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies, Harvard University) authored The Little Book of Zen Healing (2023), Painting Enlightenment (2019), Bringing Zen Home (2011), and Women Living Zen (1999). She is the Eshinni & Kakushinni Professor of Women and Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies.  Steeped in ethnographic research, she takes an embodied approach to her work and finds poetic immersive storytelling a potent medium for conveying the experiences of transformative healing she researches. Specializing in Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist women, Arai trained under the tutelage of Aoyama Shundō Rōshi at the Aichi Senmon Nisōdō nunnery in Nagoya and maintains decades-long relationships with her laywomen consociates in Japan. An active public speaker, Arai also leads workshops on healing rituals. She holds the Eshinni & Kakushinni Professor of Women and Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley. More information on Dr. Arai can be found at her website, http://www.zenhealing.org.