On Saturday, November 14 the Sati Center will host a symposium highlighting the accomplishments of women scholars in the early years of Buddhist Studies in the West, on the one hand, and portraits of women as presented in the scriptures of early Buddhist literature on the other. We will celebrate the contributions of these women as part of a benefit to support the pioneering Theravada Buddhist nuns living at Aloka Vihara in the Sierra foothills.
Bring a bag lunch.
Lunch will be at 11 am and include a meal offering for the nuns attending.
No registration needed.
The symposium is a benefit for the Aloka Vihara nuns’ community.
9:00 a.m. – Welcome and opening remarks – Gil Fronsdal
9:15 a.m. – Session I: Pioneering Women in Buddhist Studies
- Caroline Rhys Davids – Dawn Neal (Institute of Buddhist Studies)
- I.B. Horner – Grace Burford (Prescott University)
11:00 a.m. – Food offering to the nuns (everyone invited to make an offering)
12:15 p.m. – Session II: Women in Pāli Literature (1): Portraits of Women in the Suttas
- Laywomen – Diana Clark (Institute of Buddhist Studies)
- Nuns -Xi He (UC Berkeley)
2:00 p.m. – Session III: Women in Pāli Literature (2): Tales of Accomplished Nuns
- Poetry of early Buddhist nuns – Meg Gawler (Institute of Buddhist Studies)
- Mahāpajāpatī, the first Buddhist nun – Jan Nattier (UC Berkeley)
3:30 p.m. – Concluding remarks
4:00 p.m. – End
For more information about the nuns, visit their website at Saranaloka Foundation — which supports Theraveda Buddhist Nuns of the Forest Tradition in the West.