Domestic Dharma: Beyond Texts, Beyond Monasteries

Saturday, September 22nd 2012, 9:00am to 5:00pm

Institute of Buddhist Studies Numata Symposium

Institute of Buddhist Studies Jodo Shin Center, 2140 Durant Avenue Berkeley

Paula AraiPaula Arai (pictured), LSU professor and author of Women Living Zen, a history of Soto Zen nuns in Japan, and most recently Bringing Zen Home: The Healing Heart of Japanese Women's Ritual (University of Hawaii, 2011) will be the keynote. Bringing Zen Home is a great book - both as an example of excellent research (15 years of intimate contact with her "consociates") and as a view of Buddhist practice that is very different than the one presented by popular western media - in other words home based, not about meditation, very relational, and based in ordinary rituals and activities. Lisa Grumbach, a wonderful scholar and professor at IBS and Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan, is the other keynote who will be talking on the history and the unique role played by women in the development of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism.

For more information, including how to register, visit the conference webpage at www.shin-ibs.edu/domestic.

Schedule

9:00 AM      Opening Remarks
9:15 AM   Prof. Paula Arai Keynote Address
Cleaning Cloths, Poetry, and Personal Buddhas: Laywomen’s Healing Practices in Contemporary Japan
10:00 AM   Response/Q&A
10:30 AM   Prof. Lisa Grumbach Keynote Address
Nuns at Home, Nuns as Homebuilders: Rethinking Ordination and Family in Medieval Japan
11:15 AM   Response/Q&A
12:00 PM   Lunch (on your own)
1:30 PM   Prof. Daijaku Kinst and Prof. Scott Mitchell Presentations and Discussion:
Contemporary Home Based Practices in Zen and Jodo Shin Communities
2:30 PM   Discussion/Q&A
3:00 PM   Wisdom Circles/Small Group Discussion
4:45 PM   Summaries and Concluding Comments