Buddhist practitioners in the U.S. who do not travel outside the U.S. to be with Buddhist women may not fully appreciate how difficult it is for many women throughout the world to become realized. Conversely, they may not appreciate how Buddhist women are also meeting the difficulties with compassionate, intelligent, and skillful solidarity. I personally did not have an understanding of the many challenges and successes Buddhist women worldwide experience until 2022, when I learned about the International Women’s Meditation Center Foundation, and in 2023, when I attended the 18th biennial conference of Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women in Seoul, South Korea.
“Sakyadhita’s international conferences support Buddhist women’s spiritual, intellectual, and developmental needs.”
The 19th conference was held from June 16-20 in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Attending this year’s conference gave me an even deeper appreciation for the needs Sakyadhita is meeting – it offers dharma-inspired international spiritual friendship for women’s human developmental needs. Another way of understanding this enormous undertaking, now nearing 40 years old, is that Sakyadhita is meeting basic human rights for women’s freedom, education (lower and highest), and dignity. This monumental task is met through their conferences and the country-specific work that takes place between the international gatherings.
The theme for this year’s conference was “Navigating Change: Buddhist Women in Transition.” Four hundred people attended from 35 countries to lead and participate in inter-Buddhist spiritual practices including meditation and chanting, offering and listening to inspiring dharma talks, being welcomed and affirmed by local dignitaries, hearing paper presentations, attending workshops, enjoying an evening of cultural performances, and conducting business through regional meetings. All of this was done in many languages with many translators. After the presentations and meetings were concluded, many of us toured the region. The conference was warmly hosted by Kuching Buddhist Society (KBS) at The Waterfront Hotel. KBS (and my roommate) made my long trip from Chicago to London to Kuala Lumpur to Kuching worthwhile.
The conference theme about navigating change was a prescient recognition that there are many changes taking place throughout the world that are impacting Buddhist women’s well-being, work, direction, and opportunities. To address these concerns, the conference held seven paper sub-themes including: Sustaining the Buddha Dharma, Buddhist Nuns Navigating and Fostering Change, Creating Models for Effective Change and Healing, Dharma Teachers Authority and Transmission, Roundtable on Sexual Violence, Buddhist Networks (Care, Education, and Transformation), Redefining Tradition, Making Transitions and Expanding Education, Handbook on Buddhist Women, and Locating Buddhist Women in Inscriptions and Literature. Twenty-seven workshops were offered including workshops on writing, using social media, women in Buddhist history, spiritual practice, translation, gender, art forms, promoting healthy Buddhist organizations, activism, and more. I had the honor of giving the keynote address and co-facilitating a Compassionate Listening/Buddhist Pastoral Spiritual Care workshop with Dr. Karma Lekshe Tsomo, one of Sakyadhita’s founders.
Reflecting on what it means to be a woman Buddhist practitioner in the U.S. who first encountered a Buddhism re-packaged for the West, this conference reminded me that it can take centuries to grapple with the beliefs that women are more impure than men. Even to this day, it is believed in some parts of the world that a woman touching a sacred amulet can turn the sacred into a defiled object. I was reminded that even though Sakyadhita is an international organization with a wide network, important information like patterns of sexual abuse in one place may not be learned about in other places where it is happening or could happen. Another important lesson I learned is about international witnessing. For example, one of the nuns from Sri Lanka showed me an email from a prominent intellectual monk in the West to a dignitary in Sri Lanka. Consequently, the nuns in Sri Lanka, who advocated for years for recognition and rights, are now recognized by the Sri Lanka government. This happened while we were in Kuching.
It is clear to me now that Sakyadhita’s international conferences support Buddhist women’s spiritual, intellectual, and developmental needs. The support is multidirectional and intersectional. The next conference will be held in 2027 in Indonesia. The U.S. chapter is being revitalized, and Buddhist women in the U.S. who are interested in joining the chapter can do so by joining Sakyadhita and joining us for our next meeting on August 2nd at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time. For more information about the meeting, contact [email protected].
