Gender, Buddhism and Western Encounters

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Feminism and Buddhism    • Public Talk_Feminism and Buddhism_English ...  
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Conflicting views seem to prevail when the status of the female in Buddhism is at stake.

While there are seemingly negative conceptions of women in the Buddhist texts, many positive ideas and symbols of the feminine can also be found.

Furthermore, several studies have pointed out the vast discrepancy that continues to exist in many Buddhist societies – namely, that despite their considerable social and spatial freedom, women still have fewer opportunities to devote themselves to religious life.

It can be suggested that the question about the status of female gender in Buddhism remains difficult to answer because, apart from religious doctrines and practices, gender intersects so many other dimensions.

In the seminar, female practitioners of Buddhism discuss gender and Buddhism, and their crossing with their western background and identity.

Program:
Mitra Härkönen, Study of Religions: Intersections of Gender and Buddhism

Bhikshuni Lozang Yönten: The Relative and Ultimate Truths of Gender

Zen Priest Mitra Virtaperko: The Changing Roles and Representations of Women in Zen

Q & A with Discussion

The seminar is organized by the Study of Religions and the Faculty of Theology. Helsinki University, Finland.



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About the speakers:

Bhikshuni Lozang Yönten is an American-born Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition who was ordained in 2003. After completing the Buddhist Studies Program at the Chenrezig Institute in Australia, she continued to study, retreat and offer service at Buddhist Centres in India, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, becoming an in-depth registered teacher within the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Ven. Yönten has served previously as the Resident Teacher in the Kunsang Yeshe Retreat Centre in Australia and at the Mahamudra Centre for Universal Unity in New Zealand. Currently, she is an FPMT touring teacher and retreat leader, as well as a member of the Buddhist Faculty at the Buddhist Psychoanalytic Training program Human Spirit’s in Lod, Israel, while also teaching regularly at the Shantideva Study Group in Israel.

Zen Priest Mitra Virtaperko started to practice Zen in Helsinki Zen Center in 2002 with Swedish Zen Masters Kanja Odland Roshi and Sante Poromaa Roshi, and was ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest in 2014 by Kanja Odland Roshi. She has been living four years in a full time Zen training in Zengården, a head temple of Zenbuddhistiskka Samfundet in rural Sweden where her teachers mainly live and teach. In Helsinki Zen Center she has been a sangha leader since year 2009. She currently divides her time between the city sangha in Helsinki and temple training in Zengården.